Dimensions Book Seven: Escapes
by Blazing Chaos
Summary: The strings of a terrible plot draw together, the Tamers forced to escape as far away as possible. They discover death, history, purpose, love, secrets and how deep a bond can run, but the odds are stacked against them. Their world is vanishing... Rukato
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **So, after a year and a month of **Book Six**, it's finally time for its sequel, the unoriginally titled **Book Seven**. I did consider pulling a **The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya**-esque random numbering scheme, but I decided that simplicity was better.

Anyhow, once again, I'd like to say to any new readers that it's imperative you read everything up until now before you read on. That means **Book One** through to **Book Six**, plus **Extra Dimensions **up to Story Seven (**Christmases)**, and **Stratagems** too (up to Chapter 7).

In any case, I welcome you to a new book, and hope you enjoy it. Welcome, to **Dimensions Book Seven: Escapes**…

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**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

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**PROLOGUE**

_Infiltration_

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**THURSDAY, 12****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Kantei, Chiyoda Ward**_

_**20:01 JST**_

The rim of a wine glass touched down upon the table, a traditional affair looking rather at odds with the highly modern nature of the Tokyo Kantei, the official residence of the Prime Minister of Japan. The current incumbent to hold this particular seat was one Inukai Keishiro, a fairly popular one who had led the country away from difficult times, all whilst it dealt with being at the epicentre of Digital Activity.

But, everyone needs a rest sometime.

The man lifted the glass again, giving a slight frown at a small ring of liquid remaining upon the table. He pulled a coaster towards him, gently slipping it underneath before giving a contented sigh at his remedial action as he leant back in his cushioned chair, appreciating the peace and quiet of his home. His life was rarely quiet usually - he had had plenty of evenings interrupted by urgent calls, plenty of sleepless nights, plenty of family dinners disrupted.

But not tonight, not tonight. For once, he had a chance to lay back, kick off his heels and appreciate the pleasant surroundings which such a high role afforded. Around the edge of the room, traditional Japanese wood lined the walls, obscuring the high security metal frames behind. Above, there were no fluorescent lights, the traditional preserve of government offices. Instead, the PM had a number of traditional design lighting brackets installed, suspended from the ceiling, but they were off on this occasion. The main source of light, instead, was a delightfully designed lamp on the side table next to him, shaped like a swan and giving the fairly large room a lovely orange glow, the fragrance of the mature wood gently wafting to his nose whenever he sat in the large, equally-traditional deep green pillowed chair, gold on the tips of its legs and armrests.

Contrasting with these fixtures, and yet somehow managing to both fit in with the room and overshadow its competition, was a large window array at the end, made up of several high quality panes of glass and affording fantastic views of the both the lights of the traditional garden behind the Kantei and the lights of Tokyo beyond. The fact that these windows were bulletproof and bombproof couldn't be seen, of course, and neither could the high security system of lasers crisscrossing it.

"_As security should be," _the middle-aged man thought, a pleased smile on his slightly wrinkled visage. _"Unseen."_

Indeed, there were few signs of any true technology within the room. Everything had been chosen for subtlety, from the thin and dark-coloured PC screen on the back of a traditional desk set into a chest, its tower hidden away below, to the phone on the side, brass polishing it's fairly antiquated form. Granted, it was beyond the era of a ring-pull phone, but the numbers were elegantly printed, with no need for modern embellishment or simplification. Under the desk, a small emergency call button was to be found, but it was painted black, rather than the garish red of many of its sort. Even the CCTV cameras were set into alcoves in the walls, another example of security going unseen.

Inukai far preferred this room to his actual office. This was his sitting room, a place normally used only by him to relax after a difficult day of running the country, and new aides would learn quickly after starting their career in the Kantei that disturbing him for trivial affairs when he was in this room was a big mistake.

A constant reminder of more than trivial affairs, however, was the pile of papers on his side table. Despite the seemingly relaxing nature of the surroundings, the man was permanently ill-at-ease, regardless of the confident professional façade he normally showed to the world. From meetings with foreign delegates to meetings with other world leaders, he had travelled the world twice over, and the world had come to him three times that. A thousand issues sat in his in-tray: taxation, anti-terror measures, crime, education, health, transport, foreign relationships…

One item, however, would always be put on the top of the pile, marked urgent.

Mr Keishiro gave a light frown as he lifted the document, reading its header.

**DIGITAL ACTIVITY REPORT**

The name at the top, in an unassuming and seemingly innocent font, said **Digital Monster Control and Prevention Department** but everyone worth their salts in the Japanese Government knew this was simply the official title for the organization which had been known ubiquitously as 'Hypnos', and which was now rather well known to the public, particularly through citizen organisations like Digital Watch.

'Hypnos' had no logo, it had no mention in the official budgets - it didn't exist officially. Yet, it was an organisation which had evolved, starting out as only the Digital Control Department, the Japanese branch of the international intergovernmental project SIGINT, standing for Signals Intelligence. Of course, since then, its remit had change completely, going from being a pretty standard (if high-tech and secret) department merely set up to monitor traffic on the internet around 1998 to a fully-fledged organisation, a department in name only, and one which had taken on a life of its own.

Since the department began to become less of a department and more of an organisation that was distinct from the Japanese government, in about 2002, the department had been headed by Mitsuo Yamaki, now 36. He was a man who was known to have a bitter temperament, one created by the harsh reality of the job he had been so enthusiastic about being signed up for under a project intended to bring the finest young minds into the Japanese government.

The 29 year-old oversaw the installation of the Kyon system, a system intended to act and prevent the Digital Plane colliding with reality, a worst case scenario which thankfully thanks to Kyon had yet to come to pass. But, alas, the Kyon system was now only an abstract of its original intended form. It nowadays was largely only used to monitor such affairs, the module of the system known as Tracer. Experience of adding on additional modules such as Juggernaut and Yuggoth had proved unsuccessful, although both programs were later reused in Project Doodlebug and Project Grani respectively. Even Project Ark had struggled to be successful, and it was neither a defensive nor proactive system for combating digital threats. All three projects, Doodlebug, Grani and Ark highlighted a change of thinking in Hypnos during the summer and autumn of 2007, as it began to make alliances with the informal citizen group known as the Digimon Tamers, which initially it had been resistant to. The Mihira, Indra and Vikarala incidents proved to be the death knell for the 'old' strategy as Yamaki warmed to the idea of working together with the Tamers, a partnership which proved to be essential to combat the D-Reaper.

His alliance with the Tamers was one that, like most of his department's actions, was officially nonexistent, yet it had become a heavily relied on one by Hypnos, and one which Keishiro himself had questioned a number of times. Part of this doubt had led to him changing the structure of the organisation, demoting the wildcard that was Yamaki in July and replacing him with a younger prodigy, Rayleigh Thompson, who, although not being a citizen of the country by birth, had lived there for a long enough period of his life to be suitable for the job. He took a harsh line with these Digital Threats, and to reinforce the powers of Hypnos, along with making it clear to the Tamers they were not free to do as they pleased.

After the Zweite incident (dubbed as such by Rayleigh before his departure) however, in late October the previous year, Rayleigh had once again moved up the ranks of the Japanese Government, his competence in dealing with the aftermath of what the PM knew from extremely top secret bulletins was an event that would otherwise have been to seriously damaging to the whole country and the reputation of their policies for dealing with digital threats. Seeing the potential of such a competent official, Mr Keishiro promoted him to Chief Cabinet Secretary, replacing the ineffectual Eiichi Nakazawa. In his first move, Mr Thompson had restored Yamaki as head of Hypnos, a move which had angered the PM until the reasoning was explained to him. As Chief Cabinet Secretary, Rayleigh said that he would control the affairs of Hypnos more tightly and ensure it was acting in the interests of the public, rather than the Tamers and Yamaki's individual interests, and a key part of doing so was making Yamaki owe something back to the government, namely his reinstatement in his new role. His powers would be more limited from now on, and he would have a greater remit back to the government, including making Yamaki personally responsible for any mix-ups. _"Rather over the top, but special situations call for special actions," _the PM thought, flicking down the list.

It was split into sections, detailing the most recent bioemergence and the response to it. To his complete lack of surprise, it had been dealt with by the Tamers before Yamaki could even intervene, namely Takeru Takashi and Matt Ishida, with their respective partners Patamon and Gabumon who destroyed the 'Wild One', a Unimon. A picture of each Digimon and human was shown, albeit for the 'Wild One' it was merely a stock photo from the card game. Below, a price list of the damage was given, albeit, as usual, it was very sparse, only a few token cheap things put onto it. The PM was well aware that Yamaki tended to make his own arrangements with property owners and the highways agencies to ensure that this list was as minimal as possible. Regardless, without definite proof, there was no way he could throw the book at Yamaki without risking a major political incident, primarily since the man in his career had learnt a number of things which would be very damaging to their reputation. It was a game of checks and balances, of cards stacked in careful formation, one where everyone would play by the rules for the vast majority of the time until they got the upper hand.

"_And they say that the Prime Minister has executive power."_

Despite this, the PM was working to keep Hypnos in line, and one of his chief measures was making Rayleigh Thompson his Chief Cabinet Secretary, probably the second most important role in the Japanese government and one which he himself had held before he became PM. Despite this, Rayleigh could never become the PM because of his foreign national status, even when he had citizenship of Japan. This, of course, served Mr Keishiro fine.

"_If anything can be said about Mr Thompson, it is that he is an ambitious young gentleman. And to believe, he is only 22. Still, he doesn__'t show it, apart from his occasional arrogance. But, I have seen that in people older than myself, people who should know better. Regardless, he has a promising future ahead of him, but, of course, he will never have my job," _the man thought, a sly smile on his face as he sipped from the red wine in the glass again, before planting it back down onto its coaster. A hand came to his child, a frown on his face as he looked at the details of the report.

**Public Awareness**

This was always an amusing part of the report to read, thanks in no part to Yamaki's usual underassessment of how much the public knew about a particular incident. Even in a city where community spirit had supposedly died and people lived in their own little worlds, news still spread quickly. It was a long way from becoming a trivial event when a Digimon breeched the dimensional barrier.

**Locale was quiet backstreet in Chiyoda. Witnesses were sympathetic. Digital Watch not in attendance. No further action required.**

Shaking his head in disbelief, the PM looked back to the pile, lifting a number of additional papers from the desk, ones which had come with this first sheet and had been attached to it by a paperclip. These sheets lacked the letterhead style, instead looking like an informally written document, but were infinitely more useful in knowing the true details of the case.

**12/05/2011 - Digital Report by Whistleblower**

The man frowned, the identity of the now-infamous **Whistleblower** still kept secret even to him, the highest ranked official in government. Why, he wasn't sure, but the quality of the reports meant that he didn't want to risk them being cut off by asking too many questions. What he did know was that the reports came via Rayleigh, someone who evidently knew **Whistleblower** well. The thing was, **Whistleblower** seemed almost omnipresent, able to find out almost anything which occurred. He also knew that Rayleigh wasn't **Whistleblower**, something which had occurred to him as possible but when he met Rayleigh at the same time as a battle went on not far from them was proved to be incorrect.

**Battle in Chiyoda Ward**

**Combatants: Matt Ishida, Gabumon, Takeru Takashi, Patamon**

**Time: 17:29 to 17:42**

**Before battle:**

**The pair of Tamers came together to the bioemergence. Takeru was visiting Matt at their apartment. They went shopping for present for grandparent****'s birthday, but were interrupted en route by bioemergence call. Their conversation regarded how parents were getting on, life at university, life at school, etc. **

**During battle:**

**Gabumon digivolved to Garurumon. Patamon digivolved to Pegasusmon. Battle was one-sided. Takeru used speed, power modify cards. Matt used no cards. Damage caused to a wall (total), an office building (minor) and roadway (minor), limited by the fact that the Digital Field lasted eight minutes and the battle lasted only five minutes longer. There were three bystanders at the time, two Japanese males and one Chinese female. One male and the female fled scene when battle started, other stayed for two minutes longer. No detailed Digital Watch report was posted afterwards so unlikely any of them are Digital Watch members. **

**After battle:**

**Tamers resumed shopping trip. Chat about same topics as well as about battle. Email sent to Izzy Koushiro and Hypnos about it.**

The PM was, as always, impressed by the attention to detail. What was more was that it wasn't only battles which the report covered. Below the latest battle update came an update on every Tamer, every element of their life at present that **Whistleblower** knew, all given in remarkable detail. Of course, from day to day there were only minor changes to most of them whilst certain items would have far more detail, **Whistleblower** evidently prioritising his monitoring activities to certain events. None of the Tamers had ever seemed to find out who **Whistleblower** was; they didn't even ever seem to see him right when he must've been right in front of them, right in their midst.

**Joe Kido**

**Currently on work placement with Fumiko Imai at Shinjuku General Hospital.**

**Mimi Tachikawa**

**13/05/11 - will attend fashion shoot with Rumiko Nonaka.**

**Rika Nonaka**

**Continuing to develop in her relationship as a parent to Rey Matsuki, competence has increased since initial days. Still breastfeeding. Assisted by Takato Matsuki (fiancé), Rumiko Nonaka (mother) and Seiko Hata (grandmother). Still in schooling, with no intention to leave. No issues of note at time of monitoring on 10/05/11, next monitoring will be 15/05/11.**

The report continued with details of every single Tamer given. Their lives, any deviation in plans from the norm, perhaps in some places lacking detail but the overall detail more than making up for it. It was certainly a fantastic resource and had given much peace of mind, knowing that a major cover-up would be far harder for **Hypnos** and the Tamers to pursue without Rayleigh knowing. Rayleigh was telling him every little detail, and it was perfect. He needn't fear incomplete reports or sketchy information in decision-making again.

Regarding how to act on what it all told him, however, Inukai was less certain. There was, as yet, no reason to take any action on what was going on, and it would be likely to illicit public outcry from some parties. The best he could do was enforce the shoring up of Hypnos' defences, but so far such work seemed limited to simply upgrading Yuggoth, which seemed like a rather futile effort given how Rayleigh had reported that the system was, effectively, useless, at least in its current state. But, the PM could not complain as such without Yamaki finding out more about these 'special reports'.

The man let out a deep sigh of relief, repeating the thought he had had with a slight frown. _"Checks and balances," _he thought, looking down to inspect the information in more detail.

It was at that moment that the room, with a quiet slicing noise, was plunged into darkness. Something fell, not far from his ears, as his mind struggled to come to terms with the sudden change in atmosphere. The PM dropped the papers, which fell away onto the floor whilst he reached to his left, jabbing at the call button a number of times as his heart rate increased. He would normally have attributed such an event to a power cut, but…that noise…

"Hello?" he called, standing to his feet as he peered about the chamber, his frantic eyes taking a while to adjust as he cursed himself for his inventive imagination. He searched by the light of the city speckling through the window, seeing the light panel on the wall nearby. He moved quickly, turning on the trio of overhead mountings and breathing a sigh of relief as the lights came back on, the world returned to normal, supposedly. Yet…it clearly hadn't been a power cut. Perhaps a burst bulb? Frowning and mumbling about poor quality electrical, he scoured the room for some sign of what had transpired.

Nothing was there.

No sign of anyone, no sign to say that anything had happened…apart from one, very specific detail.

Widened eyes and a gaping jaw came to define the PM's face as he walked back to his chair and the side table. His steps were unsteady and uneasy, as he gazed in horror at the now-decapitated swan lamp, its polished wood shape now sliced perfectly in two. And indeed, it was a perfect cut, its workmanship almost as good as that of the lamp itself, something he would perhaps have appreciated more if put to constructive use. The head section lay on the table, the bulb that it had once lit the room with now cracked from where it had hit the surface.

His favourite lamp, destroyed.

But by what?

He stood up again, looking about and again seeing nothing. He grimaced; his belief beggared by how security with its supposedly perfect protection had as yet failed to arrive despite his use of the button.

It was at that moment that a series of cracks resounded across the room, the man looking up as a shadow moved out of the corner of his eye. He never caught what it looked like, but he saw its effects, every CCTV camera but one now gutted, their casing falling out of their wall insets and sprinkling to the floor like dust.

"Who's there?!" the PM roared, both out of anger and fear. As no reply came, however, the latter began to dominate.

World leader or no world leader, he was still a man, and, in the absence of anything to fight, he took the option to flight.

His feet pounded against the dark green carpet as he raced to the door, grabbing at the polished brass handle and pulling it in an attempt to open the large and reinforced hardwood door. It shuddered, stopped by the locks in place on it. He pulled harder, but it was no use. The door was deadlocked, and there was no escape. He turned, making a break for the only other door in the room, the emergency exit on the other side, flanked by the reinforced windows. He pulled on the bar, the door doing…nothing.

Panicked, his hands began to bash at the glass, but it was too strong. He put his head to the window, peering through and looking down to the escape stairs, now a crumpled heap two storeys below. He staggered back in disbelief, one hand rushing to the side of his head and pressing against his temple.

Someone was trying to kill him.

"Come on, remember your training," he mumbled, the idea of keeping thoughts to oneself going out his head very quickly. Despite a thousand security briefings, military training and his life permanently at-risk from a number of hostile parties, he still stood for a number of seconds before rushing his hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone.

He jabbed at the buttons, first of all calling his personal security number, and then pressing to dial.

**No signal found.**

The man raised an eyebrow, gritting his teeth before simply calling the emergency number,

**1-1-0**

He put it back to his ear, amazed that his 'universal access' phone, free of any network obligations or fixation to only public transmitters, couldn't find anything. There was a transmitter right in the building, one able to penetrate even the high security walls and protection. This made absolutely no sense, but it didn't seem to be the only thing like that right now.

Looking up in frustration, he spied the traditionally-designed phone on the side table, making a bee line towards it and once again dialling the same number, albeit with an external call prefix. The brass digits felt as well worked and exquisite as ever, but his mind not in the mood to contemplate such a thought.

**9-1-1-0**

He lifted it to his ear, hearing a long, single tone. The phone was unable to connect. He reached down again, dialling an internal number.

**0**

Listening in again to the phone, he raised an eyebrow at the absence of any tone whatsoever. He glanced down, suddenly finding the cord connecting the handset to the base severed in two. And the cut was, unsurprisingly now, perfect as ever.

"Damn it," he cursed, turning and striding towards the computer on the opposite wall.

With a loud crashing noise, the lighting bracket nearest the door crashed down in front of him, moments from sending him to a painful grave.

He stepped around, quickly reaching to turn on the computer in the now dimmed room as his heart rate increased yet again, racing as he tapped his hands on the desk. His eyes flicked about, his head glancing behind and looking for any sign of his attacker.

Nothing manifested on the computer screen, and no whirring came from the terminal under the desk. Inukai slammed his hand against the keyboard, spinning round and yelling angrily.

"COME OUT!" he roared, hoping that at least his words would be heard by someone else in the building. He knew there was no other way out - the place was built to withstand a bomb attack, and every single circumvention designed to allow him to escape in such a situation had been systematically removed. The fire door would not reopen, no matter how much he attacked it. The glass was too hard, even the bookshelves couldn't break it if they fell onto it.

His heart raced faster than ever - if his assailant didn't get him he knew that a heart attack would.

He walked toward the shattered light stand, looking down at it mournfully. His footsteps were hard, every action a portmanteau of anger and fear. Testosterone pumped through his veins, as his hands curled into fists. He wasn't going down without a fight.

"COME OUT AND FACE ME!"

He almost leapt in the air as, behind him, an almost silent swish was followed by yet another cacophonous crash of wood and glass. He spun round, the room now much dimmer as he saw the lighting bracket closest to the windows now on the floor, another of his cherished belongings destroyed by the unseen force.

Eyes looked up, seeing the one remaining lighting bracket a metre or two from him, half-expecting it to fall right there and then. But, it didn't.

He stared. Something was going to happen. Something had to happen.

Nothing.

Nothing.

A tap at the window.

His eyes glanced away, only for the light to suddenly die out, the quiet smashing of bulbs singing in tune to it. He looked up, all but one of the twelve bulbs smashed in quick succession as a sprinkling of glass fell to the floor.

It took every ounce of discipline he had to stop himself screaming out in fear. What could possibly be doing this to him? A spectre of some kind? The man had never been religious or suspicious, but right now this seemed like nothing other than an act of God.

He looked up, seeing the single bulb there, the risk of it going out at any time causing his pulse to race, his mind throbbing as he daren't close his eyes.

As he stared, he swore he saw the light blink, fade, its filament dancing around and playing games with him, or was it simply his mind? Finally he could bear it no longer, abandoning all attempts to not show fear to his unseen opponent (to whom gentleman-like and honourable conduct evidently meant nothing) and taking a deep breath.

"HELP…

"…me?" interrupted a voice, its tone oddly jarring with the Japanese accent of the prime minister. The voice sounded antiquated somewhat, almost historic, and yet its actual tone was far newer, and had tinges of a child-like nature.

"…who…who are you?!" the man yelled, yet again to thin air.

The air in front of him rushed aside, a shape materialising in its place. Being a few metres away, unfortunately meant that however much the PM tried to focus his eyes, the illumination of the light bulb failed to reach it enough to define its form well (not that it was effective at lighting anything at all in its singular state). Of what he could see, it was a fairly tall and imposing one, one which was clearly not human, or if it was it was gargantuan. Its body seemed barren, absent of armour or colour, besides the dark coloured form itself, although he speculated the darkness was playing tricks with his vision. It was fairly slim, if slightly muscular in places, and a long, thin item, presumably a weapon, was held down in its hand.

"It does not matter."

"I am the Prime Minister of Japan, Inukai Keishiro, and by the power invested in me by its citizens I _demand_ you tell me who you are!" he roared, putting every single ounce of his voice into anger and the avoidance of his real fear creeping through.

"Will they thank you?" the voice spoke, unfazed. It sounded masculine, yet, strangely, it sounded feminine, its tone a mix of young and old.

"What are you…?"

"Will they thank you, at their end?"

"Thank me for what?"

"Failing."

"Failing? At what?"

"Surviving." The figure raised his weapon, the PM taking a horrified step back before whatever it was harmlessly dug it back into the ground with a strong grip. A clanging noise sounded, the collision of the item with the metal supports of the building, but the floor creaked heavily as the support was broken through.

"How…how did you?! Wait…are you…a Digimon?"

"Humans are pathetic at survival," was all the figure replied on the subject.

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

"It is not personal."

"What…then why?!"

"You are a King."

"What? I'm not a King! I'm a Prime Minister."

"If the King dies, the game is lost."

"But…" the PM began, pausing as he reheard what the figure had said. It was remarkable how still it had stood for all this time. "Are you referring to Chess?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

"This is a spark. Alternatively, you are the first domino."

"You are remarkably charismatic for a shadowed figure," the PM said, laughing in the grim face of death. Given the shadowed figure held a weapon in his hand, he very well may have been the reaper himself.

"I do not appreciate humour," it said again, its voice almost monotonous. Was this an act? Not a single tonal change in the Digimon's voice had made it clear what emotions it felt.

"Well then this is not funny. Let me go!"

"You know the room is sealed. The five hour lockdown has been activated."

"The…" Inukai began, his eyes widening. "Shit, no!" he exclaimed, recalling the ten hour lockdown procedure now in place, intended so that hostage-takers could not enter the room should the situation occur. Had security, his bane, been his downfall too? Fate had a dark sense of humour evidently, even if his enemy did not.

"Your escape routes have been locked. Your communications have been disabled. Your security system is down. All mobile transmitters in range have been destroyed."

"But there are military…"

"All mobile transmitters in range have been destroyed."

"Hmph," Mr Keishiro grunted, pondering why he had yet to be killed. Did the Digimon want his work showcased? If he was, pride could be his downfall. To make it so, the PM had to stall for long enough, and he doubted he could.

"Do you have any last questions?"

Feeling a lump come quickly to his throat at the word "last", the middle-aged man decided to make a point of the plural. "If your work is complete, why did you leave that security camera intact?" he asked, gesturing to the corner of the room. If the Digimon were to move to destroy it, he could have his chance at escape, perhaps by making his assassin shatter the window? That blade was powerful - he had to use it somehow, be it by his hands or by its.

The Digimon glanced aside, unfazed by the camera before looking back to his captive. "That is intentional."

Gritting his teeth, the PM cursed the failure of his distraction plan. What else could he do? "Why?"

"It will be useful later."

"For what?"

The Digimon did not reply.

"You asked if I had any last questions."

"I am not obligated to answer them. Now you will die," the Digimon said, taking a menacing step forward and into the light. The PM didn't have time to look, instead stumbling back as the weapon drew closer to him, his form falling to a crouch and the light now in his eye. The figure loomed over him, his eyes still unable to see clearly.

"Wait! Why are you killing me?!" he cried, feeling tears on his face, but they seemed distant. Everything was so surreal, so unusual. So terrifying.

"Because of what you let happen!" the figure said, its voice changing and a sadistic tone added to it. It sounded familiar, human, almost…

"Wait…no… it's…you! But…why? Why are _you_ trying to kill me?! I have never…" the PM shrieked, his eyes widening in horror.

"Done anything to me? You really don't know anything, do you?"

The man stared on in disbelief, the reality of what was happening still failing to truly register in his mind. Unfortunately for him, it never would either.

"Goodbye."

His plans to push forward and survive overthrown by the shock of the revelation and ruled redundant by the sudden attack, Mr Keishiro could only react by screaming as he felt the metal of the weapon strike him and effortlessly pierce his skin and flesh. His voice simply wasn't there to holler though, dying out quickly, even as he wanted to cry more and more from the pain. His attempts to scream stopped, the weapon twisting, and then, to his horror, the sensation of piercing skin into flesh repeated again, only backwards…and behind.

His eyes widened, he reached to the weapon, pressing his hands against it but screaming in pain as it cut into his fingers, blood beginning to pour. Suddenly, his wish came through, the item ripped back out of him as more blood poured forth, Inukai falling onto his hands and screaming in pain. His screaming stopped as he coughed up blood, the Digimon watching nonchalantly.

"What does it feel like?" it asked, again in the second voice. It paused, looking into the Prime Minister's eyes as the blood pouring started to let up, not for lack of injury but merely for lack of blood.

This made no difference - the man had no voice, no words with which to speak, an ironic end for a man who was meant to be charismatic in his work. This, however, did not please his attacker.

"I asked…what does death feel like?" it repeated, its voice suddenly with a slight tone of panic to it. "Tell me…please…" it asked, frail tones overtaking it at its height.

But it was too late. Inukai Keishiro looked up, the blazing and angry eyes of his killer the last thing he would ever see, as darkness claimed him…

The Digimon looked down, gritting its teeth as it sharply kicked the corpse, irritated by its enemy's lack of strength and ability to mention what lurked beyond. Worried, the first voice spoke again, concerned and affectionate tones ladled into its voice. "R…"

"Shut up…it's nothing. Let's just get this over with," the second replied harshly, in no mood to extend this any longer.

"As you wish," the first said, joint hands rising with the weapon as power radiated through them. It rushed downwards, stabbing into the floor once again, through a puddle of blood…the tip glowing with energy…

A few moments later, Chiyoda Ward witnessed its loudest explosion for over 60 years.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**

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A/N: **A murder - a lovely, tasteful start to a new book, and one which inevitably raises more questions than answers. It was nice to have a retrospective on the lives of the Tamers and Hypnos between **Book Six** and now in any case. Hopefully my writing standard continues to be high even when it comes to such ghastly subject matter, and I'm hoping you're all nice and eager to see what follows…to which I reply, the inevitable, "wait and see."

For some reason, when writing the 'first voice', I couldn't help but hear it as per Yuki's voice in **The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya**. Odd that.

Until next time…

B.C.


	2. Phase One: Natsuki Takara

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **So, after the rather dramatic prologue to this Book, now for the first chapter. Speaking of chapters, I'm sure (hopefully) some of you are wondering what the naming scheme for this book will be. The previous one was 'The Trick To…', and there have been other similar ideas in the past.

Well, this time round, I think I'll leave my readers to work it out. It should be pretty obvious after a few chapters, but we'll see…

Thanks, as always, go to Crazyeight for being a fantastic beta reader.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

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**CHAPTER ONE**

**Phase One**

_Natsuki Takara_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Apartment Building, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:01 JST**_

"_I must be insane."_

It was, unsurprisingly given the task she was about to perform, not the first time that this particular blonde had had that particular thought, as she looked up at a block of_ fairly_ modern flats. A pair of short concrete walls lined a doorway with a few _fairly_ okay attempts at gardening made in a few potted plants lining the main entrance. A _fairly _narrow strip of grass separated it from the road, a _fairly _quiet one without too much throughput for a_ fairy_ large portion of the day.

In fact, all things considered, it seemed to be, unsurprisingly, a_ fairly_ normal apartment building, five or so storeys high and with an okay view of the city over some of the lower rise buildings nearby. Nothing special.

Almost.

She glanced down at the pavement again, a slight dent in one point, supposedly from a heavy delivery. At least, that's what their inquiries said. But, how could it be? This wasn't a house, this was an apartment block, and she would easily wager that the lift wasn't big enough to take something like a sofa that made such a big crater, at least without breaking it into pieces. Plus, what could make such a dent when dropped such a short distance onto concrete? Even a washing machine wasn't heavy enough, and certainly wasn't large enough.

"_A Digimon, on the other hand."_

Of course, the government wasn't naïve. Digimon existed, had been seen by all, and hence there was no need to hide them. Or rather, the situation had rather got too far out of hand, probably not helped by the public sight of Vikaralamon and the other Devas to start with, and the destruction they left behind. The subsequent D-Reaper, 'glass man' and 'numeric demolition' incidents had done nothing but reinforce their existence, coupled with that of the Tamers who played an instrumental role in minimising the destruction of those incidents.

But, it was evident to many people that, while they weren't covering up the Tamers or Digimon from the public, they were covering up other things, perhaps more sinister things.

That was the nature of a cover-up though. No-one truly knew what was going on.

Yet.

She breathed in deeply, hoping she wouldn't 'disappear' between now and, well, ever. Hopefully the rumours weren't as true that they seemed, particularly given that the most sinister ones evidently involved alcohol and bright street lamps in their conception.

She had to see Ryder. Mari too, but Ryder in particular. Everything seemed to revolve around him, from the resolution of the 'numeric demolition' incident to his long hospital stay not long afterwards, to the end of the Zweite incident. The Tamers were all involved, but…he was the one who got in trouble. Always. Or rather, would have, it seemed, should government have not saved him.

Right now, the government seemed to have bigger problems. The death of the Prime Minister had been in the news everywhere, rolling on news stations and plastered across newspapers. As yet, nothing concrete had come out, besides the fact that his death had been treated as suspicious. The media, however, had filled in the rest, theories ranging from terrorist groups to militant residents angered by development and changes, from people defending their honour and the old way to, of course, Digimon.

"_Ugh, they have it all so wrong. Digimon are nice, and they know that - why do they have to keep putting them down?"_ she asked herself, knowing the answer - it sold papers. There was a distinct chord of discontent under-running a lot of opinions in the media, ranging from calls for more research into the creatures to downright genocide. The Digital World widely featured, poorly researched opinions based on the card game used to back supposedly persuasive arguments.

But, for the most part, life went on. The government, through its Tamers, had a handle on things, and they were a benevolent force, fighting for good, backed up by their permanent civilian observers: Digital Watch.

The blonde glanced up again, across the array of balconies and windows, her mind trying to guess at which one her destination was. She looked straight above the dent, presuming it was one of those but knowing that there were no easy answers here - if a Digimon had fallen, it could've been thrown pretty far by another Digimon. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled forth a small piece of paper, an address written on it.

**Room 29**

"_I guess that must be on the second floor. Then again, it__'s not always that simple. Could be the third. Wonder which system they use here for numbering floors."_

She breathed in deeply, taking a step from the pavement towards the apartment, and then another. This was going to be easy, she told herself. All she had to do was knock on the door…and then see what happened. Hopefully, she wouldn't get it slammed straight back in her face.

Pushing the door open, she felt the atmosphere change as she entered the lobby. Like the building, it was nothing special, and certainly didn't have anything fancy like a receptionist. The layout was simple, a number of locked mailboxes lining one wall, and a set of stairs and a lift the other. The wallpaper was a slightly sickly pale yellow, the sort of thing used to furnish places which the decorator didn't have to use.

Stepping up to the lift, she tapped the call button and waited as the metal doors groaned slightly, the numbers dropping down until they stopped on the number **1**. Evidently, this building had the ground-level floor as the first floor. She racked her mind; trying to picture the window she had seen on what she now knew to be the second floor. They were all too similar, however, and she quickly gave up. This building was very nondescript, and she didn't doubt that it was purposefully aimed that way.

The dead smell of the air in the lift wafted up her nostrils as the doors clunked apart, the result of them simply ferrying the product of dozens of human breaths up and down day-in day-out. A note on fire safety and the instructions for what to do should the lift, god forbid, breakdown, sat just above the call buttons, and she hoped her hunch about floor numbering was correct as she tapped the one for the second floor, one storey above where she was.

The lift drew upwards; thankfully empty of any other occupants on what was a fairly quiet time of day. Of course, it could perhaps have been because everyone was still getting over the shock that their PM had been assassinated. The fact it was a week of school holidays in the middle of the term meant that most kids were free to roam the city as they pleased, which made it more surprising how she had seen no-one since arriving at the apartment. Perhaps it wasn't that popular for those with children to live here.

It stopped again, not long after, and she stepped out, taking a pace along the corridor before pausing when she saw the numbers on the doors, set along the wall in pairs.

**06**

**07**

"Ugh," she moaned, turning around just as the lift doors closed. She pressed the button, but it had already been called away. She groaned as she looked to the ceiling, before wandering towards the stairs, mumbling about how useless technology was. It was just her luck that someone would call the lift just as she used it, even when everywhere seemed so…empty. _"And knowing my luck even more, it'll be Ryder and Mari heading out using it."_

Her complaints about the stairs weren't well justified, the girl easily mounting them with her fairly athletic pace, the product of a reasonable dose of sport and a fairly active lifestyle. She barely looked at the next floor, the third from the bottom, and kept heading up and onwards to the next one.

Reaching the fourth floor, she glanced at the numbers, seeing she had now reached the twenties. The numbers on the nearest door read **20 and 21**, and as she headed down the corridor they increased, a lump growing in her throat as she walked. How would they react? What was she doing? Was she insane?

She paused when she realised she had reached the end of the corridor, a fire door at the end leading to an emergency staircase. Cursing how she had let her anxiety distract her, she glanced back at the most recent number, raising an eyebrow.

**28**

She groaned once again, the sense of the building evidently completely lost. The numbers were simply sequential and not split by floors or, indeed, anything.

"_What does the whole world have against me finding this place?"_

Turning to the fire escape, she pushed her way through before heading upwards, this room even less decorated than the lobby and main staircase, its walls a functional white. The hand rail was fairly cold to the touch as she climbed, soon enough returning to the warmer hallway, albeit the one above. She turned her attentions to the plates on the door and the numbers imprinted in them, the room otherwise identical to the one she had been in only a few moments before.

**29**

"Finally," she mumbled to herself, taking an uneasy step towards the door, before she shuffled back and took it all in, not yet ready to make any move towards actually entering. Her hands unconsciously played with her blonde hair, pushing it up into a ponytail and back down again, as she mused the situation she had found herself in. Part of her hoped they would be out - at least then she would have an excuse to tell herself for why she hadn't seen them. Maybe they had gone down in the lift. Maybe they were visiting a friend.

Then again, if they had, then this whole long journey had been a complete waste of time.

She sighed deeply, putting her hand on the door and wondering about what was behind it. Maybe they were having a nice, peaceful, happy time. Maybe they'd been dealing with a bioemergence she simply hadn't heard about. Was she disturbing them? She didn't want to ruin their morning by prying.

But this was her idea…well, kind of. Regardless, she knew she had to follow through now. She'd invested far too much in it, not just in terms of cost but in terms of support, and it was too soon to stay back. Letting her now slightly-ruffled hair drop down again, she bit her lip, stepping forward and knocking at the door.

"Just a minute," shouted a female voice from within, muffled by the timber. She heard footsteps grow close, quieter voices following before the door finally opened, revealing a brunette with a curious smile on her face.

She obviously wasn't expecting guests, her loose shoulder-length hair slightly ruffled, the product of no intention to leave the house. Or perhaps, on the other hand, it was a fashion choice.

The blonde glanced over her, amazed to see her in real life and weight added to her 'fashion-choice' idea. The warmer weather was clearly having its impact, the girl garbed in a sleeveless and slim black top and jeans. An attempt at revealing a slight bit of cleavage seemed to have been made above a number of seemingly random numbers that formed the design of the top, arranged in three lines and all in block white print.

**11-1-2-7-3**

**9-8-10-14-4**

**13-12-5-6**

Dismissing the sequence as the produce of 'inspiration' by some over-eager fashion designer, the newcomer couldn't help but notice that now, instead of the rather happy and helpful smile she had originally worn, this girl's mouth now formed a thin frown, her eyes slightly widened. They danced up and down, taking in the form at the door, oddly focusing on her bust and stomach rather a lot more than the blonde was expecting. She felt nervous, standing there in her simple dark blue top and jeans with a simple leather satchel-bag over her shoulder, feeling that somehow her fashion and appearance was being judged. This wasn't the impression she had gotten of Mari Flynn from what she had read.

"Excuse me?" the girl finally spoke up, her tones conveying how irritated she had become by the other girl's actions even if they had only been for a few moments. She wasn't used to this kind of treatment.

"You can't be…" the brunette began, stopping mid-sentence.

"_Huh? What is with her? She__'s nothing like what I read at all." _"I can't be what?"

Before Mari could reply, she was joined at the door by a guy, taller than her, and who looped his arm around her shoulder with a smile. However, this smile quickly faded, he giving the same response when he looked into the blonde's blue eyes as the girl next to him had, his own brown pair widening in surprise as he stuttered a single word. "Ivy?"

"What?"

Was Ryder just as crazy as his girlfriend seemed to be? Did Tamers simply go insane as a result of their adventures? So far, the girl hadn't seen anything to the contrary from either brunette, and she had hoped that the boy would have helped in some way, perhaps by speaking Japanese rather than nonsense.

Despite her reservations about being observed by what now looked like a comedy sketch, she still couldn't help but take in the fact that this was one of the Tamers, real in the flesh. His brown hair was ruffled unevenly and his dark brown-green shirt was emblazoned with several triads of yellow, red and white lines in a seemingly random arrangement, looking very much thrown-together rather than having the odd precision which the girl next to him had. It was certainly not the most well-thought out array of fashion, the baggy look of his khaki pants below taking away from the idea that these were two, fairly professional Tamers who endured a tough job.

The boy, finally, shook his head, mumbling. "Nothing."

The blonde watched as Mari glanced to him, raising an eyebrow before Ryder gave a slight shake of his head back. Just what was going on between them? Would anyone ever let her in on the secret?

"Sorry, I thought we knew you," Mari said, a warm smile back on her face as she extended a hand in greeting. "Mari Flynn. And you are?"

She paused, glancing down at the hand, bewildered by how quickly the previous…whatever it was…had been brushed off as nothing. _They_ were right, these people weren't normal. But sinister? Even with their display of greetings at first, she couldn't help but feel they didn't go that far, and certainly didn't justify the calls from the media about them.

Still, something odd did abound. Where were their Digimon anyway? Were they hiding? Why when the government didn't really mind them, even endorsed them? Then again, they could just have been being cautious, not a bad move on such a bad day.

The girl finally met her hand with that of the brunette, smiling back and hoping that simply brushing off the confusing actions now would yield answers in the future. That was, of course, if they weren't about to tell her to go away for the reason she had come here. "Natsuki Takara."

"Ryder Stevens," the guy greeted, Natsuki feeling that their introductions were a tad pointless. Plenty of people knew who they were, to the point where they had become minor celebrities, albeit in some cases for the wrong reasons. Still, all publicity supposedly was good publicity. "Pleased to meet you…but…well…who are you?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Natsuki apologised, quickly reaching into her satchel-bag and pulling forth a small piece of paper, headed by some very familiar words: **Digital Watch**. "I'm here from Digital Watch."

"Ugh, prying into our lives _again_," Ryder grumbled, frowning, before shaking his head at his own words. "Sorry, I'm not being fair, I know you're not all like that, but…I'd just like some peace at times _without_ being tracked," he said apologetically.

"As if Hypnos would ever let us have that anyway," Mari whispered back with a smile, before turning and presenting it to the girl at the door again. "So…what do you want?"

"Well…I was hoping we could maybe…talk?"

"Talk?" Ryder asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you see," Natsuki began, already feeling guilty for interrupting their lives. She wasn't even sure if what she wanted to talk about wasn't just going to be pointless trivia now, and any confidence she had remaining in her plan had quickly fallen away as soon as she had been 'eyed'. "Everyone just finds out stuff about you through other means, and I saw how stupid that was because…well…maybe you guys would just…talk," she explained, frowning as she realised how incoherent she had been. She felt the lump in her throat rise, knowing that they could simply tell her to "go away" at any moment.

Instead, Mari continued to smile, even perhaps smiled more as she stepped aside. "Please, come in," she said, Ryder giving her an uneasy look as Natsuki warily nodded, surprised that she had even gotten this far.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she passed, stepping in and glancing about at the apartment around her.

Like much of what she had seen so far, it was, well, _fairly_ normal. The focal point of the room was easily the large glass windows at the far end, only a slight crack in the frame of one corner breaking the sight out upon nearby parts of the city. It wasn't exactly breathtaking, but it wasn't a bad view either. The sunlight shone through, casting its rays across a pair of sofas around a coffee table, its modern glass top currently occupied by two glasses of drink, coasters under them. A TV sat silently nearby, it and the laptop on a small desk on the left hand side the only real sign of luxury in an otherwise fairly functional room. A few embellishments filled it, regardless - a model of a seemingly-famous Ferris wheel she had once seen in a photograph on a shelf in the kitchen to her right, a wireless phone sitting in its base on the side in the kitchen, and a few photographs with a cracked pair of goggles on the top of a nearby cabinet. On the right hand wall, two doors led off, and at the end of the kitchen area, the wall jutted across a bit, the third door embedded into that wall probably leading to a bathroom.

All in all, it was just…normal. Too normal for her liking, although what she had expected she didn't know. Some form of advanced control centre? Digimon pens? She shook her head dismissively at the idiotic ideas.

Still, there seemed something so unusual, and slightly saddening, about two teens living alone together. Plenty of rumours abounded on Digital Watch about Mari's parents and their fate, but it was solidly clear that they had died at some point in an accident. As for Ryder, well, his parentage was completely unknown. Regardless, she wasn't here to discuss such conscientious subjects, particularly since she already felt she had simply barged her way in even if they had been fairly welcoming. Well, after a few rather confusing moments at least.

"_Just make friends with them Nat. Just make friends," _she told herself, not really believing her own words. Sure, they would probably tell their friends more than they would tell her. But how on earth could she hope to ever become one of their group? She lived on the other side of the city, didn't have a Digimon, and was a member of an organisation which they were evidently wary about. She felt so self-conscious as she put her hands on her hips and paused to look about more, odd since it was something she had done a thousand times before without a problem. "This is a really nice place."

"Thanks," Mari said, beaming in gratitude. "So, Natsuki, what did you want to talk about?"

"You can just call me Nat if you want," the girl replied, smiling as she hoped she was being friendlier. Anything to get rid of the butterflies in her stomach.

"Ah, okay, Nat then."

"I can't really shorten my name to anything," Ryder said, giving a brief smile. "Without it sounding stupid, at least."

"I shorten my name."

"By one letter, Marie," the boy said, emphasising the 'e'. "You're as bad as Rei."

"And just like her, it doesn't sound any different either," spoke a voice. Natsuki looked rather bewildered at first as she glanced about, finally settling on its source as she realised that something new had arrived, almost without notice.

With a flurry of tail and fur, DarkRenamon touched down next to Mari, prepared for another day of life as it was nowadays. She looked unfazed by the blonde's presence, making no effort to inspect her hair, strands running down the front of her to just below her shoulder whilst the rest fell down the back, or even, like her Tamer, her dimensions. Who met a new person without even being fazed by their presence, particularly when her Tamer had already given a more-than-fazed response?

She looked over the Digimon even if the Digimon barely looked back, amazed to see one in-the-flesh as it were. _"She looks so real…I mean, I knew she was real, but…she's a lot more furry than I thought she would be…I guess I thought data would be all spiky and harsh…"_

"Oh, Nat, this is DarkRenamon, my partner," Mari said, for a brief time an apprehensive look on her face. She was clearly afraid that the newcomer would scream and run.

"Hi," Natsuki said, waving unsurely at the Digimon who gave a bow of response. "Wow," she mumbled, continuing to look up and down the Kitsune. "Sorry, I've just…never seen a real Digimon this close before. You're…amazing."

The blonde's eyes gazed over the vixen's face, wondering what her reaction was to her words. She barely seemed to show any change, which was rather troubling and off-putting for a human used to telling others emotions through their body language. Nothing but a nod gave her confirmation she had even been heard.

"Thank you," she uttered.

Ryder raised an eyebrow at this point, casting a nervous glance around the room about him. "Uh…one second," he said, raising a finger to make the same gesture as his words. Natsuki raised an eyebrow, whilst Mari simply brushed off the fact that he was now wandering towards the kitchen and subsequently begun opening the various cupboards and drawers.

"_Uh…is he just really hungry or something all of a sudden? I thought the British were meant to be polite."_

"Do you want to sit down?" Mari asked, evidently completely unperturbed by the boy's unusual actions.

"Uh, yeah," Natsuki replied, paying yet another confused look in Ryder's direction as he gave up in the kitchen, giving a dismissive gesture before entering the left hand door on the wall. The blonde looked away as he vanished from sight, turning back and falling back on the sofa opposite Mari. It felt lovely and comfortable, something she appreciated greatly after her long, arduous walk.

The brunette, meanwhile, seemed slightly unnerved by Natsuki's actions and continued confused gaze, but she once again brushed it off. She was evidently in a good mood even if she seemed to have a slight 'edge' to her right now which gave her a strange and only slightly perceivable 'attitude'. For all they knew about the Tamers at Digital Watch, they didn't really know anything about what they were actually like. Well, besides avoiding Rika Nonaka and her temper at all costs. So, for all they knew, this was just Mari's normal attitude.

"So, was it a long way then Nat?"

"Not that far," the blonde lied. She didn't want to make the girl feel guilty, not after she'd already been so nice. Mostly. "The city is so quiet today anyway; it wasn't hard to get through it. Everyone doesn't really know how to react."

Mari frowned, nodding solemnly. "Yeah, I know. It's horrible, isn't it?"

"The worst thing is, we don't even know what really happened. I mean, this was a high security place - they'd be well prepared for anything."

"No system is perfect," DarkRenamon surmised, Natsuki barely having noticed her crossing over to stand behind her Tamer by the sofa. "Even when Ygg…never mind," she began, before stopping all of a sudden. Her snout turned towards Mari, a concerned gaze received in reply.

"_That__'s…weird. What was she going to say? I can't even think of any words that begin with 'Ygg' at all. Unless it's a name? But what…maybe I should ask? But, she didn't seem to want to say anything about it."_

"So, what did you want to ask about then Nat?" Mari asked, Natsuki noting her swift alteration of the subject.

"Uh…whatever you want."

The blonde quickly cursed herself for how stupid she sounded. She'd crossed the city, practically broken into their home and sparked up a conversation only to ask _them_ what they wanted to talk about. Hell, they didn't even know her - how would they know what they wanted to talk about?

"Uh…okay, well…what made you want to come visit us?"

Natsuki's eyes looked rightwards and up towards the ceiling as she remembered the past few weeks. "There was this, really, really long discussion on Digital Watch…about its future."

"Its future?"

"Yeah. There were like, two groups, people who wanted us to continue being subversive and those who wanted us to be more public and upfront about how we wanted to know things."

"So, those who look for my bras versus those who look for the one wearing them?" Mari asked, a slim and bewildered smile on her face as she rolled her eyes skyward. She crossed her arms, smiling a tad wider. "And yeah, I already heard about that conversation from a friend of mine. We're not exactly oblivious to what you guys talk about, although I'm sure you guys already know that."

Natsuki chuckled, slightly nervously as she worried that she had been 'found out'. "A-mari-ca?" she said, pronouncing each syllable independently.

"Yeah, that's one of many of my aliases. We don't stay the same for long - you guys would just ask too many questions."

"Yeah…oh," Natsuki said, her face falling as she realised the irony of the situation. "Sorry."

"At least you're upfront about it. Seriously, half the perverts on there would want to know stuff I don't even tell Ryder if I went on there. I don't really like the internet either, so I'm not really that warm to the idea of spending every day from now on fielding a million questions from a huge fan base too scared to leave their bedrooms for fear the outside world be too scary."

"Ironic that you are so deeply involved in matters of the internet then," DarkRenamon noted from behind, Natsuki still unable to perceive what expression she held. Mari simply snorted.

"You don't like Digital Watch, do you?"

"Well, I don't hate you guys…just…I really hate the idea that I can't do anything without you guys following my every move. It's like having paparazzi - only these guys don't have cameras. Plus, it's disturbing when they talk about…what they think of me," she said, a slight shudder to her as she did so.

"Yeah…it worries me too, and I don't want us to get on your bad side."

"I'm not stupid; I know it's not intentional."

At that moment, Ryder walked out of his room and caused both girls to look in his direction. He stood still outside, chewing his lip as he seemed to ponder something. He turned, glancing to the door next to his and putting a hand on its handle, before Mari interrupted.

"Tell the pervert that if he's in my underwear drawer then I'll get DarkRenamon to eat him."

"I'll let him know," Ryder replied, rolling his eyes at the suggestion. He didn't look all that surprised by the idea either. Natsuki raised an eyebrow as Ryder smiled to Mari, it evidently being a rare occasion when he ventured into her room. Clearly, living together for these two wasn't all that easy, particularly not when Digimon were involved.

"_I couldn__'t live with a guy at my age though. Or even a girl for that matter," _Natsuki thought, the idea of walking in on either bringing a light blush to her face, let alone the idea of even trying to cook. _"God, there'd be so much mess. I can't even keep my room tidy, and it's tiny. These two must need to be pretty close to get on that well."_

"That goes for you too Ryder," Mari added, not paying him a second glance as she settled down to looking back at her female companion. Natsuki cursed herself for the strange expression on her face as with a chuckle and a creak the door to the girl's bedroom closed. "It's hard enough with him."

"Really? He doesn't seem that bad." _"In fact, the only one I've seen making any sort of suggestions like that is you."_

Mari chuckled slightly, a slim smile on her face. "I know he's not, just…never mind."

"_Hmm…these two are so weird. And, this girl…what side of the bed did she wake up on this morning? Or do they always keep things as secretive as this? I guess me being here doesn__'t really help."_

"So, you were saying?"

"Oh…right…uh, well, we had this big discussion about whether it was better to, well, be quiet or be loud. I wanted to be loud, because I knew how much it would annoy you guys to keep snooping like this."

"And the others didn't like it?"

"No, not at all. They said you would never tell us anything - that we had to go under the radar if we ever wanted to find out anything. And then, one guy gave me an ultimatum."

"An ultimatum?"

"Yeah. Either I prove myself by visiting one of you guys personally and show we could actually find something out this way, or I shut up."

"But, you could just…lie, couldn't you? I mean, how would he or any of them know? Wait, they're not watching us right now, are they?"

"We're a mix of computer geeks and perverts, not trained spies. To be honest, we're not always watching you like you think we are. We don't even keep track of you all half the time - we have school and lives too, you know? Plus, given that the community is mainly guys who like fireworks and explosions and hate the tedium of day-to-day life, most people don't want to follow you guys either."

"But that means that, as I said, you could just lie, right?"

Natsuki shook her head, frowning. "Unfortunately, whilst 99 percent of the group is either perverted, a pyromaniac, a fangirl, insane, quiet or one of your group's identities, there's 1 percent, like me and this guy who I was arguing with, who have our heads screwed on right and are genuinely interested in it all…uh, no offense to you and your identities though."

"None taken. So, what kind of proof does he want? Bear in mind that if he wants to take down more of our measurements, I am going to tell Rika who will find and personally kill him."

Natsuki chuckled, the rage of Rika something infamous now in the community, perhaps beyond the reality. But, the facts never got in the way of a good story, in the media, in public image and in conspiracy theories, and so it stuck. "Uh, well, no. He just said I needed photographic proof that I came here," she explained, frowning as she put her hand on her satchel, pulling her small black camera case just far enough out for her to see it was there without her becoming worried she was about to be captured by it without her permission. "Uh, if you're okay with that?"

Mari chuckled, sighing deeply and shaking her head in disbelief. "Fine, if I have to."

"Well, you don't h…"

"But I want to. After all, this guy sounds like a jerk, and jerks can't be right. So, what sort of photo do you need? One with me, one with Ryder, one with DarkRenamon, what?"

"Any of you really. It just has to show I've been here. The thing is, no-one knows what this apartment looks like on the inside so I can't just take a picture of me in it - they'll say I'm lying."

"Makes sense," Mari said, getting to her feet and wandering around the coffee table, her blonde companion watching her with a sense of disbelief still hanging in her mind. Was this really happening? They seemed so…nice. This should've been more difficult, she expected to have to beg to get anywhere near the idea of a photo. She felt there'd be a catch sometime soon, and something sinister still hung in the air.

She blinked, chewing her lip as she caught sight of those numbers on Mari's top again, it ruffling slightly as she moved.

**11-1-2-7-3**

**9-8-10-14-4**

**13-12-5-6**

"_Maybe someone online can work out what those are from the photo."_

Mari settled down next to the girl, as she remembered she still had to get the camera out. She once again reached into her bag, pulling forth the little case but this time opening it to reveal a small, silver camera. She glanced about at the room, wondering where she could put it for the best picture. Seeing only DarkRenamon and, doubting she could ask such a favour or that the Digimon could even perform such a task with inhuman hands, she resorted to simply holding it at arm's length as she pushed her head close to Mari's, hoping that the first shot would work. The idea of having to repeat the task again and again whilst inconveniencing Mari didn't appeal to her in the slightest.

"Cheese," Mari said, smiling widely. Natsuki raised an eyebrow, as the camera clicked, a sound effect occurring simultaneously which sounded like a poor rendition of a shutter. She pulled it back towards her and Mari and flipped it over, knowing already that the raised eyebrow would be in the shot.

"_Stupid Nat."_

Sure enough, there it was. She looked up to Mari apologetically, wondering if it would be at all possible or polite to ask for another picture, but the girl herself looked apologetic, catching the blonde off guard. "Sorry…back where I come from, we say things like 'cheese' as we take a photo so it makes us smile…I forgot they didn't say that here."

"Don't worry…I've looked stranger in photos before." _"Although I look downright perverted here, raising an eyebrow like that. God, I've joined the 99 percent, fantastic. They'll say I'm a yuri now too, ugh. Stupid, stupid, stupid…"_

It was at that point that Ryder strolled back into the room, still looking befuddled. "Okay, he wasn't anywhere in there either…although I didn't look in your…um…knickers drawer for that long…I mean…uh, I'm not perverted."

"Knickers?" Mari asked, sitting up on the sofa and turning back to face her boyfriend with a bewildered expression. "Oh, right, you mean panties."

Despite feeling she was interrupting what should've been a private conversation (particularly considering the subject matter), Natsuki couldn't help but be intrigued by it, particularly by how the two seemed to converse in perfect Japanese despite clearly being British and American respectively. Every single little nuance of detail was clearly conveyed, and that seemed all so…strange, particularly since she had heard several times that Japanese was incredibly difficult to learn, and practically impossible to master.

"Uh, yeah, that's what I meant."

"I still don't like the idea of you searching through my personal stuff anyway."

A teasing smile came to Ryder's face. "Why? What are you hiding?"

"Ugh, never you mind," Mari huffed, crossing her arms and sitting back in her seat. "Have you checked everywhere for him?" she asked over her shoulder. Natsuki began to ponder whether she was hearing a bit much for a guest, and, rather ironically, how useful such material would be on Digital Watch.

"_They__'d have a field day. A whole forum topic on 'what's in the depths of Mari's underwear drawer?'" _she thought, shuddering slightly at the idea whilst Mari gave her a rather confused look for her actions.

"Everywhere habitable. Uh, well, except the bathroom, and the fridge freezer…but you couldn't exactly…live…there…ah...crap," he said, alarm burning onto his face before he rushed over towards the refrigerator in the kitchen, pulling it open as quickly as possible without yanking the door clean off.

Natsuki and Mari both pushed themselves up, looking over towards the boy as he pulled out a red, bat-like creature by the foot.

"You bloody idiot."

"Me?!" MiniDonmon shivered, bits of ice all over his skin. "I left the door open so I could get out and one of you two shut it!"

"You left the door open, of course we shut it. It could've all melted. What were you doing in there anyway?"

"Eating." A wide grin flashed across the Digimon's face, visible even from Natsuki's distance, just like Ryder's subsequent sweat drop.

"Ugh. I've been searching all over for you," Ryder said, cradling the Digimon into his arms in an attempt to warm him up a bit. "This is why you should listen to me more."

"Meh. I still ate a lot of stuff."

Ryder looked down to the fridge, gasping in surprise at several empty packets and shelves. "But, we need that food!"

"And I needed to keep warm," MiniDonmon insisted, no guilt on his face and instead his grin remaining. The bat wriggled free from him, flapping into the air…

…and subsequently falling straight down to the ground, as both Ryder and Mari rolled their eyes.

Like a blur, DarkRenamon swept across, picking up her fellow Digimon from the floor by his frost-covered wing as he laughed sheepishly. "Oops," he mumbled, glancing about at the room in his moment of embarrassment.

It was evidently at that moment that he finally noticed they had a visitor.

"Hey, who are you?" he asked, pointing from his upside-down (and a tad sideways) position at the blonde now on the couch. "Wait…Ivy?" he continued, eyes widening in surprise as his tone rose in shock.

"Huh? Who?" wondered Natsuki. It wasn't the first time she'd heard the name today - just who was this 'Ivy' girl and what did she have to do with her? Did she look like the girl or something?

Without a word being said, DarkRenamon turned the bat up the right way again, a look of realisation crossing his gaze as his mistake became clear to him. "Oh, right…now that looks different, don't worry."

The blonde frowned, glancing away from the Digimon as out of the corner of her eye she saw Ryder, his hand on his chin as he seemed to ponder something, but what it could be she hadn't the faintest clue. _"Ugh, what is with all the secrets today?"_

Seeming to notice her, the boy stopped his pose, instead a strange and implacable grin on his face as he took an oddly enthusiastic step towards the sofa where his girlfriend and her sat. DarkRenamon dropped MiniDonmon down on the kitchen counter to watch as he thawed, whilst she silently took a step back into the shadows.

"Right, time to explain a few things," he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation as even Mari gave him a bewildered look. Natsuki looked even more confused. Just what was with this sudden burst of enthusiasm? Did it have to do with what he had just been thinking about?

The boy placed his hand on his chest, a wide and proud smile on his face as he introduced himself properly.

"My name is Ryder Mark Watson Stevens, and I'm a Digimon Tamer, although I'm sure you guys are already well aware of…"

He paused, his expression falling into one of surprise as he turned, for some reason staring towards the phone handset on its base station nearby. Natsuki yet again was left questioning herself as - with a bewildered look from both herself and Mari - Ryder wandered over to the silent device and picked it up, pressing to answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Uh…what? Is he nuts?"_

"Do what? Why? Uh…that doesn't answer my question. Hello…hello? Are you okay? Hello?" he said, putting the phone back down with a grimace and looking with widened and concerned eyes towards Mari.

"Is it…?" she began to ask, her eyes quickly flicking to their visitor. The blonde stared on, wondering what on earth was going on between the pair. Who had been on the phone? How had he even known to answer it? It was silent, wasn't it?

"_Am I losing my mind?"_

Ryder wandered back towards the sofas, reaching down for the remote and flicking it on, a news channel coming up with a bright red bar at the bottom, words written on it which Natsuki simply couldn't understand.

**BREAKING NEWS**

"_Oh, that__'s right…it'll be in English."_

She listened as much as she could, trying to understand what she was hearing, but it was no use - her ability with English wasn't good. The words **BBC World News** sat in a box in the corner, but, like everything, she could only see the letters, not what they meant. Ryder and Mari stared closely, the reporter talking whilst a few images flashed up on screen. A graphic of Japan came into view, before it zoomed in towards Tokyo.

"Um…" she began, going to speak before the pair of Tamers quickly shushed her, intently listening in as the face of the Chief Cabinet Secretary came up on screen. _"Hmm…at least he may speak Japanese."_

And, thankfully, he did, at least at first. **"Last night there was a horrific attack on our…"** he began, an English voice cutting in to dub him out and leaving Natsuki straining her ears to hear the real words in the background.

"What's going on?" she asked, frustration on her face as Rayleigh Thompson began pointing angrily, shaking his finger at the camera as a determined look crossed his face. "What's he saying?"

Mari and Ryder didn't reply, staring on in sheer horror at the screen while the blonde looked between them, wondering what they were hearing. The screen changed, showing video footage, dark and unclear which Natsuki simply couldn't make anything out of.

"He can't…he can't!" Ryder spat in reaction to a certain word, the boy clenching a fist and glaring at the screen. He paused, holding it still when a beeping noise emanated from his D-Vice on that wrist. Mari looked down to her arm as it did likewise, both soon staring down.

"What is it?"

"It's Izzy," Mari noted, although whether she was talking to Ryder or answering their blonde guest's question Natsuki wasn't sure.

"At least he's telling everyone," Ryder replied.

"Yeah, but Ryder this is serious…shit, we're screwed."

"What's going on?"

"No time!" Ryder said, someone finally speaking to Natsuki at least. Both he and his girlfriend climbed back to their feet, rushing across the room to the front door and window respectively.

The boy opened the door, peeking outside before quickly pushing it shut again, securing the second bolt across it.

Mari pressed her hand against the glass, looking worriedly out the window. "They're coming," she said, her voice with a tone of deep horror. She looked back across the room to Ryder, for that breathless moment the only noise being the sound of the chattering television.

A look of indecision passed between them, glances paid to their Digimon, the blonde and the television, before Ryder frowned, a determined look manifesting on his face.

"We have to run."

"Run?! Why?!" Natsuki asked, getting to her feet as both Ryder and Mari strode back to their rooms. Her heart thumped in her chest, her mind racing and a sense of horror permeating throughout her form as MiniDonmon and DarkRenamon followed their Tamers into their rooms.

No answer returned to her, as she found herself alone in someone else's living room.

Feeling her body quake in worry and fear, she reached down to the remote, flicking through the channels in the hope she would find something in Japanese.

She didn't have to go far.

"…**last night. The country is in turmoil, the government is using military action to contain those responsible for this attack. They are reassuring people that the perpetrators will be caught and normality will be restored as soon as possible," **said a female news presenter, her tone overly formal and looking rather odd on what was a rather small news channel. She paused, her expression changing to one of surprise.

"_Is this about the Prime Minister?"_

"**One moment please," **she said, putting her hand to her earpiece. **"I am receiving reports that the Chief Cabinet Secretary, now Acting Prime Minister, has blamed the Digimon Tamers for the attack…the Kantei has released this video."**

Natsuki blinked, eyes wide as she glanced back at the doors behind her. Were they the murderers? Was that why they had been acting so weird? But…they were the Tamers! They were good…weren't they?

"**People of Japan, I am as saddened as you are that I have to make this address," **spoke a man in perfect Japanese yet in a British accent, his head dipped down slightly. He looked up to the camera again, a deep frown on his visage as the blonde recognized him as the Chief Cabinet Secretary, Rayleigh Thompson. It was the same video she had just seen; now without the English dubbing.** "Last night there was a horrific attack on our country, an attack which struck to the very heart of every Japanese man and woman. The Prime Minister, Inukai Keishiro, was murdered in his own home. It was an inhuman attack, and, unfortunately, I have to reveal that there is good cause for that."**

The screen changed, showing a dark yet surprisingly clear CCTV shot. Rayleigh continued to narrate over it.

"**This footage, recorded and transmitted to the central security office from the sole remaining security camera in the PM****'s study shows the moment the assassin confronted his prey," **he said, a blurred shadow in the midst of it all. **"We have identified this Digimon as…**"

The TV suddenly blipped off, the lights failing around them as the sound of vehicles outside made itself known to Natsuki's ears. She looked aside, but DarkRenamon was already there, staring down.

"There are so many of them," she gasped.

Ryder and Mari piled out of their bedrooms, backpacks in hand as they rushed towards the kitchen, piling as much food as they could fit in whilst Natsuki staggered towards them, never as scared before in her life. "What…" she began, but was quickly interrupted as Ryder looked up to her, his eyes raging with conflict.

"You're coming with us," he insisted, returning to his bag.

"Wait…what?! I'm not involved in any of this!" the blonde said, her voice becoming a yell as she continued to be blanked by the pair. "Hello! Listen to me!"

Mari gave a concerned look, evidently torn on whether to agree with her boyfriend or not. Ryder zipped up his bag, biting his lip before he strode towards Natsuki, a determined stare on his face as he seemed to tower over her.

"You're coming with us because those bastards want us all dead," he said, his words leaving no room for argument as he side-stepped around her, lugging his bag onto his shoulder as he walked. Natsuki turned, still in shock as she took a step towards him.

"Hey, I'm not one of you guys!"

"Do you think they care? As far as they know, we're all threatening Digimon Tamers, and we have to be eliminated!"

"Ryder, maybe we should let her stay," Mari suggested, an even larger grimace crossing Ryder's face as he looked towards her. He shook his head.

"She's not safe here, and we can't let her die."

"But I won't! We live in a free state! They can't just kill me, they can't kill any of us, they have to arrest…"

"We have weapons, we have Digimon, and they have Rayleigh Thompson. To them, we're just like any other terrorist with a gun or a bomb, but to him…he hates our guts."

"But he doesn't want me! He won't kill me! This isn't fair!" Natsuki screamed at him, her face red with anger as she clenched her own fists.

"You came here to visit us. You got yourself into this," Ryder insisted, holding out his D-Vice and a Digimon card in hand. He tapped the screen first of all, it whirring into life as footsteps pounded down the corridor.

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**MiniDonmon digivolve to…**

Both the D-Vice and MiniDonmon burst into light, Natsuki covering her eyes with her arm as his form grew massively, a familiar red dragon with large wings replacing the bat.

…**Donmon!**

"_That__'s…incredible…"_ the blonde thought, staring on with disbelief at what had just happened. No-one seemed to notice her in the midst of it all, as the boy continued his sequence, this time using the card in his hand.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Dokugumon's Poison Thread Activate!" Ryder called, data and energy swirling around the dragon's jaw before being launched at the door. It took the form of a white gooey substance, before covering the doorframe like the webs of its namesake, just as something thudded into the back of them. The door rattled, bullets hitting its frame from behind.

Natsuki stared on at the display in horror, as Mari quickly and silently made her way towards the balcony door, on the way reaching down to her leg and pulling out a handgun from underneath her jeans. Her heart raced, worried that she was about to be taken out to make things easier, but the fact that Mari instead opened the door didn't make things any simpler.

The girl looked almost fearless in the blonde's eyes as she peeked her gun outside, firing upwards at the sound of a whirring helicopter. Ryder looked slightly shocked by her actions, before he looked to a now web-less Donmon. "I don't think Donnermon will be fast enough," he said, before both he and his partner gazed towards DarkRenamon. The Kitsune had moved to be near her Tamer, evidently scared that in the middle of her current actions she would be shot.

Natsuki felt adrenaline pump through her veins, and knew that she wasn't alone in that. Mari stepped back inside, looking to her partner in surprise, amazed that the Digimon was there all of a sudden. A nod of gratitude passed between them, before she pulled a card from her belt box and swept it through her D-Vice. "DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**DarkRenamon digivolve to…**

**Youkomon!**

Bells chimed as the far larger yet still fox-like form burst into the room, Natsuki staring on in sheer amazement. Mari rushed over to the balcony doors, pulling them aside as far as they would go before leaping onto her partner's back.

"_This…is unreal," _the blonde thought, still unable to get over the fact she was now scared beyond her wits, her heart racing so fast she expected to have an attack. She simply stared on at the creature as Donmon climbed on. Her eyes barely blinking as the world slowed, almost to a halt, giving her a chance to take it all in.

The thud of shoulders against the door.

The whirr of copters outside, the light breeze in the room whipping up her hair.

Her breath extolled from her lips erratically, unable to even consider forming words.

Her chest rising and falling, her heart pounding away underneath.

Her nose, picking up the smell of fired bullets nearby, eking under the door frame.

A hand, held out towards her, a saddened face looking apologetically towards her as all hell began to break out.

"Sorry."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Hehe, a lovely bit of drama here as, well, like I said, all hell breaks out. Of course, I haven't given you the whole picture yet - a lot of things will become clear as we see the events of the next hour or so from plenty of different views. Yeah, as you may have guessed, the first arc of this story will be seen from several different perspectives over the next few chapters. I hope you'll enjoy, as the plot of **Book Seven** unfolds…

Until next time…

B.C.


	3. Phase One: Riley Ootori

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **If anyone hadn't worked it out (and it may not be as obvious as I thought it was), the numbers on Mari's top are the chronological episode numbers of **The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya** in the broadcast order. Yeah, it was more obscure than I thought it was, but ah well. On with this chapter…

Thanks, again, to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Phase One**

_Riley Ootori_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Hypnos, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:20 JST**_

There was a rather dour tone in the chamber, but, given its darkness, it wasn't all that clear that it was a new one, one away from the usual sinister edge it held. The brood had descended, not because of the repetitive nature of the job, not because the room itself was actually dark, but simply because of one fact.

The Prime Minister had been assassinated.

Metal clicked against metal, the mood to work today clearly not there for Yamaki as he sat down - a rare pose for him in this particular control room. Riley stared down at him, raising an eyebrow at the sight, both pair of Hypnos operatives occasionally taking glimpses down at the man below both out of curiosity and to ease the mind-numbing boredom that had descended for some reason. Her glances were more frequent than her colleague but, regardless of any concern they could've had, they still both sat there, working away, any remote enthusiasm they may have had before now gone.

This was a day for history; the day the world woke to learn the terrible news.

But, unfortunately, despite the fact the country was in mourning, in shock, in worry, they still had to carry on. Yet, Riley knew, both from experience of the man and from his own words, that this was not unfortunate in his mind. To him, probably rather logically, life could not simply stop for death. Yet, she knew it wasn't the most troubling thing for the man, even if what worried him more had yet to manifest as any more than a simple lack of appetite that morning, contrasting with their normal rush at their apartment's breakfast table.

No, because, from all of her knowledge, her experience, her intuition, she knew one thing, one thing which must, regardless of the circumstances, have been like nails down a blackboard for Yamaki.

Rayleigh Thompson was now in charge of the country.

"_Even if just temporarily," _Riley told herself, but she knew that meant far more than just a few hours. It could be until an election was arranged, weeks or months away once all the paperwork was sorted out. She knew she would have to deal with many more angry mornings and evenings from the man she loved. Not that she had never experienced such a thing before - _"…this _is_ Yamaki we're talking about, after all. Still…at least we're acting independently…every other department seems to have shut down; I can't contact anyone at them no matter how many emails I send off. That must drive him even more up the wall."_

Official mourning, as Yamaki had reported it, was one thing which he objected to more than anything, not least because of the sensitive nature of Hypnos. It was a thankless task, and it was also a holiday-less one, unless you managed to find a temporary replacement that left Yamaki enough peace of mind (a very difficult task given that he considered practically all other technicians at the department as incompetent fools compared to his most senior pair).

Her fingers tapped away at the keyboard as she thought, her eyes glancing and taking in data faster than any stockbroker, and her hands moving to react. None of it was conscious; all had by now been absorbed into her cerebellum, as easy as riding a bicycle. She didn't doubt that, if the keyboard and mouse were taken away, she wouldn't realise for at least an hour.

Despite this, she found herself with barely any time to have a relationship with her boyfriend of a few months over a year now, even if they spent practically all of their time together, be it in a professional or casual manner. Yet, the problem was, the former always dominated, even out of the workplace. For some reason, despite living, sleeping and spending most of their time together, their relationship still felt…distant, as if those constant patterns of love and life were the same as how her hands tapped on the buttons below.

"_We__'re on autopilot," _she sighed, glancing across to Tally, the woman not even taking a glance back despite it being obvious she wanted to inquire as to why her best friend had sighed. Riley gave a slim smile - once they had worked this long in this job, the only questions you would ask were to give yourself total certainty on a fact you already 99 percent knew about the other. Unfortunately, the same seemed to quickly be becoming true about her and Yamaki.

She turned her gaze down again, her eyes only looking back to check the data appearing every so often. A new figure had entered the room, the automatic doors closing again as she watched. He was a slightly portly man who brought a frown to her face, his black hair trimmed short and yet today looking uncared for and ignored. He failed to carry his suit with his usual pride, even despite the fact his pride had been lost ever since he had been replaced as the Chief Cabinet Secretary. This man was Eiichi Nakazawa, and the past tense on that seemed fairly apt in the woman's mind given how he had fallen so far so quickly. He had gone from what was practically vice-leader of an entire country to head of a department that dare not speak its name in public was a huge step down, even if that in turn rather denounced the importance of a job at Hypnos'.

She felt a great deal of sympathy for him, and not simply because of his unexpected and unwarranted demotion. The elephant in the room failed to leave, for this was more than a government official mourning the leader he admired. Eiichi and Inukai had been great friends at one point, colleagues, and yet to his knowledge they had barely stayed in contact since then. This man had lost a friend, a colleague, and someone he could have made amends with someday as well. He must have been devastated.

"How is his family?" Yamaki asked, getting straight to his feet and to the point as he watched his second-in-command drop his cellphone back into his pocket with a rather lost expression on his face. Thanks to the tutelage of Yamaki, it was no longer the only piece of technology he could use, but right now the woman watching doubted that the man could do any work with anything in his emotional state, even if he remained rather stoic. Every word, thanks to experience of `listening in' to the conversations below her, reached Riley's ears distinctly, but they simply caused her to frown further upon hearing them.

"His wife is distraught still. I feel sorry for his children."

"Will you be attending the funeral?"

Eiichi nodded, words kept to a minimum between the two gentlemen out of pride and respect. Whilst Yamaki seemingly intended to carry on as normally as possible, for the black haired man it would evidently prove far more difficult, beyond the stress-relieving power of the blonde's Zippo lighter.

Yamaki glanced upwards to Riley, the woman not caring to hide her face. He was more than aware that his colleagues were snooping, even Eiichi knew it. A frown passed between boyfriend and girlfriend, a slight nod from the redhead before Yamaki passed on the unheard message.

"If you want to go home…?"

"No…Inukai taught me never to stand down on the job when people depend on you. Rayleigh is disgraceful in suggesting anyone ever should."

"I see," Yamaki said, his eyes shifting upwards as Riley could see his lack of confidence in how to deal with his current situation even through the darkness. "If it's easier…"

"Just…don't worry," Eiichi insisted, a slight temper to his voice as he waved off Yamaki's words with a hand. "Have there been any bioemergences today?"

The blonde shook his head, looking upwards to Riley and Tally. "Not to my knowledge," he said, loud enough to make it clear that his technicians were meant to provide more details.

"The network has been very quiet sir," Tally reported, her reply far too quick for someone who supposedly wasn't listening in. Riley stifled a grin as her colleague paused; evidently hoping she wouldn't be called out on that fact.

"Other than yesterday's one which the Tamers handled, Yuggoth has only intercepted one very low level Wild One in the past 24 hours," the redhead added, a slight frown on her face as she contemplated what sort of Digimon they could've extinguished. Given Yuggoth's lack of ability at, well, anything but the weakest Digimon, and her now fairly good knowledge of the various Digimon types, she had pondered many a time that the ones the program could destroy couldn't be more than a weak Rookie, and mostly would've been Baby and In-training level. _"It still feels cruel."_

Their organisation still wasn't sure on the true mechanics of the bioemergences, namely how they reached the Digital Plane in the first place, from where reaching reality seemed fairly simple. Even the Tamers didn't seem to be too sure on how it occurred, yet it seemed to be completely random in any case. Of course, this made the destruction of whatever hapless Digimon could sneak through seem very…vindictive. It was something some of the Tamers probably knew about but had decided not to ask about.

"I see," Eiichi answered. Riley frowned indistinctly, looking down at him and knowing how all of these questions were an attempt to simply give himself some meaning and reason to be a part of the organisation. Besides the technicians downstairs, Hypnos was a highly centralised organisation, even more so with Rayleigh's cutbacks made both during and after his tenure as head of Hypnos. Eiichi was dead weight - Yamaki could easily handle everything alone and the former Chief Cabinet Secretary wasn't trained enough to handle most of their activity anyway. Not that most of their tasks could be trained for - experience was the only tutor here. But, perhaps, in a year or so, the man would be able to handle things entirely alone for prolonged periods of time.

The fact that that, now, could pretty much be his only ambition, gave the woman a deep pang of sympathy for him. The situation was even worse now his only hope of once again moving up the government ladder had just died.

"Has everything been dealt with regarding yesterday's bioemergence?"

"Report sent to the PM, damages deal with and the Tamers contacted us, so yes," Yamaki replied, frowning.

"Which leaves us to do what?"

Yamaki leaned against the desk, crossing his arms and frowning. "Nothing. I was going to finally file the expenditure for last month, but with the whole government asleep I doubt that'll be possible now. Even some of the technicians have been called away by the Monster Makers to Janyuu's office, although they're only collecting Shibumi's insanely large and sensitive research disks."

"Hmm…I see," Eiichi sighed, before frowning. "Yamaki, you've worked in this job for several years: do you ever find yourself wishing that something would…happen?"

"Every time I do that, something very bad tends to happen. But yes, it would be nice to alleviate the tedium at times, although I doubt those upstairs would appreciate us wishing for the worse like that."

"Of course not - I was there, once at least. There is enough to deal with already."

"Which makes it all the more strange that they haven't kicked themselves into line yet. Rayleigh is running this like a circus. So much for his perfectionism."

"If he ever…"

Eiichi didn't finish his sentence, interrupted as the vast panoramic screen showed something which didn't need its high specification.

Nothing, nothing but a large, all-pervading, white.

Riley gazed down to her keyboard, finding that its context-sensitive coloured keys had also faded to white too, the whole system seeming to have frozen up without warning. The bright white light from the screens lit up the room more than they had ever been before, and the room looked unusual under its gaze.

"Riley, situation report," Yamaki called upwards, his voice still not yet at a shout and his temper still not yet at a roar, even if his voice held tinges of irritation.

"The Hypnos system is online but…uh…"

"But what?"

"I'm not sure sir."

"It doesn't seem to have crashed," Tally noted, a black cursor moving across the white screen but failing to do anything wherever she put it. "It's just…nothing."

A second cursor, gray, moved across the screen too, Riley gritting her teeth and trying to get some reaction. She tapped at the keys, finding nothing worked whatsoever. Just what was this? "The system isn't responding."

"I thought it was meant to be a blue screen," Eiichi said, it not clear whether he was honestly thinking that or making a joke. Yamaki seemed not to care, as he grimaced, his lighter clicking more often now.

"Hypnos is not Windows, Linux, or any other civilian system - it is one of the most advanced computer systems around and the design was overseen by me personally. This couldn't be a virus…and if it had crashed, the system is meant to recover only elements which have crashed…so…what is going on?!"

"We could restart it."

"Didn't you just hear me?" Yamaki growled. "Rebooting the Kyon system would take several hours."

"I was only suggesting something," Eiichi huffed back, his mouth a thin line. His expression was quickly copied by Yamaki, evidently regretful for his actions.

"Apologies, but this is not meant to happen. What…"

"**Hell is empty and all the devils are here." - William Shakespeare**

Riley couldn't help but gasp in surprise as, in a simple, black, serif font, the words bust onto the screen about them. Was it on a timer? Who had created this program? It was a program, wasn't it? Hypnos was meant to be impossible to hack, even if such a concept now seemed as ludicrous as an unsinkable ship.

"What is it?" Eiichi called upwards, clearly thinking that the technicians knew something more than he did.

"No idea sir," Tally replied, frowning and paying a glance across to Riley, who voiced her other growing concern.

"Why would a hacker or a virus or whatever this is be quoting Shakespeare?"

"Perhaps they're an admirer of great literature?" Eiichi mused.

"It doesn't matter if they wrote **all your base** on there, they've still managed to hack into Hypnos regardless of how they've managed to do that, and I want to know how!"

At that moment, automatic doors hissed aside, light bursting into the chamber as a single figure stood at the door, one with a black haircut, a tall figure and a rather wide smirk on his youthful face.

"Your precious computer system is safe," he said mockingly. He glanced upwards to the computer screens above, amending his words. "Even if it is a heap of junk."

"Rayleigh," Yamaki hissed, daggers shot down at the man from everyone in the room. The Brit simply chuckled under the gaze, putting his hands out in a surrendering pose.

"Now, that's no way to greet a friend."

"Why are you here?" Eiichi asked, the taller man simply giving him a look of amusement.

"Ah, my predecessor. How are you lately?"

"Mourning."

"Ah, but we all are. The PM's death comes at a terrible time for us all."

"What do you mean by that?" Yamaki asked, narrowing his eyes. Above, Riley glanced to Tally, both having caught more than a hint of something suspicious in the words. Rayleigh, still standing in the doorway with the daylight silhouetting him from behind, smirked, sweeping a hand upwards to gesture at the words on the screen.

"For **hell is empty, and all the devils are here**. I don't believe I could state it in any simpler or less impressive terms."

"Devils? Hell? What do you mean?" Eiichi asked, a lump forming at the pit of Riley's throat. There was something definitely not right here. Rayleigh's pose was strange, he hadn't even left the doorway yet, and he stood perfectly in the centre. There was a certain…wooden nature to his words, perhaps a hint of nervousness, something rarely seen in the man who she had had the misfortune of working under for several months.

"Well, like many of Shakespeare's lines, it has such deep meaning. Is hell what we truly fear, and the devils their manifestation? Or does it remark on the evil nature of people, acting like devils in our world? But, personally, I like to think it means one thing."

"Which is?"

"The Tamers act as if this world is so safe, so…insulated from reality, and Hypnos along with our government does so much to cushion them. They need to face reality, face the fact that their world is not always going to accept them."

"But we will," Eiichi insisted, his words slightly uncertain.

Rayleigh smirked, looking up towards Riley and Tally in their seats above. "You two monitor the internet, I'm _sure_ you know what I mean."

"There is…some hostility…" Riley stuttered, taking a cautious look down to Yamaki who had stayed largely quiet and, indeed, now looked rather deep in thought.

"That doesn't cover even a tiny part of the situation. Sure, the vocal may be a minority, but a large group of people out there resent Digimon, and only need the right…" he said, clicking. "Spark."

"But the Tamers protect our world!"

"Yesterday, at eight o'clock in the evening, our beloved Prime Minister Inukai Keishiro was killed by a Digimon."

"Wait…what?!" Eiichi spluttered, eyes widening around the room in horror. Riley's mind was blindsided - this couldn't possibly be true!

"The worst thing is…the Digimon was a tamed one, in biomerged form. Given that a human can easily be killed by a lower level, I'd say that was overkill, wouldn't you?"

"How do you know this?!"

"I, as Acting Prime Minister, have personally been watching the tapes from the one remaining security camera in the premises."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. Some have said this Digimon was careless, but personally I believe she was trying to prove a point, to show how powerful they are as Tamers and what control they have over us."

"Hold on…she?!" Tally yelled down. Rayleigh simply smirked back, not replying straight away as the woman was left to have her temper boil. "Are you going to give us some answers?"

"Sakuyamon."

Riley's jaw fell open, as she climbed up slightly out of her seat, looking out and down at the man below. "It couldn't be!"

"Don't fall!" Yamaki called up to her, fear in his eyes as he saw her perched on the edge there. His girlfriend had never seen him so scared. She grabbed tightly onto the metal as she vented her anger.

"Rika would never do such a thing! She's got a child, she wants to protect people, she…"

"Murdered the Prime Minister? I don't pretend to understand her motives, but regardless, it is clear it is her."

"Then show us the tape," Yamaki growled, his voice low and guttural as his anger reached new levels. Whether it was the revelation, the blasé attitude of Rayleigh towards the serious nature of the scenario, or the fact that Riley had just risked falling, his fury raged.

"Do you think I would be that stupid? Regardless, even if it is her, you will simply deny it."

"How many people know?!" Tally cried, grabbing onto the rung of the ladder as she began to climb down, her role up high ruled irrelevant by the program.

"No-one else, yet. But, all the major television networks around the world are watching my office…in a few moments I will put up a press statement revealing the sad news."

"But…it's a lie!"

"I have no reason to doubt this information. But, however, I do have plenty of reason to suspect all of your involvement, and so…" he began, clicking as his grin widened. "You're under arrest," he added, past him in the space he had left entering two policemen, both with guns and looking ready to attack at a moment's notice should the need arise.

Tally froze up on the ladder; Riley felt her breath stop, the light from around them glinting on the barrels.

"You bastard!" Yamaki roared, taking an angered step towards Rayleigh, guns cocked and raised to point towards him. The redhead watched frightfully, putting out a hand in fear that he would be shot.

"Not one more step. You will not stand in the way of justice."

"Justice? You're arresting innocent civilians!" Eiichi complained, knowing how much was being done wrong here. He squirmed as he was grabbed by one policeman, Yamaki being grabbed by the other. Riley found it odd that the `Acting Prime Minister' had only called for two officers, even if they were armed. Evidently, he wasn't expecting much threat.

"_Or maybe he doesn__'t want too many ears privy to what he says? Maybe we are onto something? Rika wouldn't have done that…she just wouldn't."_

"You are under arrest, anything you say…"

"TAKE THIS!" Tally cried, both policemen and Rayleigh freezing in surprise as a shoe hit Eiichi in the back. Even when it had missed its target, it still seemed to have the same effect, the armed pair turning and looking upwards with guns raised to match.

Rayleigh looked round, gritting his teeth and staring in disbelief at the `trained policemen'.

"_They got distracted by a shoe?!"_ Riley thought, seeing her friend freeze up, still hanging onto the ladder. She put her foot out towards hers, but the other officer moved to point towards her.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Rayleigh began to bark orders, the officers turning before a punch squarely landed in his youthful face. He staggered backwards from the left hook, the policemen aiming for Yamaki now as Tally dropped down the ladder. They turned again, going to fire as Riley quickly followed, Rayleigh sitting up.

"STOP THEM!" he bellowed, anger riding deep in his voice.

The policemen seemed unfazed - this was a sealed room in their eyes, there was no way out. Riley gave a slim smile, knowing that such was not the case. Her feet touched the floor, Rayleigh rushing at Yamaki who staggered aside, slamming his hand against a panel on the wall by the door. With a crack, it broke, the doors sealing shut suddenly behind them with a clunk. The officers raised their guns to fire, but Rayleigh raised his hand in objection.

"Don't, you'll damage the equipment!" he called, his hand moving over a bleeding lip as a sadistic laugh crept from his lips. "So funny you all are," he spat, turning to face Tally, Riley and Eiichi, now on the ground, whilst both officers kept their eyes and guns firmly on Yamaki, the man who had turned the situation from an arrest into a standoff. "But you're nothing compared to my brilliance."

Riley felt her heart pound within her chest as she looked over at the blonde, her expression stricken with worry. Would he be killed? Rayleigh was a vindictive man, and Yamaki had just punched him in the face. Again. Sure, damaging the equipment was out of the question, but…

Suddenly, Rayleigh's laugh wasn't the loudest in the room, at least for a brief moment as a loud chuckle and snort echoed, a breath of disbelief extolled from lips. Eyebrows raised, and teeth gritted, as the dark haired gentleman turned to face Yamaki, the man oddly having gone back to a flat expression after his short-lived laugh.

"What's so funny now?"

"So, you wrote this program and put it into the system when you worked here?" Yamaki said, his voice still oddly monotonous, something which rather unnerved his co-workers.

"Hmph, he can think clearly for once," Rayleigh laughed, but Yamaki looked rather unfazed, giving a simple and quiet reply.

"You're like a child."

"A child?! This program is sophisticated; it took down an entire government system with ease! No child could manage that!"

Yamaki chuckled briefly again, looking over at his girlfriend. Riley raised an eyebrow, before the truth of what he was talking about hit her like a truck. She gave a questioning gaze, and he nodded. "Go on Riley, tell him about what happened."

Rayleigh turned, visibly surprised to see a grin on the redhead's façade. This had caught him completely off guard, and Riley knew that by playing to that they had a chance to escape.

"A child, of only 13, managed to take down our whole system with the most destructive program ever."

"What? What program? How do you know this?!" Rayleigh questioned. Given how deep his roots for research seemed to run, Riley was actually surprised he didn't already know, but then again, it was beyond top secret - it wasn't even shared to those not already in-the-know.

"The Hazard."

Rayleigh turned back to look at Yamaki, those words clearly striking a chord with him as his eyes widened.

"_Now our chance!" _Riley raised a foot, the officers too distracted and baffled by the conversation to react in time as the sole of her shoe hit their protectorate hard in the back. Rayleigh fell forward again, Yamaki pushing him into the policemen who stumbled back in surprise. Riley and Tally turned, Eiichi haplessly following after them as they fell to their knees by the base of the stand holding the seats above up in the air.

"Stop…them!" Rayleigh called, Yamaki dealing a sharp kick to him before rushing after his subordinates, all grabbing at a floor panel that was normally invisible in the dark light of the control room. "They'll escape!" he added, the guns raised and cocked again as the Brit got to his feet, growling as the panel finally came up with a hiss, the automatic mechanism doing the rest.

"This…is an escape route?" Eiichi stammered. "I didn't even know it was here."

"Yeah, but I think Rayleigh did," Tally noted, glancing over at the man who was quickly approaching them. Yamaki reached them first, pointing downwards into the dimly lit stairwell below.

"Quickly!" he called, before a fist hit him in the back of his head, his cranium smashed forward against the metal chair support as Tally fell down into the hole, the officers advancing on them all again. Rayleigh raised his other hand as he grabbed Yamaki and pushed him against the inactive pillar, pressing his head against it hard as Eiichi followed his hazel-haired co-worker down through the escape hatch.

"Riley!" Tally called up, the redhead freezing up as she kneeled over the edge of the square hole, the metal edge cold to the touch, and oddly familiar, yet she couldn't remember where from. She would've sworn she had used this same escape before, if not to make an escape then to make an entrance. Yet, this was not what froze her mind. She looked down, past the hole itself. Eiichi stood; ready to rush down the stairs and looking up impatiently, evidently fearful for his own life. She glanced back to the police officers, ready to grab her in lieu of being able to use their guns by Rayleigh's order. Speaking of whom, his embittered voice spat out once again in the now mostly-empty chamber.

"DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE MY WORK TO THAT DISGRACEFUL PROGRAM!" he roared, throwing the blonde's face against the wall again. He reached down into his coat, pulling forth a pistol which made Riley's heart skip a beat as it was pressed against his back.

The officers even paused, the sudden display of aggression catching them off guard.

"Come on Riley!" Tally cried, afraid the worst could happen to her friend. But the redhead was frozen, staring at the sight of her boyfriend, boss and co-worker with his head pressed against the square support girder, Rayleigh battering it against the metal every so often to vent his anger.

"You…you foil everything!"

"Yamaki!" Riley cried, finally letting all loose as she stared on in shock. The man could only look back out of the corner of his eye, yet the pain ripping through him was clear, his forehead bleeding far worse than Rayleigh's lip.

He went to squirm free, but a sharp kick in the leg from Rayleigh behind sent him tumbling downwards, gun still pointed at him. "I should've done this ages ago," he called, as Yamaki lay there, one hand now caught within the gaps in the support and his forehead leaking blood as he looked up to the Brit, his blonde hair becoming stained with red.

Riley felt a firm grip on her shoulders, and knew her chances had been lost. She stared on at her boyfriend and Rayleigh, hearing Tally's cries from below as she reached for the ladder again, but froze on it, too scared to come any closer. "You are under arrest…" began the words, but they paled in comparison to a shout of victory, one so sought after by its owner that it could only be seen as

"Goodbye, Yamaki Mitsuo!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Ah, more hell breaks out as Hypnos finds itself in a very difficult situation. Don't expect resolution to this particular cliff-hanger immediately, but it won't be too long away. Before then, we have Joe's point of view. I'm going to be away from my computer from Friday through to Monday, so I may not get another chapter out until next week. Apologies in advance.

Until next time…

B.C.


	4. Phase One: Seiko Hata

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **I'm back now, but this chapter will be short as per the overall plan. Contrary to what I said before, this chapter focuses on Seiko, not Joe, since I rearranged the scenes. Regardless, I'll try and make it nice and interesting.

Thanks wholeheartedly to Crazyeight for fantastic beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Phase One**

_Seiko Hata_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Streets of Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:25 JST**_

The street rang with the roar of cars, both distant and close, the chatter of the mouths belonging to a hundred feet, and the myriad of tiny noises made by every act, every device, everything. Fairly tall concrete blocks dotted about, a varying amount of glass on them showing their age and architecture, looked down on the shopping district, bags swinging to and fro. The area was fairly wealthy, a few supermarkets dotted about with plenty of items inside telling of their 'quality' but few elaborating on 'value' or 'price'. The vast majority of buildings were low rise and well-built, away from the majority of Shinjuku's skyscrapers.

Amongst the crowd, each with their own fairly expensive fashions and all having the appearance of 'with money', strolled an older woman; one with an unusual accessory and an unusual pet too, albeit she would never have treated the latter as such. Hands, beginning to wrinkle but having had no effort made to pursue the obsession of those about her with keeping youthful, held a pair of white shopping bags, her journey not yet over. Unlike most, she had arrived on foot, travelling the fairly short distance by car an insane proposition to her. She had another, more aerial option, but she had yet to work out how to pursue it, or, indeed, ever had any need for it.

"Is that everything Seiko?" asked a large, bipedal black and purple bird from behind, one which looked unnerved both by the crowds and by the awkwardness of asking a question. Seiko frowned - DarkBiyomon needn't have been so hesitant, certainly not after they had been friends for so long.

Images flashed through her mind of the day they had become partners, an event never expected and yet to have purpose on a day of misery for all concerned:

Chiyo's funeral.

"I need to hunt down some shichimi, the supermarket was out of stock," she explained, shaking her head as both ignored the rather bemused looks they were getting from those about them. Not worried as such, Digimon were no longer an unexpected sight, but it was difficult for most people to see one in the flesh and not be surprised, even unnerved. The concept that these creatures could fight, destroy, even kill, lingered at the back of many a mind but pushed forward in some, yet all the Tamers, be they new or old, youth or elder, had learnt to simply shrug off such problems.

"I see."

"Anything you want?"

"No thank you," DarkBiyomon answered, polite and cautious as ever, yet her words simply seemed stilted by now to her Tamer. With both of her daughter's having partners who were overly formal and polite, and now her having the same, even the wise and fairly traditional eldest member of the Nonaka family couldn't help but long for something a tad more casual.

"_Even my daughter is a relief - and Guilmon is like a miracle cure,"_ she thought, remembering the new additions to her family as it practically doubled in size, if only in blood rather than wedlock. Still, that would come soon enough inevitably, but for now, it seemed nice to know they had relatives of sorts beyond their previously increasingly small family unit, blighted by the loss of her husband and then her granddaughter's father. The former they had been far closer to than the latter naturally, but still, their family didn't seem to have grown much. _"Beyond the Digimon, of course."_

What had catalysed this huge and rapid growth in family? Nothing but a new daughter for her daughter, something which made a grandmother into a great grandmother at the remarkably young age of 53, and which had added Takato, Takehiro and Mie to their world, along with of course little baby Rey Matsuki.

She smiled, recalling the past few months. Rika had, naturally, not instantly known what to do, but she had dealt with things with a surprising level of maturity, one beyond what Seiko, one able to see a lot of depth in people that went unbeknownst to most, had even been able to predict. Her latent maternal instincts only previously seen on extremely rare occasions had leapt to the fore, and whilst most of the time she was occupied with the busy and difficult first months of childcare, from breastfeeding to simply trying to get some sleep, things had settled down more lately. Her natural insistence to do it all herself, well, with the help of Takato who tried to pitch in as much time as he could in those tenuous first weeks and months of his daughter's life, had eventually given way to an acceptance that she needed her mother and grandmother's assistance outside of her insisted days at school. As the tiredness subsided, she had returned full time to education, some of her friends trying to encourage her to eschew her urge to get back to her daughter and hang out at the park, to limited success. Then again, even before, she hadn't been there every day, so perhaps it wasn't as much a loss as it seemed.

But, of course, come the chance given by a weeklong break from school, Rika was taking every second she could have with Rey, and Takato tried to do the same when other commitments or the distance didn't make things difficult.

"_She seems to enjoy it, even if her complaints of tiredness and difficulty don__'t exactly agree."_

To see her granddaughter take on such a huge responsibility, for another life, at such a young age, still troubled the older woman deep down. So much for a normal childhood, free time and innocence. Yet…Rika seemed to be doing fairly well at it, well, as well as she could reasonably hope. Whether in reality it troubled her too was something even she couldn't tell, but which had made her worry a number of times. The redhead was not the kind to tell her feelings openly, even to Renamon.

And when she worried, Seiko knew that Takato in all likelihood was worrying about ten times worse. She knew he would never go back to his frightened state he had had back before the birth, and she had also seen him mature paternally even if he still wasn't sure of his own abilities, and that was part of the problem, but mostly she knew that Takato, being Takato, would simply be worrying that he was letting Rika and Rey down. _"I really couldn't have chosen a better person for her - even if Rika wouldn't let something like that be anyone else's choice in a million years," _the woman thought, stroking her hand through her brown hair as she shook her head in disbelief. Takato was just Takato, Rika was just Rika, and Rey was just still a tiny little yet adorable baby girl with her whole life ahead of her.

As for Rei…

A frown crossed the older woman's face, as she considered the young woman who Rey would grow up to be. Ever since the birth, well, _her_ birth, she had been rather…distant. Not absent, at least not for any prolonged length of time - she had been around to 'track her progress' about once a week, leaping onwards after marvelling at herself a bit. Yet, her marvelling lacked any form of enthusiasm, and when she showed any there was always the feeling what something else was bugging her. What it was, Seiko wasn't sure, yet…she didn't even want to talk about what it was, not even to her partner who gave her saddened eyes every time she saw her behaviour.

Rei simply didn't seem right any more. She had never really been 'normal' - having her parents, her special abilities and her partner meant that was impossible - but she seemed more 'off' than usual now. Finding herself in the familiar position of wanting to help but not being truly able to or even knowing how had left the older woman troubled, and as much as she hoped the problems would rectify themselves on their own she knew that Rei would need to be honest before anything changed.

"_Not that most of my family have really noticed."_

Sure, both Rika and Takato seemed to be slightly ill-at-ease from Rei's behaviour, but concentrating on Rey meant they evidently hadn't had any time to act on it. Despite being her grandparents, Takehiro and Mie rarely saw Rei, and Rumiko seemed to see her even less, her granddaughter's appearances not always corresponding with the schedule of _Makino_. Kristy still showed much enthusiasm and vigour whenever she saw Rei - clearly she had yet to be truly able to realise she was now an aunt at the age of 12. She treasured the moments she had to hold Rey, Rika playing it very cautious with her newfound possession.

Kristy, however, thanks to Rey's complete lack of age and ability to do, well, anything, had become Rejimon's carer of sorts, the creature going from spurts of energy to becoming a quivering ball, despite the fact that she was surrounded by rather docile Digimon. Renamon, of course, ended up caring for the Digimon more often than not, but with the responsibility of caring for Rika too along with the lack of onus on her to raise the relatively capable (at least compared to Rey) Digimon meant that Kristy usually ended up being the red blob's playmate. Thankfully, since then, Rejimon had become far more quiet, yet Realmon still ran for the hills like a scared cat whenever she saw her younger self.

"_Poor thing."_

It was at this point that Seiko finally noticed the jabbing of a wing against her ankle, her eyes darting downwards to her partner, a rather troubled look on the bird's face.

"Seiko, look," she said, her words few and careful as she moved her claw-like wing ends to point at the display of a nearby electronics store, a number of televisions chattering away silently to themselves.

Seeing an image of the now-deceased Prime Minister brought a deep frown to the woman's face, the appalling nature of what had happened still as sharp as it was when she had seen that morning's newspaper. How anyone could do such a thing was beyond her - let alone how they could physically do it, given the high security presumed around major government figures. Whoever it was had to have been very powerful, and deeply rooted enough in the Japanese government to know how the systems worked. The problem was, despite it now being clear to all that the Prime Minister had been murdered, it was yet to become clear who by, or even any of the details of the crime. The acting Prime Minister, Rayleigh Thompson, was keeping quiet on the whole issue.

Until now, evidently…

She raised an eyebrow, seeing the television presenter be handed a piece of paper. He glanced down to read it as he continued to speak, his words silent thanks to the fact that the television was both behind glass and muted. Still, the words **PM Murder** prominently displayed as the main headline, a ticker rushing by below as the senior news figure explained his news.

"_What is he saying?"_

The screen changed all of a sudden, showing a press video of the Chief Cabinet Secretary speaking whilst the headline continued to sit on top, making it clear to all muted viewers like herself what the subject was. She and DarkBiyomon both paused in the street, moving only to get themselves out of the way of other pedestrians.

"Maybe they know who did it," she said, glancing down to her partner who nodded, her beak as quiet as the television.

Rayleigh talked, his head dipped down slightly as he seemed to make some form of saddened plea. A frown stayed, and perhaps even deepened, as he looked up to the camera again, continuing to speak as the headline stayed static.

"_Come on,"_ Seiko thought, the anticipation killing her as the usually-prompt news writers took an age to change it to provide further details. This channel would usually start with a main headline and then adapt the sub-headline, currently simply reading **The Japanese Prime Minister was murdered in his home last night**.

The shot changed, now showing a dark room, hard to see with the light from behind reflecting in the window. The quality of the video seemed fairly clear even if the subject wasn't. A blurred shadow moved, before suddenly a stock image of someone all too familiar appeared.

Her granddaughter's mega form.

Seiko took a back step in surprise, yet it took one thing more to make her act any further, to push her past that moment of simple wide-eyed open-jawed confusion and surprise.

The sub-headline:

**Chief Suspect**

Before the pair of shopping bags could hit the ground, the pounding of feet and the ruffle of feathers began. Whilst onlookers could barely begin to take in the news, a name was selected on a mobile, the name of someone too far away to visit personally at that very moment but who was in just as much danger as those closer, and who was held just as dearly by the older woman.

**R-U-M-I-K-O**

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N: **Hehe, as I said, it's a short one this but still, important to the action. Next time will be Joe's time to shine, so I hope you look forward to it.

Until next time…

B.C.


	5. Phase One: Joe Kido

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **And now it's Joe's turn in the game of perspectives. It's actually rather odd - I haven't yet had the view from any really central characters. Of course, I planned it that way - both because it's more interesting and mysterious and because it means that other characters get to be seen a lot more than usual. Anyhow, enough of my rambling…on with the show…uh…fic!

Cheers again to Crazyeight for beta reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**Phase One**

_Joe Kido_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Shinjuku General Hospital, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:20 JST**_

"_Fluorescent lights and little food make Joe a boring boy."_

The words of Gomamon that morning still rang in the boy's head as he yawned, the week's worth of admittedly interesting work experience managing to drag him down regardless, to the point where his partner had decided he was "no fun anymore". And, indeed, his point was fairly true - every meal he tried to have had been interrupted by some form of patient problem, and the unnatural light in every room definitely seemed to hurt the young man's eyes. Of course, he was no longer sure if he actually was being serious or if it were simply one of his now thankfully rare panic attacks from back in the old days in the Digital World, but either way it didn't pass the beady eyes of Dr Fumiko Imai unnoticed.

"It's not normally until the afternoon that it makes me yawn. You'll get used to it."

Joe gave a brief chuckle as the pair continued down the corridor, student learning from teacher as they visited each of her patients. The reality of hospital life had hit him in the first few days, even when he knew it was coming, but the shock element of the sight of injuries and illness by now had worn off even if it still made him queasy at times.

"I normally have Gomamon to keep me awake," he mused out loud, recalling the aquatic creature he had been forced to leave behind at the apartment. Then again, whilst the Digimon could probably have raised some of the patients' spirits, it was inevitable by now he'd have made a rather tactless joke about how long they had to live. "Mainly because he gets me into trouble."

It was Fumiko's turn to chuckle as she pushed at a door, stepping through into a hospital room, a pair of beds in it with only one occupied. The middle-aged patient looked sickly, rather unsurprisingly, and let out a light moan of annoyance as he sat up, slightly messed hair drooping down from a receding hairline. Parts of it had even fallen out, providing a clear indicator of his diagnosis. At least if it wasn't simply 'male pattern baldness'.

"Forty-eight year old male with prostate cancer undergoing chemo," Dr Imai explained, glancing down to the chart as she picked it up from the end of the bed. "How are you feeling Mr Yamaguchi?"

"Like some bastard nicked my hair," he replied, grimacing deeply. "Is the poison working?"

"It's still too early yet to tell."

The man huffed, settling down in his bed with arms crossed as the drips fed him. "Then who's this kid? Geez, Doctors are getting younger. You still in nappies?"

"_Why are all of her patients so rude to me?" _Joe sighed, opening his mouth to speak.

"Actually, Joe here is with me on work experience, he's currently studying to become a doctor."

"He is, eh?" Mr Yamaguchi said, giving a strange look towards Joe which sent a rather large chill down his spine. "Want some advice kid?"

"_No," _Joe thought, knowing that even if he voiced his objection the man would tell him regardless.

"Give up. Seriously, the crap in this hospital - you think you can do better?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"Hmph, good luck."

Fumiko grimaced, stepping over towards him with her stethoscope. She glanced back to Joe, still silent, as she placed the end of it on the cold side of the bed for just a few seconds, the slightest of smiles on her face as she put it to his chest and revelled in his shiver.

"Christ that's cold!"

"_She__'s worse than Gomamon."_

"Everything seems to be in order," Dr Imai assessed as she stepped back into line alongside Joe again. The test was completely superfluous of course, as Joe knew even if the patient was blissfully, or rather, painfully unaware. "I'll check back up on you again soon."

"And make sure it's soon! You doctors are like buses, you wait a year and then two come along at once," he said, gesturing to the pair before a curious expression lit up her face. "Hey, come to think of it, you look familiar," he added, scratching his chin as he looked at the blue-haired boy.

"Uh, well, I'm one of the Tamers if that's what you're thinking of?" Joe suggested, hoping that was all it was. He doubted he had ever encountered this man before, and didn't want to have either.

"Ugh, yeah, you're right," he continued, sounding less than happy at the revelation. "Christ, a baby doctor _and_ a Tamer, you're useless kid."

"What are you talking about?" Fumiko asked, a suspicious tone in her voice. Joe grimaced, suspecting they had once again had the worst luck in patient selection.

"You guys brought those bloody monsters to this world!" he complained, looking rather angered as the boy's suspicion was confirmed.

"Hey, no we didn't!" Joe argued, shocked by the suggestion.

"Of course you did, quit lying. Everyone knows that you Tamers are responsible for all this."

"For all of what?"

"For all of what keeps on going down, that's what."

"_Somehow I doubt this guy even knows what he means."_

Fumiko sighed, Joe glancing to her and back to the patient. Her stories and his brief time here had taught him that patients like this were difficult to reason with, and there was only one way out of the situation without appearing rude, as much as they felt like being as rude as possible towards the man.

A loud beeping occurred, three short blasts, as Fumiko lifted her pager to her face, her hand candidly over the 'test' button. "We have to go," she said. "Now!"

Joe knew, of course, that her concerned look was fake, and like every time he saw the 'routine' he stifled a smile. At first it had made her seem like a bad doctor, but certain patients could get to the point where they were better left alone to moan at the machines around them than to have an actual person to direct their irritation at. "We'll be back soon," he said, the patient simply grunting at his blue-haired doctor as she herded herself and Joe out of the room.

Between them, a sigh of relief went up as they stepped out into the comparatively calm and friendly corridor.

"Well, he was…awful."

"I've had worse, honestly," Dr Imai insisted, a sour smile on her lips. "He really hated Digimon, huh?"

"I'm just glad people like that aren't running the country," Joe said, a look of relief on his face as he remembered their PM's quite firm policies on being pro-Digimon even if his Chief Cabinet Secretary was far more cautious about the digital beings. Of course, with the PM now dead, everything was up for grabs, something which left a nagging pain at the back of his mind. "So, next patient?"

"Sounds good," Fumiko said, gesturing along the hallway. Joe nodded, following her along it, glancing at the utilitarian walls and the speckled floor which threatened to drive him insane by this point.

"_How does she cope with all this? This place is designed to __send you nuts, I swear," _he thought, sighing too quietly for her to hear as he contemplated everything he had learnt in that week. Of course, the truly medical stuff - how to insert a needle, what needed to be administered for particular situations and, inevitably, the paperwork - had all come in useful, but what he had found far more interesting was how doctors worked in a hospital. His glimpses of his mentor's working practices had shown practically nothing of how Fumiko Imai managed to survive in such a depressing place and still be smiling at the end of it, particularly given…that. _"I don't know how anyone could keep smiling after losing their whole world like that," _he sighed, recalling her 'revelation' a short time into his work experience, when they had found a rare oasis of quiet in the busy job.

Knowing about her miscarriage had helped Joe understand the woman a lot more, there having always been an air about her which reeked of something not being quite right, but at the same time it meant he understood how she could work here even less.

"_I don__'t know how this week is meant to help me in wanting to become a doctor - if anything it's made me want to be one even less."_

Joe was suddenly awoken rather abruptly from his musings as he walked straight into the back of his mentor. He staggered back a tad, looking in confusion at her for why she had suddenly stopped. She turned, looking apologetic, yet also oddly suspicious.

"Sorry," she quickly said, frowning as she glanced about.

"What's wrong? Why did we stop?"

"Something…something's not quite right," she said, paying more views to each side, through every door, window and hallway. Joe raised an eyebrow, doing the same before the reality hit him like a truck.

This corridor…was empty. Not just with only one or two people in it, but completely empty, with barely any noise either, at least not anywhere nearby.

"Hey, where did everyone go?"

Fumiko stepped towards a doorway, putting her hand at it as she looked through to the patients inside. "All sleeping," she mumbled, turning back to face him. "But no doctors," she added, glancing down to her pager, her eyes widening upon seeing its monochromatic screen. "And no signal either."

"That's weird," Joe noted, not sure what to abstract from the situation. Fumiko put a finger to her lips as she gestured for them to continue down the corridor. She kept her footsteps light and quiet, and the Tamer soon cottoned on that it was worth him doing the same. Even in spite of this, the sound of breathing, the sound of distant machines and the sound of footsteps chattered in his ears, threatening to drive him insane.

Fumiko once again came to an abrupt stop and paused, listening to the air before turning, grabbing his arm and whispering. "Quick."

And then, without much else, Joe found himself dragged through an adjacent door, only the bewildering nature of the situation preventing him from yelping out in pain and annoyance. He leant on a nearby table to catch his balance, as she frowned at him once again and spoke, as seemed to be the fashion now, in hushed tones.

"Sorry."

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but it's far too quiet."

"I know what you mean but…what's causing it?"

The pounding of footsteps suddenly made itself known to Joe as two shadows blurred past the frosted glass on the window, items on their person shaking and clattering as they ran. Evidently, they were carrying more than just a bag, and this thought made the boy step dead in his tracks.

"_Who are they? Police? Why?"_

Fumiko did nothing, standing perfectly still just out of sight of the window and listening as the footsteps drew away from their ears. She looked to Joe, as much concern labelled on her face as that which currently rushed through the wannabe-doctor's brain. She then turned away, glancing about at the room which prompted him to do likewise.

It was a rather different room to most, dominated by a rather large CAT scanning machine in the centre, covered in white plastic. Safety notices covered the walls, and several short portable tables sat about. The walls were slightly thicker with electromagnetic shielding, probably the reason they hadn't been heard yet. A low humming radiated throughout, the machine's lights still on even if it was merely doing its equivalent of 'ticking over'.

"_If it is, then I__'m eternally grateful."_

Fumiko looked back to the door, taking an uneasy glance at Joe before moving towards it, placing her hand on the handle and pausing once again as she listened out. She opened it slowly, pausing every time it creaked, before peeking her head out.

And promptly pulling it straight back in again, a horrified expression on her face.

"What is it?" Joe asked, the suspense killing him. The blood had already run from his temporary colleague's face, and it was quickly becoming evident that this was not simply a bad thing; this was a _very_ bad thing.

"Soldiers."

"What?!" he said, struggling to suppress his surprise.

She nodded, eyes wide and disbelief stitched across her face. This couldn't be true. Why would soldiers be hunting them? "We're stuck in here."

"_You__'re kidding me."_

Joe quickly reached for his D-Arc, the dangerous situation forcing him to fall back on his age-old instincts of checking the digivice. She looked at him bewilderingly as he revealed the white D-Arc with a gray ring and white buttons, a compass quickly forming and spinning above it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not sure," Joe sighed as the compass merely told him what he already knew - the direction of Gomamon. _"Maybe I was hoping those guys out there were Digimon or something, but if they're human, then…I don't know _what_ we do."_

"It's a shame we can't have Gomamon here, he'd be very useful right now," Fumiko noted, Joe frowning and nodding, although he suspected that if whoever it was had been looking for them specifically rather than just coming here for someone else entirely then they'd have planned ahead with some form of anti-Digimon weapon. He reached for his cellphone, about to turn it on before she put her hand over it and stopped him. "Wait."

"Huh?"

"We're in a room of delicate medical equipment, so I don't think that's the best…" she whispered, before freezing and glancing to the door.

"_I heard something."_

The footsteps suddenly restarted, advancing and becoming louder and louder before the sources burst into the room, a pair of guns primed and aimed at them. "DON'T MOVE!"

Joe and Fumiko's hands rushed up in the air, mobile still in place in the former's one as his mind was too frazzled to do anything. He glanced over the pair of soldiers, both men helmeted and heavily armed, thick armour over them. The doctor-to-be's hands shook, his fingers clenching tightly around the phone and a quiet beep sounding as he unintentionally pressed the button.

"Drop it," the other soldier ordered, his voice harsh and uncompromising. Joe nodded, still petrified, as it clattered to the ground.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Fumiko asked, glancing between them and to her protégé.

"We are here to eliminate a dangerous suspect and arrest or kill anyone associated with them who assist their escape."

"What?!" she blurted, Joe too glued to the spot thanks to the truckload of the first soldier's words hitting him head-on.

"_Eliminate? Kill? Arrest? Shit, they want me dead! But…they can__'t…this is illegal…who are they?!"_

"The Digimon Tamers are responsible for the death of the Prime Minister, and are heavily armed, therefore they are hostile targets to be removed by the security services," the second soldier explained, still aiming straight at the woman whilst his colleague was aiming at the main target.

"But…they didn't kill the Prime Minister! And he doesn't even have his Digimon! How is he a dangerous target?"

"We have orders."

"I'm in-innocent!" Joe insisted, his words stuttered and uneven as he clenched his eyes shut. "P-Please don't kill me!"

Was this how it ended, standing in a CAT scan room without ever finding out the reason being his 'elimination'? He would never get to say goodbye to his friends, he would never get to say it to his family, and Fumiko, if she survived, would forever be left feeling guilty for his death when she had already had such a bad time in her life already.

"_And the last sound I hear will be that awful ringtone…wait…ringtone?"_

Joe opened an eye, looking down to the phone on the ground below, shuddering away to itself as the soldiers paid a glance of surprise towards it. The first soldier quickly corrected himself, fixing his gun's sights on his main target whilst the second soldier reached down, picking up the mobile.

"Is this yours?"

"Y-yes?" Joe said, not even sure what to say any more. Everything had suddenly decided to shock him at that moment. _"I'd rather spend a million years with that patient than do this."_

"**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy."**

"Who is Izzy?" the first soldier asked, his knowledge of affairs evidently not as detailed as that of his colleague who quickly answered without either of the civilians having to intervene.

"Another of the Tamers."

Joe blinked, not sure whether to try to run, to fight back or to simply accept his fate given the strange turn in events. Yet, once again, the choice would be taken from his hands, as from behind him an alarm began to sound.

"_The CAT scanner?" _he surmised, twisting his head around despite knowing that non-compliance could make the end come even sooner.

Fumiko, grave concern on her face, looked across into his eyes. "The mobile transmissions are interfering with it, as I said. It's set to have an alarm when it can be damaged," she whispered, the two soldiers looking to her with glares.

"What did you say?" the first ordered.

"I said that the cell phone is interfering with the CAT scan, and that it needs to be checked out before anything happens."

"Such as what?"

"I don't know."

"Hmm…" the second soldier mumbled, wandering away from the first and heading towards the device, looking over it curiously whilst Fumiko glanced to the first soldier, seeing he was still staring down at Joe down the barrel of a gun. He wasn't going to easily be distracted.

"_I don__'t know if I should be glad for a few more seconds or sad that I didn't get quickly put out of my misery," _Joe contemplated glumly, having already given up all hope of an escape. He, having closed his eyes to shield himself from the world, opened them to see the gun again, glancing away at the first opportunity to avoid the horrifying sight.

It was at that moment that he saw Fumiko make a sudden move, stepping towards the large green button on the wall and jamming her hand into it, the CAT scanner suddenly whirring into life. Both soldiers looked up, the first one quickly turning his gun to face her. Joe, however, watched as one of the trolleys hit him, catching him off guard as instruments clattered everywhere, Fumiko having performed the act just in the nick of time.

"Run!" she cried, barely heard above the accidental roar of gunshots missing Joe as the first soldier fell back slightly. He didn't hit the floor though, and as both doctor and future doctor rushed out the door, the machines inside whirring loudly stopped to the sound of even more bullets and smashed metal.

"_Great, now the hospital will kill us,"_ Joe thought, still seeing the worst in the current situation. He didn't even bother to look back, instead pounding his feet against the cursed speckled floor and turning the first corner they came to.

At the end of the hallway lay a fire escape. Perfect!

"_If they__'re not already waiting for us."_

He glanced to Fumiko, the same idea clearly going through her mind as she frowned, the pair instead turning down the last corridor before. They continued along, seeing the busier hospital in the distance and making quick paces towards it.

"_If we get surrounded by people, they won__'t be able to shoot so easily."_

His planning was quickly interrupted as he realised the kind of person who stood closest to them, blocking the end of the 'public' part of the corridor garbed in black and brandishing weapons.

"_They closed off part of the hospital!"_ he thought, reaching out to grab Fumiko's hand before pulling her down another route, yet another fire escape now visible at the end. Were they far enough away from where they would be expected to escape to risk it though? What if there were soldiers just inside, waiting to catch them? Were they concentrating that many soldiers on them, or were they not big enough targets? And why were they targets anyway?

"I parked at the back," Fumiko told him, the comment seemingly random before he realised exactly where the fire escape led: the staff car park.

"Uh-huh."

The pair finally reached an escape, the cool air and Spartan nature of the fire escape a dramatic change in atmosphere to the stuffy and cluttered hospital corridors. Emergency lighting lined the walls as they rushed downwards, floors passing by as fingers were crossed in hope.

Finally, they pushed their way outside into the fresh air, one which unfortunately offered no relief right now. Joe paused whilst Fumiko set straight off towards her car, a dark blue Honda Accord parked thankfully close to the hospital in one of the reserved parking spaces. The area seemed empty but with the alarm inevitably sounded by now it was clear their status as targets, whatever it had been, would now be greater.

"_But why are they after us? None of us would even dare to kill the PM! This is ridiculous."_

"Get in," Fumiko said, snapping him from his trance as she climbed into her side, the right hand one. He nodded, hurrying to the other one and rushing in, quickly belting up and looking to her. She frowned, a brief pause in their hectic running as she clearly seemed to be trying to take it all in, something which Joe had long given up on.

"We…we didn't do anything, and we never would," Joe said, worriedly suspecting she was taking the soldiers' words seriously.

"I know. We have to get out of here," she said, looking out the windows before starting the engine, satisfied the coast was clear. Joe frowned, pondering their chances. If they could make it into traffic, away from the hospital, and maybe find Gomamon or one of the others, they'd be in a far better position. But, whoever was doing this had the military on their side, and they were blaming them for a pretty big crime which the whole country currently angrily wanted answers to. Would anyone other than their friends even think before turning them in?

The car pulled quickly away, racing through the car park but keeping the revs low so as not to draw attention to it. Joe glanced over his shoulders as they navigated towards the exit, seeing a number of soldiers exiting the fire escape behind. They paused, before turning, heading back into the building, something which caused a raise of eyebrow.

"They're going back in?"

"They must've parked on the other side," Fumiko suggested, slightly distracted by the task of pulling onto the main road. Finally, they entered the traffic, and were able to put some decent distance between themselves and their pursuers.

"_I doubt they__'re the only ones though," _Joe thought as they flew through a green light, thanking whatever god truly existed as they did so. He glanced about the car, noting that it was reasonably comfortable on the inside if looking a bit tatty with age, a lot of (probably unread) papers on the back seat and unsharpened pencils with broken pens in the cubby-holders. He turned back, deciding not to distract Fumiko from driving as he looked up to the sky above, obscured partly by the buildings of Shinjuku.

What was really going on here? No-one had even mentioned a suspect, let alone it being the Tamers. What was their motive meant to be? Who knew already that they were the suspects? Was the whole country already against them, and who was sending the soldiers? Was it really the government as Izzy had said? Who else had he contacted?

So many questions rushed through the boy's mind, but he forced himself to concentrate back on the pragmatic reality: what did they have on them that they could use?

They had a car, but no money unless there was something in the penny tray, which wouldn't be in any useful quantity. It made no difference anyway, it was unlikely they would be able to buy anything. They also had a pager, and probably Fumiko's mobile, even if his own was currently in the possession of a soldier. And, of course, they had the clothes on their back, a D-Arc and Digimon cards, but no Digimon, at least not nearby. _"And I don't want to risk going back home to get Gomamon, even if Tai and the others are there."_

"Joe, are you okay?" Fumiko asked, her voice only slightly calmed compared to its previously determined state as she took a quick and worried glance at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, knowing that keeping his head in this situation was what really mattered. Lose your mind, lose the battle, as much as the former seemed like an appealing option when all hell was breaking loose like it was now. "I'm sorry for getting you into this."

"Why? You didn't do anything."

"You're on the run because of me."

"No I'm not," Fumiko insisted, shaking her head. "Trust me, if it wasn't one of you guys, I would've handed myself in to be arrested and then have seen what happened. I helped us both escape since I knew you didn't have a chance on your own."

"But, what if you die because of me?" Joe asked, slightly angry that someone he, compared to his friends, barely knew, was fit for risking his life.

"Joe, let me let you in on a little thing. When you work in a hospital, you can't blame anyone for anything, because you realise that it'll only come back to get you in the end. We're all in this together, okay?"

Joe frowned, nodding reluctantly at the older woman. "Okay," he replied, still feeling a deep sense of guilt and regret. _"If she does die…" _he began, but he didn't want to finish that thought. Fumiko didn't seem to even want to raise it either, her hands firmly on the steering wheel as she nodded.

"Good. Now, what do we do?"

"Well, I was sort of hoping you had a plan for that."

"Can we get to any of your fellow Tamers?"

"Not if the soldiers are after them," Joe replied, the chilling thought rushing through his mind that some of his friends could already be dead. He pushed it back, the concept not one worth considering and one which would only bring panic to his already fragile mind. "How far can we go?"

Fumiko glanced to the computer display. "About 200 kilometres." It was something, but not much if they really needed to get some decent distance in. Japan was a fairly small island, and running away overseas would be nigh on impossible. Doubtless the actual range would be lower if they were to be pursued and had to burn a lot of fuel in doing so.

"Hmm…then there's one thing we can do," Joe said, putting his hand on his chin and frowning.

"Which is?"

"We have to go to the park, where Izzy said."

"But the soldiers read the message - they know we'll go there!"

"But they will know we're not stupid enough to do so. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if there were already people there, but maybe in numbers…"

Joe was interrupted by a loud revving and hooting of horns from behind their vehicle, necks quickly craned back to see a number of army four wheel drive vehicles following them on the fairly wide road. Other cars quickly stopped, worried that if they didn't they would be arrested, leaving only Fumiko's car remaining, an easy target.

"Shit," Fumiko cursed, pushing down on the accelerator as the predicted range dipped a couple of kilometres to match. The engine revved heavily, the speed picking up as they well outran the limit. Joe checked his seatbelt was secure, before gripping tightly onto the door handle for good measure. "So fast," she mumbled, disbelief laden in her voice at how such all-terrain vehicles could also be so nippy.

Joe, didn't dare look back, knowing that any sudden stop could give him severe whiplash if he did so. He glanced across to Fumiko, who kept taking frantic looks in her mirrors and out to the front for any other vehicles, as she dodged the number of stopped cars all around them. How long she could do that for, Joe didn't know. Even if she had been driving for a long while, she wasn't a racing driver or a stunt driver - she was a doctor. It'd take just one wrong move to tear the side off the Accord, and then they would be well and truly f…

It was at that moment that a large explosion rang through the air, the vehicle's back window filling with dust and smoke as the military vehicles vanished from sight. Debris struck the back tyres, Joe holding his breath as the car began to spin and skid across the road, turning a half rotation and heading straight for a parked car…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Well, yet another unexplained situation. Don't worry though; by the end of this all these random, partly-seen events will make perfect sense. Next time, it's Matt's turn in the limelight.

Until next time…

B.C.


	6. Phase One: Matt Ishida

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself). The XKCD quote is under a Creative Commons licence and created by Randall Monroe.**

**A/N: **Now we get to see what's going on back at File Apartment, from Matt's point of view in this case. Enjoy!

Cheers again to Crazyeight for beta reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Phase One**

_Matt Ishida_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**File Apartment, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:15 JST**_

Metal coils vibrated as plastic rushed across them, the twanging noise rather pleasant despite the nature of its creation. The usual amplifier was absent, far too loud for the present situation, and so an older acoustic alternative was used.

Of course, it barely mattered. Even electric guitars made some resemblance of a noise when plucked without an amp, and this guitar's current user wasn't really playing any more of a tune than that made by simply randomly stroking the plectrum across the strings.

"_Girls once died at my feet at that sound," _Matt thought melodramatically, a slight smile on his face. _"Of course, that's not always a good thing, particularly not when you have people like Jun amongst them."_

Alas, those days were now over. Sure, even when the band was around, their gigs had been becoming fewer and fewer and they were old news, not that they were ever more than an unsigned band with a good stroke of luck and good connections to play at more interesting venues from time to time. But, now, they weren't even that - the band had split up as of a month ago, and had rather outstayed its welcome to last even that long in the blonde's eyes.

"_I guess that__'s what growing up is all about," _he mused, glancing up to his partner, Gabumon, who watched him from nearby with a glimmer of curiosity. How Gabumon was still amazed by his musical ability still puzzled him, but he didn't think it was really a problem. It was nice to have someone appreciating your music. _"At least, without needing some stuck up drummer like Yoshirou there to complain that we're not aiming high enough."_

"That was beautiful Matt," Gabumon said, his Tamer's pausing making him think that he had finished with his song.

"Beautiful? It's just cool Gabumon," he explained, finding the choice of terms rather odd given the casual situation. And, indeed, it was a very casual situation in File Apartment that day, its five occupants not bothering to do much in particular.

Matt stood up, chuckling at his partner's words still as he planted his guitar down on the chair. He wandered across to the kitchen, seeing Tai and Agumon lying along the sofa at opposite ends and watching the television, glum frowns on their faces at the news of the PM's assassination, and not just because he was irritated the TV schedules had been completely demolished to report on it.

"_His International Politics teacher is going to quiz him on this," _Matt thought, frowning. If Tai had been paying attention in class, he could probably already make a guess at the international ramifications of such a death, particularly the outpouring of international condolences and condemnation. Of course, that was a big 'if'. Still, Tai seemed to enjoy his classes enough that it wouldn't have been too much of a surprise.

He glanced to the final occupant, Gomamon on the coffee table in front of the sofa, parted from his Tamer and looking rather bored by affairs. Indeed, this whole week away from Joe had left him with little to do and much tedium.

"_Poor guy," _Matt thought, stepping up behind the sofa and looking over to the screen. "Anything new?"

"China's sent their apologies, which makes 29 countries."

"You're counting?!"

"I'm bored," Tai moaned, leaning back on the armrest of the sofa. "Make me a sandwich."

"No, do it yourself."

"Sudo make me a sandwich."

"Wh…oh…Izzy told you that joke too, huh?"

"Yeah, though I don't have a clue what it means other than that you _have_ to make me one," Tai said, a light grin on his face towards his best friend as he pushed his luck. Matt simply ruffled his carefully 'styled' hair before chuckling as he walked away, hearing the boy's grumbling behind. "Hey, it's the sudo law!" he yelled, sitting him on the sofa.

"Get me some food too while you're getting some Tai," Agumon said, his stomach rumbling. "I'm starved."

"Yeah, same," Gomamon added, while Tai glared at them.

"Hey, I'm not a waitress."

"Yeah, and neither am I, so get off your fat arse," Matt insisted, Tai then glaring at him before finally climbing to his feet.

"Fine," he grumbled, staggering across to the fridge. "Let's see, what hasn't expired," he mumbled, searching through the contents.

"This yogurt," Matt answered, drinking from what he had found only a few moments earlier. Tai glared at him, before pulling out the least-expired food, a chocolate mousse. "Wasn't it your job to restock it?"

"I thought it was Joe's," Tai said, tucking into the mousse with a spoon after a brief mould-check.

"No, you two switched weeks 'cause he's so busy at his placement."

"Oh," Tai mumbled, a bit of chocolate dribbling onto his chin as he spoke with his mouth full. Matt rolled his eyes at how much of a pig he was being, but could barely give a damn in reality. So long as their place didn't look like a tip, it was fine. Then again, the opinions of what a 'tip' looked like seemed to differ from him and Tai to Sora and Mimi, even if the latter had a habit of leaving her own room with clothes strewn everywhere. "Well, I didn't."

"Great…" Matt groaned, hand on his forehead before a grin came to his face. "So, pizza tonight?" he said more enthusiastically.

"Sounds good, but who's paying?"

"You of course! You forgot the grocery shopping."

"Given how much the Digimon eat, I doubt I could afford it."

"Hey!" Gomamon yelled, before pausing. "Oh, who am I kidding," he added. Agumon and Gabumon nodding in agreement as they all listened in to their Tamers conversation.

"Hey, maybe we could get them all to work to earn the money to pay for it?" Matt suggested, at a whisper easily loud enough for them all to hear.

"No way!" Agumon complained, leaning over the back of the sofa and shooting daggers at Matt. "I can't work!"

"Why not?" Tai asked, a cheeky grin on his face as his partner was left in the argument without allies. "Imagine all the money we could earn…"

"He could be an animal in a zoo."

"Or a firelighter."

"Or in the circus."

"Hey Matt, I don't want to do that," Gabumon complained, Matt chuckling and smiling to his partner.

"Hey, we were just kidding. Don't worry; we'll always keep paying for the mountains of food you guys eat!"

"Great!" Gomamon cheered, leaping onto the sofa where he joined Agumon and Gabumon leaning on the back. "Speaking of which, what's still edible in the fridge?"

"Whatever you feel brave enough to eat," Tai laughed, chucking the mousse pot into the bin before turning to face the others, wiping a random bit of chocolate from his lips. "But I wouldn't risk it if I were you."

"I nominate Agumon as official guinea pig," Gomamon said, grinning as both he and Gabumon looked to their orange friend. The dinosaur, panic-stricken, looked about at his companions, cornered.

"Yeah, I agree," Gabumon added.

"Hey! Tai!" Agumon moaned, looking to his Tamer for help. The boy chuckled back, wandering towards the creature and patting him on the head.

"Don't worry Agumon," he reassured, a thankful look on the Digimon's face. "If you throw up, we'll stop."

"What?!"

"Can Digimon even throw up?" Gabumon asked, putting his claw to his mouth in wondering.

"Joe probably knows," Gomamon surmised. "Or we could experiment," he suggested, once again looking to the orange dinosaur.

"Okay, enough tormenting Agumon," Matt said, gesturing for them to stop. Once Gomamon and the others had begun a joke, it could prove difficult to stop them. God only knew how he and Joe had managed to be partners all this time, they were so remarkably different. _"But that's what taming's all about."_

"Fine…but we're still hungry."

Tai chuckled again, falling down on the sofa and making it clear he didn't intend to do anything to help, or, indeed, anything at all.

"Can you go get something?" Gabumon asked, it being the blonde's turn to be cornered. The Digimon continued to give pleading eyes for food towards Matt, the boy rolling his eyes at their puppy-dog style ones, supposedly impossible to resist but right now not living up to their reputation.

"We'll sort out lunch when Sora gets back," he replied, knowing that the girl was inevitably already aware of their situation and would at least have picked up the essentials: milk, bread, coffee and so on. Of course, how long it would last was unknown, and it seemed increasingly likely that they would be going out somewhere for lunch, either to the subsidised canteen at their university or, more likely, to raid the fridges back at one of their homes. Tai's mother would probably be happy to feed them, although given her food usually deserved hazard signs and waiver forms for anyone within a mile of it, it seemed like a suicidal option. Unless, of course, this was one of those rare occasions where her highly polar cooking was actually good, something so improbable it was actually rather likely.

"Aw, but when will that be?" Agumon moaned, Matt crossing his arms and shrugging.

"I don't know, ask Tai," he suggested, gesturing towards the boy still watching the television. He was Sora's boyfriend, after all, although whether that actually meant he paid much attention to when she said she'd be back was another question. Routine normally bred forgetfulness in a situation like this, contrary to the normal memory-enhancing powers of repetitive actions.

"Tai?" Agumon asked, looking to his Tamer and awaiting an answer to his question.

Oddly, however, he did not receive one, his Tamer locked in a trance as Matt took a confused step towards his best friend. "Hey Tai, snap out of it," he said, coming to a stand at the sofa back and, like the three Digimon with him, trying to work out what had prompted Tai's sudden lock-up. They followed his gaze, straight to the chattering 'idiot-box'.

Where, for once, the news was something other than a trivial story blown out of proportion, for right now, it all concerned the murder of the Prime Minister the night before. Matt had never paid much attention to the man's work but he seemed to be a fairly good guy at his job, and he'd never had much cause to disagree with the policies set in place. Politics never really struck Matt's interest, anything too major being found out from Izzy or Joe, or even Tai given his course. But, rarely was that the case.

Yet now, he had the creeping suspicion that something very important was going on. Tai was rarely _this_ gripped by the news, and right now he was barely moving, his mouth slightly agape.

Until it spoke.

"Shit!"

"What is it Tai?" Matt asked, still not having paid much attention to what the news meant. Tai didn't reply, instead getting to his feet and staring at the screen, still in disbelief. Matt finally 'tuned-in' to what was being said, it taking him completely by surprise as he read the sub-headline displayed over an image, a stock photo of someone all-too-familiar.

Sakuyamon.

**Chief Suspect**

"…**circumventing the state-of-the-art Japanese security systems and almost going without a single record of her ever being there. The fact a single Digimon can do such things is worrying enough, but I am afraid it is merely a drop in a ****scarily ****large ocean."**

Images flashed past of various Digimon battles, all with Tamer involvement. Vikaralamon, the D-Reaper, Yggdrasil, a dozen bioemergences that got out of hand, the First Demon, the Second Demon, the Cult of Victory incident…all concentrated on the explosions and damage caused by the Digimon of the Tamers.

"**Digimon are powerful, dangerous and difficult to control, and allowing them to exist, particularly with Tamers, has led to this tragedy, something which should **_**never**_** have happened."**

"That's bullshit! We didn't do anything! We can't have…Rika wouldn't…she just…" Matt exclaimed, not even sure how to put into words his horror at this 'revelation'. Tai was on his feet quickly, evidently having already worked out where this was going as he headed across to lock the door.

Only for it to open before he could even reach it.

Matt swung his head round, the broadcast becoming a chattering noise once again as a blissfully-unaware Sora entered the room, carrying a shopping bag and a purse, their previous suspicions confirmed. Her fairly short-cut orange hair matched a pale orange top and blue jeans, a trio of black lines across the breast of the former. Biyomon followed behind, fluttering down to the ground alongside her Tamer as Tai stepped up to her, the smile on her face holding out as she awaited her usual kiss in greeting from the boy.

The moment that she realised Tai was instead rambling in horror about what he had just learnt was a rather obvious one from Matt's point of view - Sora's face dropped into confusion before going even further into open-mouthed shock as she discerned more and more of his words.

"…and now I bet they're after us!" he finished, the girl simply standing and blinking at him, glancing across to the television to see the report still talking.

"…**rights of Digimon above those of humans. Well I am here to say that this ends now: I will not allow that to happen!"** Rayleigh ranted, slamming his fist down on the podium in front of which he stood.

"_I thought he was on our side," _Matt thought, reflecting on Rayleigh's threat after the Chiyo incident that Tai and Sora had told him about, something which had seemed so empty and insignificant until now. _"What is he going to do?"_

"Then what can we do?" Sora asked Tai, Rayleigh seemingly answering his previous question.

"**...for I have already dispatched forces to neutralise this threat, and we as a whole will be taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence," **he said, the sound of engines running and tyres squealing radiating through the windows from outside. **"As Shakespeare once…" **he continued, the box suddenly silenced as all the lights in the room died, a moment of complete shock and confusion occurring as they struggled to take it all in.

"Shit, this is really bad," Matt mumbled to himself, Gabumon looking scared out of his wits in the current situation and Biyomon, Gomamon and Agumon not faring much better as the former clung to her Tamer's leg, her Tamer in turn clinging to Tai.

"We have to run," Tai said, a strange look of determination on his face as he quickly grasped the scope of the situation. Matt nodded, glancing down at his dark green shirt and khaki pants - they would have to suffice, there wouldn't be any time to change.

"_Ugh, thank god for not remembering to change that alarm for our day off," _he reflected, noting Tai's relatively 'outdoor' clothes, brown pants and a blue top, the only thing missing a similarity to the 'old days' being the lack of a pair of Goggles or headband.

"But what about Joe and the others?" Gomamon asked, leaping onto Agumon's head for great mobility as the dinosaur yelped in surprise and annoyance.

"Hey, you're too heavy!" he said, the pair crashing down as he lost his balance.

"We'll just have to…" Tai began, before pausing as a bleeping reached their ears. All three Tamers reached into their pockets, pulling out a small, silver store-bought communications device.

The story of the D-Terminal was unlike that of the Digivices. After their adventures in the Digital World the first time they had collectively decided to keep in contact with the relatively cheap devices, Izzy configuring them all to connect to the same private network connected into the Digital World. But then, the Digital World itself seemed to have different plans, not only making exact copies of the devices which were automatically given to the new Digidestined, Davis, Ken, Cody and Yolei, but also using them to store the digi-eggs themselves. Even more surprisingly, the D-Vices had then piggybacked onto the same network, albeit Izzy had once suggested that it was more likely the relatively few D-Vices simply had a greater range of frequencies and channels they could receive.

"It's from Izzy," Sora noted, opening it up as her fellow Tamers did likewise. Biyomon pulled at her leg.

"Sora, they'll be here any minute! We have to get out of here!"

Matt's eyes widened and his mouth opened in surprise as he looked down, seeing the message. **SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

"_That cinches it then," _he thought, looking up to his fellow Tamers who were already nodding to Biyomon and taking steps towards the door. Matt looked down, seeing Gomamon and reaching out a hand which was gladly accepted, the relatively short and legless marine animal quickly climbing onto his shoulder.

With that, Matt followed Tai and Sora out the door, Gabumon quickly in tow as they stepped out into the corridor. He looked about, all of them pausing as they tried to work out exactly where these **"strong measures"** would be coming from.

"Tai, we can't go out on foot…let's head up to the roof," Matt suggested quickly, after a glance to the slightly-dusty ceiling gave him the idea. Tai nodded, the trio turning and quickly rushing left, heading towards the fire escape instead of the lift and normal stairs. Hopefully it wouldn't already be filled with soldiers.

The blonde was thankful as they managed to open the door first time, the large bars of fire escapes irritatingly not always making escape very easy. Stepping into the stairwell, even more utilitarian than their rather cheap flats, they took no pause in rushing upstairs, hurriedly pushing the door open and stepping out into the fresh air as footsteps began to sound at the base of the steps.

"Now what?" Gomamon asked from his shoulder, Matt glancing around in worry that they would already have some form of military helicopter trained on them. Thankfully, such wasn't the case, although the loud sound of sirens around them made it clear their escape was not going to go unseen.

"Biyomon, do you want to…" Tai began to suggest, but was quickly interrupted.

"Wait," Matt said, shaking his head. "Garurumon is faster on foot, and we can dodge things more easily down in the streets."

"Right," Tai said, nodding with a determined glare in his eyes. Matt reached down, grimacing when no card holder came to pass.

"_I should__'ve taken the chance to be prepared rather than just shocked."_

He looked up as a digivolution card was shoved in his face, giving a brief and grim smile in thanks to Sora. She was the only one who had been out of the house that day, yet her shopping bag had at some point been left behind. It seemed that their hope for food would continue to go unfulfilled. "Thanks."

"We have to go make sure my mom's alright," she noted, now no time for civilities. A deep-seated worry was laden in her voice, one well-placed given the intention of Rayleigh to "**prevent **_**any**_** recurrence"**. Their families were in danger, and they didn't even have anyone to defend them, particularly those at home without any colleagues around them for protection or at least to delay attacks.

"Right," Matt said, raising his D-Arc and sweeping the card through without further delay. "DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Gabumon Digivolve to…**

Gabumon grew, his form stripped of all skin and becoming a grid of green lines. It expanded with an explosion, becoming wolf-like as white fur attached itself to his wireframe and he howled his new title.

…**Garurumon!**

"Quick, get on," the wolf growled, Matt quickly leaping onto his partner's back like he had done a thousand times before. Gripping with one hand onto the fur, he put out his other one to help the other two Tamers join him via the same routine, albeit slightly more clumsily.

"Everyone ready?" Tai asked, everyone leaning down low to the fur as they knew what was coming.

"Ready as I'll ever be to run from gun-wielding cops," sarcastically said Gomamon, as Garurumon gripped at the roof surface, making himself ready for this run-up. They would only get one shot.

The fire escape door clattered open again, gunshots ringing the air as Matt pushed his head right down against the back of his partner's one. "Go," he groaned, the wolf already launching himself forward as full pelt towards the edge of the roof.

The bullets continued, the next rooftop looking a mile away for them now, hands clutched so tightly onto fur Matt worried he was inadvertently injuring his friend in the process. Yet they had no choice, speed increasing every second as they hurtled across the top of their home.

This was it. Do or die.

Feet pounding.

Shouts sounding.

Sirens wailing.

Guns blazing.

Leap.

Safety.

Not for long.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Hehe, yeah, I'm an XKCD fan, and I'm hoping at least one person out there got that particular web comic reference because otherwise I'm being exceedingly geeky and doing the author's equivalent of laughing at my own jokes. Ah well, never said I wasn't geeky.

Ooh, and by the way, the fantastic (and perfectionist) writer WarBard has restarted his Foundran Chronicles, a fantastic idea which I'm sure will be brilliantly executed with its rather interesting story. I already know a few things which are coming up in it and so you can trust my words when I highly recommend you check it out.

And that's not just because I get a dedication in the Forward.

Until next time…

B.C.


	7. Phase One: Janyuu Wong

**DISCLAIMER: I don****'t own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Time for the first milestone in reviews for this book: thanks to Roguespirit for being the 50th reviewer.

Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

**Phase One**

_Janyuu Wong_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**The Digital Technology Company Japanese Office, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:17 JST**_

Shibumi, real name Gorou Mizuno, was on the top ten of every technology company's headhunting list, from Google to Twitter, from Valve to Nintendo, from Microsoft to Apple. The fifty-one year old had many-a-time joked that they were the oldest yet most sought-after programmers in the business. And yet, despite the vast number of job offers - the vastly increased salaries, the perks running so deep as to allow him practically to do anything he wanted in his new job from wherever he wanted, and the most powerful computers going - he had never accepted any of them, instead sticking to his own company, The Digital Technology Company, based in California with an office in Tokyo, Japan. He shared ownership with only his fellow 'Monster Makers', who also found themselves high on the list, equally able but simply less publicised. They all knew that they could make an absolute fortune listing TDTC on any stock exchange, but they weren't in it for the money.

Of course, they weren't going broke either. TDTC had written a vast variety of applications, many simple 'spare time' projects by the six developers which had turned out to be insanely popular in the technology community, and ironically the vast majority had absolutely nothing to do with Digimon, even if lessons learned in the creation of the Digital Monsters AI proved useful for algorithms and intelligent systems and the like. Most of the online services, if popular, were soon sold on to fund the company - only those which the group had a deep affection for stayed on, and that included everything to do with Digimon.

Such was probably rather smart - Digimon certainly weren't regulated, common or even simply known about enough to even consider releasing the smallest program with the least impact on them. The technique of World Streaming, using the high and open capacity of the Digital World, its solid surfaces, its skies, its oceans, to transfer data, especially when it provided a far shorter distance of transport than in reality, was strictly used in non-public projects only. One day it could revolutionise communications and internet speeds, but right now they simply didn't have the faintest clue of its impacts on the current level of use, let alone with the whole world, his wife and his internet fridge using it.

Oh, and there was also the fact that The Digital Technology Company had close links to the officially non-existent government organisation widely known as 'Hypnos', which many of the employees regularly spent a long time working for and with. Many of them, indeed, were still on the payroll.

One such 'Monster Maker', one tied very closely into the Digimon affair via his family, was Janyuu Wong, also known as Tao, for every one of the six 'Monster Makers' had a nickname created back in their college days.

As the blue haired man in his mid-forties stared at the screen, the lines of code on it failed to progress themselves like he would've hoped - apart from a few highly advanced Digimon, most code simply couldn't write itself, at least not beyond the set lines of digivolution and video games. And hence, the job fell to programmers, grappling with the endless annoyances of computers.

He groaned, running his hand through his hair and sighing as he looked down at the crumbs in the black keyboard below, their existence bugging him far more than he knew they should. He pushed back, finding it hard to concentrate even on the best of days but finding it nigh on impossible today. The flat greyness had settled in, that constant block in the mind which precludes working. Pure boredom followed, even when it should've been easy to find a task to do - one which accomplished no actual benefit, like an online game or distraction. _"Wikipedia is always useful," _he pondered, but knew that going to Wikipedia would only lead him back to the subject which concerned him.

The death of the Prime Minister.

What was worse was that right now there was a reminder of the government in their midst, in the form of a number of Hypnos technicians collecting a number of Shibumi's theories on disks, a far more secure method than internet transfer. Of course, to Shibumi, and, indeed, all of their annoyance, this meant they were interrupted when their office was normally just for their group of six. Sure, there were other employees of the company, mostly in admin and accounting (the latter usually ignored) although a few in programming too, but they rarely interfered in the business of the 'Monster Makers'.

Today, three of the 'Monster Makers' were to be found at the Japanese Office: the aforementioned Tao and Shibumi, and Dolphin, real name Robert McCoy, the group's only American member and the one whose connections had originally managed to secure their funding from Palo Alto University. He was currently dealing with the technicians, Shibumi already embarking on some random programming idea he had had. Only Janyuu was left working, at least in this office, busy with an improvement to their internal communication program.

Or, at least, trying to be busy with an improvement. Even procrastination seemed like too much of a task right now.

On the other end, in the US, they were having just the same problem, Babel chatting to him as they tried to get something out of the system. The communication program's problems didn't make the work any easier, being forced to switch to consumer products and that old failsafe, email, to fill the gap. Even it failed to have any success. At the same time, as far as the man could ascertain, Rai was working on some form of browser extension, and Daisy was on the other side of the continent, visiting the Special Digital Control Organisation in New York and unlikely to be back for a day or two.

Janyuu leant back in his chair, sighing and looking across to Rob, currently trying to explain the details of what was on the portable hard disk the technicians now held and being flummoxed by how they simply couldn't understand what he was describing. _"Not that any of us really ever make much sense."_

He glanced across to the furious typing at the nearby terminal, Shibumi evidently having one of his 'flashes' of inspiration in the relatively dark room. Most of the monitors were off, but Janyuu, seeing the glow of light on Shibumi's face, did ponder whether having such low lighting in a room with such bright screens was exactly a good thing for their eyesight both today and in the future, but then again, such habits became hard to change.

"Listen, I'm sure Yamaki will understand all this if you just take it to him. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to call," Dolphin explained, Janyuu letting loose a slight smile at the attempt by the broad shouldered American to curb his frustration.

"_I__'m beginning to understand why Yamaki always pours scorn on most of his technicians."_

The tapping stopped, evidently Shibumi joining Janyuu in looking over at their colleague and awaiting some sign of reaction from the technician. For the first time, Janyuu actually acknowledged what the man looked like, a fairly young bloke looking rather fearful with the confidential and crucial data he now held on a disk. He looked fairly nondescript, merely wearing a white technician's coat with a few assorted and duplicated tools poking out of his pockets, a laptop case deposited on the side. A pair of thin-framed glasses sat on his nose, his lip chewed about the conflict between ensuring things were done efficiently and understandably (since there had been a number of miscommunication incidents between the Monster Makers in the past) and just taking the American's words as verbatim.

"Fine," he finally resigned, a collective sigh of relief rising from Janyuu and Gorou's desks as the guy saved his soul. One had to go a long way to activate Rob's temper, but when one did, well, one didn't want to be in his way.

The technician bowed to the Monster Maker, Rob remembering to bow back before a quick exit was made. Dolphin turned to his colleagues, leaning on the desk and letting out an even greater sigh of relief than they had only a few moments earlier.

"As much as they mean well, it's a pain in the ass dealing with them when I could be programming."

"You mean spending hours on Wikipedia, right?" Janyuu asked, a grin on his face in the murky light.

"Right," Dolphin chuckled, wandering back to his desk. "My tab bar won't fill itself you know?"

"Unless I invent a program to do that, no," Shibumi added, before his fingers and sights returned to his keyboard and its reams of code.

The chair creaked as Rob fell back into it, spinning it around to face his desk. He paused, looking at his screen before turning back to face Janyuu, a few desks away as he leant back, the idea of working at that moment evidently not entirely appealing. Janyuu didn't blame him - it was difficult to work when you were irritated at something.

"So, how's it going?"

"Well, we're losing a significant number of packets in the transfer and we're not entirely sure why yet, but you know computers."

"Very well, but that's not what I was asking - I meant how's life?"

"Oh, right," Janyuu chuckled, once again swept up in the job. When you had spent nearly three decades working with a group like this on computer programs, it was difficult to remember that not everything you talked about had to be that. "Well, it's fairly good right now I suppose."

"And the family?"

"Growing every day, well, Suzie is at least. And Henry seems fairly good too - I'm just glad they're both safe most of the time."

"Yeah," Rob replied, Janyuu catching the brief glance of the fifty-one year-old towards the perpetually-present picture frames on his desk. In one, landscape and framed with a more traditional mahogany frame, he stood back in 1984 with his four year-old son, ginger standing proudly by blonde as the latter excitingly held up a sketch of an Agumon, the kind of sketch their Digimon ideas were later based upon. So much of the imagination of young Terry McCoy had been incorporated into their designs, and his appearances at their working room were always a boon for the group. It seemed that those days would never end, but in 1986 they did, unfortunately. Since then, well, things had changed dramatically, and he had fallen in love, having a child of his own.

And that was what the other image was about. Once again, Terry and Rob dominated the image, but the lighter portrait-orientated frame now played host to another person, a young blonde, a smile on her face despite her black attire, a dark dress and hair bands looking surprisingly innocent despite its connotations in older women. The nine year-old clung to her grandfather's arm, looking cheerful as Terry proudly stood over them, time having grown him into a fairly tall fellow, and a similar grin on his face of happiness.

"_Only a few months before _it_ happened," _Janyuu thought sadly, recalling how later in the opening months of 2007, only a short while after this photo taken on her birthday, everything changed.

Indeed, the aftermath of the tragedy was what put the pair, and, indeed, their whole group, properly back in contact again, beyond the previous rare chats. In the end, it had proved convenient, at least for Yamaki and Hypnos - the Monster Makers, at least those not in comas, being easier to draw together to deal with the effects of their creation as a result. Yet no simple 'convenience' could trivialise that loss, the day Terry was no longer a father, the day that smile disappeared.

"_She__'d be thirteen now."_

The story was one that brought up bad memories for all, as much as she was a wonderful girl in life. Fate simply had a bad sense of humour, an evil one perhaps. Whether Terry and his wife would have another child, only time would tell, but any newcomer simply couldn't replace Alice. As much as she seemed to pick an odd fashion, which Rob had always explained as being the result of a rather eager period in her life where she was excited about pursuing anything combined with an alternative fashion magazine which Terry had worked on as a magazine editor, it never seemed to get her down, the connotations simply not occurring to her. Nothing ever seemed to get to her, and her life was simply happy and worry-free.

Poor Alice.

"They grow up so fast, eh?" Rob chuckled, his voice sounding quite empty as he spoke to a man who had five children, all safe and sound despite some close scrapes. Sure, they weren't grandkids, and Rob had had a son as well, but at the same time Janyuu couldn't help but feel guilty about his relative luck.

"With half of the stuff that Henry comes up with, I'm surprised he's not in university now. I reckon he could be a better programmer than me."

"You're into your fifties and you haven't conquered interfacing with Fontran libraries in Perl yet, so I'd say he probably will be."

"Oh ha, ha," Janyuu chuckled sarcastically, glancing back to his computer and noting that his transatlantic friend had yet to send any more messages to him via their communication tool. Didn't look like it was going to fix itself any day soon. He sighed, absently clicking across to a web browser and starting it up before turning back to his old friend. "Seriously, if you told me back in those days that we'd still be so geeky now, I wouldn't have believed you."

"Yeah. I honestly expected to be drawing a pension at this age."

"We could, but there's no fun in that."

"If we keep at this, we'll still be programming in our eighties."

"Or we could be senile and trying to re-learn Perl."

"We could make a bundle selling that, you know? 'Programming for Oldies'."

"Our own insurance," Janyuu chuckled, glancing back to his screen and absently looking over his homepage, one designed himself and having a mix of information, from a clock to a news feed to a comic strip, mixed with links to about everything he used every day. He looked back to his friend, yet something rang in his eyes which he had seen, yet not truly acknowledged.

He then regretted that double take, a look to check he wasn't losing his mind, for there, at the top of the news articles, sat a large, bold, alarming headline.

**TAMERS CHIEF SUSPECTS IN PM DEATH**

Brow furrowed, as he clicked on the link, the new page flashing up as out of the corner of his eye he could see his fellow Monster Maker rolling towards him on his chair.

**The Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, Rayleigh Thompson, has named the Digimon Tamers as the main group responsible for the death of the Prime Minister, Inukai Keishiro.**

**In a video released by the acting Prime Minister, Mr Thompson showed CCTV footage from the sole remaining camera, alleged to be of Sakuyamon, the highest or ****'mega' form of Rika Nonaka and Renamon, one of the Tamers and her Digimon partner. This revelation comes as the country is stricken by shock and grief at the loss of their Prime Minister, in spite of the high security at the site.**

**In the video, Mr Thompson declares that he has "already dispatched forces to neutralise this threat" and that the government "will be taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence."**

Janyuu paused, staring at the black on white text and blinking a bit as he became aware of Rob talking to him and trying to read over his shoulder. The room seemed fairly silent still, only the faint sounds of whirring reaching Tao's ears as he simply stared on at the screen, not really sure what to make of the sudden revelation.

"_This can__'t be true," _he thought, before his mind realised that such was irrelevant. Something else, however, resulting from all this, was.

His eyes widened as he pushed his seat back, suddenly re-reading the finishing words and realising the implications.

…**the government "will be taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence."**

"Henry! Suzie!" he suddenly exclaimed, turning to Rob who looked as speechless as he had been moments before. The sound of feet on floor followed, the third person in the room joining them in their staring, and subsequently, their shock.

"That bastard!" Rob finally spoke, glancing to the new arrival, Shibumi, who right now had a mix of bewilderment and lacked realisation.

"But this can't seriously be true," Janyuu insisted, standing from his seat and looking across to the two other men, both taking a step back as the swivel chair was shunted aside. Neither spoke, only glancing to the screen with worried faces.

"If it is, then your son and his friends must be in serious danger," Shibumi finally said, frowning gravely as he began to contemplate the full extent of it all. "And so are we."

The blue haired man looked up, a questioning look on his face before the reality occurred to him. _"Shibumi's right…even if we're not Tamers, we've helped them out so many times - they'll implicate us in this too!"_

"So what can we do?" Rob asked, glancing to the screen again, the news still not fading into their imagination. This was all too real, and yet, somehow, it was all still so quiet. The blinds stayed half down, yet no new discernable noise could be heard beyond the usual traffic.

"I have to call my son," Janyuu decided, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a fairly advanced PDA-phone, his usual device. He pressed onto speed dial, the name **Henry** emblazoned across the screen as an animated display showed it was ringing. As he put it to his ear, he heard Shibumi and Rob mutter something about contacting their families and their colleagues.

For all they knew, these moments could be crucial in getting a lawyer, avoiding prison for something they hadn't done, maybe even avoiding death.

Janyuu shuddered at the concept. It wasn't one he even wanted to contemplate, for him, his friends or, of course, his…

"_**Dad?"**_

"Henry," the father said, his voice hurried and frantic as he knew he had to keep this succinct. "You…"

"_**Dad, are you alright?"**_Henry interrupted, his father noticing similar tones in it to the ones in his.

"_He already knows." _"Yes, I am right now. Is everyone there okay?"

"_**Yeah, but we**__**'re a bit shaken. I can't believe this is happening."**_

"Henry, we haven't got the time. You have to get out of there, all of you."

"_**I know, but what about you**__**, Dad?"**_

"Don't worry about me, I'll find you guys, but you have to get to safety."

"_**My friend, Izzy, contacted us all and said to go to the hideout."**_

"But will you be safe there?"

"_**I don**__**'t…"**_

It was at that moment that, without a click, without a tone, without anything but the cut-off in his son's voice, the line went inexplicably dead. Except there was an explanation, a very obvious one which sent a chill down the man's spine. He looked up, Shibumi and Dolphin having the same situation apparently as they held their mobiles out in front of them, looking at the screen. All of the computers now complained about their lack of connection, news readers and constant updates now cut off, a very unnatural event in this office.

"They're onto us," Janyuu said, periodically feeling that all reality had simply taken a holiday and he was now in some form of spy flick.

"Then we have to get out of here," Rob decided, looking to the doors and windows. Nothing had appeared at them yet, and in the background they could only hear the usual hissing of tires, occasional horns and a few city birds squawking about.

"My son said that he and his friends were told by Izzy to go to the hideout."

"But if everyone's there, will they be safe?" Rob asked, concern on his face about the children they had worked so hard to help and protect, one echoed by his blue haired colleague who nodded, the same concerns in his mind too.

"There's safety in numbers," Shibumi noted. "And if we're lucky the Digital World portal might be there too - Izzy has planned this well."

"What if it's a trap?" Janyuu asked, the idea suddenly occurring to him that perhaps everything was not as it seemed. "How do we even know it's really from Izzy?"

The dim lights suddenly died, half a dozen computer fans whirring to a stop and the room falling silent, glances about taken to check if anyone was there or indeed simply what was going on. They were definitely here, somewhere, but there was no indication whatsoever of their presence beyond the phone and power cuts.

"We'll have to take that risk," Rob decided, gesturing towards the doorway. Were their conversations being listened into? Was their every move tracked? They had no idea how much tech was being used on them right now, or, indeed, whether it left them with any options.

Shibumi and Janyuu nodded, reaching to the desk to recover a few belongings, from communications devices and hard disks to low-tech things like coats and wallets. As much as they ran the risk of losing them, they were password protected with a security system they had programmed themselves, which would hopefully deter most hackers.

Collecting his PDA, Janyuu caught a glimpse of Rob, pushing the most treasured picture frame - that of Alice - into his inside coat pocket, and stifled a frown. He probably had another copy, but the sentimental value of that photo was evidently too great to allow it to be lost by a zealous soldier or to lack it in the case of a prolonged - and probably untried - stay in prison or worse.

Without a word and hastily, the three men made their way towards the door, the surrealism of the moment still getting to Janyuu. Apart from the power loss, everything seemed so normal, so…dull. Were people really here? Was this all really happening?

They reached the fire escape stairwell, knowing that even whilst it was better than the front exit it would inevitably be covered too if anyone were here. The floor clattered as they tried to quietly step down it, before they finally reached the bottom floor, pausing in front of the escape door to the outside.

Rob paused when he reached it, glancing back to his colleagues unsurely. Janyuu listened to the world around him, unable to hear anything but the usual - business, birds and bustle. He and Shibumi nodded, swallowing some saliva which had balled up at the pit of their throat before taking a step through.

The air was fairly cool on Tao's face as he stepped out into the sunlight, the car park at the back of their offices fairly empty, as always. Only their own cars and that of their receptionist, someone who he was beginning to suspect should've been told what was going on, were there. Of course, were they to explain anything to the member of clerical staff, she would probably only be placed in more danger.

"_Enough people are already at risk."_

He stepped forward, frowning at how he had yet to see…

A flurry of sound and a sharp crack to the back of his head interrupted him, as the world went dark.

* * *

The first thing Janyuu Wong became aware of as he slowly drew from his unconscious state was a distant rumbling, one which seemed to shake him too. The feeling of something cold and flat against his skin, the darkness on his barely-open eyes, and the spinning of his mind as it searched for some hold on reality.

But, they all paled in comparison to the sharp feeling of pain on the back of his head, his hand reaching out to feel what was there. Taking excessive pain from the touch, he yanked it back, his eyes jolting further open as he strained to see if there was blood on it through the dull light.

"_What happened?" _he thought confusedly, thankfully finding none of the liquid on his digits. He pushed himself up, looking about at where he was as he tried to ignore the throbbing pain pulsing through his ears. His eyes slowly adjusted, as his senses and the haze of confusion began to clear.

When he became aware of what was going on, however, he wished he hadn't.

He crouches on the floor, a pair of short benches running down either side on the metal walls and currently being occupied by Shibumi, who also looked fairly bad and was nursing his own head too. The very small room, longer than wide, jolted about a bit, the sound of engine making it clear they were in a prison vehicle of some kind. At the end, barely anything could be seen through a mesh panel, and a dim set of strip lights along either side of the ceiling shone down on Rob, still out of it but making mumbling noises.

Feeling dizzy and sick, Janyuu pushed himself to his feet, finally trying to form words. "They got us then," he said to Gorou, the Monster Maker frowning and nodding sadly in agreement, deep in thought.

"Looks like my luck has finally run out," he replied, the elusive man having dodged Yamaki's searches for a long time. Sure, he had been in a coma for fourteen years after an unfortunate car accident, but his real world appearances were evidently more than that, the ever-cryptic Shibumi only ever having said that "the Mokumon were at work". His 'adventures' in the Digital World, as he had called them even though they seemed to consist of a lot of sleep and talking to himself, had never been truly explained to his colleagues.

Janyuu simply frowned, contemplating how he would probably never see his family again. They were suspected terrorists - they would be lucky to get a trial, and even if they were found innocent they would never be seen the same way again by the public. Their lives were over.

"_But we can still survive," _he thought, a flash of determination in his eyes as he reached for his mobile in his pocket. But, his fingers only felt the soft fabric at its bottom, both hands then systematically checking through his pockets as a look of alarm manifested on his face.

Shibumi frowned. "They took everything we could use."

Finding that his friend was completely correct, Janyuu's arms fell to his sides in resignation, a great sigh extolled from his lips. He had no way of contacting his son, his family, anyone, not that his phone would work anyway. It had already been cut off, and soon so would he.

Where on earth they were going was another worry. How long had they been out? Were they outside Tokyo? Where was Henry? Was he already arrested? Or was he…d…

Janyuu shuddered, forcing himself to act positive. Henry and Terriermon were incredibly resourceful, and so were Suzie and Lopmon. They wouldn't go down without a fight, even if it meant someone had to get hurt. _"He'll be facing some tough decisions if he has to fight humans."_

"What…?" called a mumbled groan from the floor below, Rob finally coming to. "What happened?" he stuttered, his words slurred as he pushed himself achingly to his knees, his hand going to the back of his head. "Ugh, I feel like I took one of Babel's drinking challenges and lost."

A slim smile came to both Janyuu and Gorou's faces at the comment, one strictly contrasting with their situation. "They got us," Janyuu explained, frowning deeply as a look of bewilderment crossed Dolphin's face. It quickly turned to shock, before turning to anger as he got to his feet, despite the throbbing pain in his head, taking glances about.

"Shit, this is really…shit," he said, his words becoming mumbled as he saw the reality of what was around them. Sighting the wire mesh, he bashed his hand against it, shouting through to the driver behind. "Hey! Let us out!"

Janyuu watched, Rob's temper having reached the 'angered' stage faster than he had ever seen before as he continued to pummel his hands against the metal.

"I know you're listening to me! How can you just blindly follow orders like that?! Listen to me!"

His voice becoming hoarse from all the shouting and the evidently well-trained driver behind refusing to reply, the American was forced to stop, sitting down as the dizziness and nausea he had previously ignored caught up with him. As much as Janyuu wanted to offer him a drink of water, he knew that he didn't have one, and the people in the front wouldn't even care. Rob placed a hand on his head, groaning.

"I can't see any way out of this situation," Shibumi sighed, glancing about at the doors, which were obviously locked heavily with the thickness and number of bolts all too easy to see. The mesh was useless, and there were no windows either in what really was just a metal cage.

Janyuu fell down on the seat next to Rob, the bench hard and uncomfortable to sit on as he looked again at his two colleagues-turned-inmates. "They took our useful belongings too," he informed his friend, the man looking up in alarm before placing his hands onto his jacket.

As the blue haired man watched the ginger ruffled through his pockets, his look even more downhearted as he searched, the reality of the situation continued to dig sharper and sharper into his mind, threatening to completely break him if he were not careful.

"_We__'re going to prison, or worse," _he thought, knowing that Japan could easily have hidden a version of Guantanamo Bay somewhere in their midst. He hoped not, given how the closure of the aforementioned place had been seen as a positive move for human rights and world politics, but a lifetime of interest in spy novels and films had given him a suspicion that governments were able to keep very big secrets.

He glanced over to his friend again, the man staring sadly down at an object in his hands. At first Janyuu expected to see a broken PDA or mobile, but then he saw something all too familiar.

Alice's photograph.

A large crack ran across the glass in the frame, probably from the fall after its owner had been knocked out. Rob didn't speak, instead sighing deeply as he simply stared on, joining Gorou in deep thought. Janyuu glanced to his colleagues, his friends, and the way they had given up, both of them knowing the situation was hopeless.

And so, he couldn't help but do the same.

"_I__'m sorry Henry…"_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Hehe, a bit of a twist ending rather different to recent ones. Hopefully this has been a useful insight into the lives of the Monster Makers, and, of course, of the ever-enigmatic Alice. Takeru is next in line for the spotlight, and hopefully his chapter will be along soon.

Now, I'm sure the whole 'but Alice is eleven' complaint will come up fairly soon in reviews. In short, if you calculate the ages, unless we're talking about a lot of teenage pregnancy at a very young age, Rob couldn't possibly have worked with Janyuu at Palo Alto AND have Terry have been at a reasonable age to help out on the Digital World project AND have a granddaughter AND have her be eleven in 2007, let alone any earlier year as the 200X setting of Tamers would imply. I can give a fuller explanation if needed, but based on Janyuu being 40 in 2007 and Rob being a similar age, it simply doesn't work (unless I'm making some huge mistake here which I'll admit isn't impossible). I actually had to not only up Rob and Janyuu's age to being about 47 in 2007, but also have a birth on the fringes of adulthood for both Rob and his son (called Terry in my continuity) to even make it possible for Alice to be nine in 2007.

And that's why canon continuity is a hornet's nest, through and through.

Oh, and just to screw with your heads one more time, even in Dimensions she still _was_ eleven when she turned up with Dobermon to help the Tamers. How? Wait and see, hehe.

Until next time…

B.C.


	8. Phase One: Takeru Takashi

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**Phase One**

_Takeru Takashi_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Inoue Residence, Minato Ward**_

_**11:20 JST**_

The home of the Inoue family had been full of children for years, all getting on each others' nerves and generally acting as siblings did. Yet, today, only one of them was to be found there, and neither of the parents were there either.

And Yolei couldn't have been happier, a smile wide on her face as Takeru watched across the room.

As for his presence, the house was full of children, only these were friends, not family, and hence (usually) less annoying for their purple-haired friend, since, as the old adage went, "you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family."

When it came to her fellow Digidestined, however, Takeru did ponder whether there was any element of their own choice at all in it. Sure, he knew he would probably have befriended Yolei anyway, the girl living in the same building as him, and probably Cody too although more likely as a simple acquaintance. Davis would probably have been outside his normal circle of friends although perhaps would've been met by coincidence. As for Kari, they probably would have become friends, although nowhere near as close as circumstance had led them to be in reality, whilst Ken was simply out of the question. He didn't even go to their school, and they had only met him by the Digimon.

Then again, without the Digimon, Takeru suspected that a fair few of them probably would've still been living in Highton View Terrace.

Not everyone was at the home today – both Davis and Ken were absent, the latter most notably so since he was the hostess' boyfriend. The distance from Tamachi, however, was too far for him to be there that early, even during a school holiday. By comparison, Davis was a footstep away, but thanks to it being a school holiday he rarely left his bed before the afternoon.

Takeru felt an odd sense of gratitude at the blessing of being with Kari without Davis, before cursing himself for thinking so ill of his friend and letting his crush once again overwhelm his thoughts. Guilt flooded his system as he glanced about the room, seeing Cody, Kari, and, of course, Yolei, all with their partners in various states of eating food, all free (mostly) thanks to Yolei's parents rather usefully owning a grocery store.

The fridge in the kitchen gently hummed – the only annoying noise in an otherwise peaceful room. Even the roar of cars outside was now simply white noise, an oddly pleasant sound despite its source. The smell of faked berries and sickly sweets wafted from the yogurts and candies the Digimon ate, the idea of a healthy diet an irrelevant one to them. Thankfully, this made them cheaper to feed, well, they would have been were it not for the fact that the quantity they ate more than made up the difference. Some of the Digimon pretended to be more civil – Gatomon put on a look of disdain down at the food and how the in-training Digimon ate it, yet the blonde could easily tell she was fighting the urge to join in. Patamon, meanwhile, was slightly more polite in his table manners than the full-mouth gorging of Poromon and Upamon, yet was still eating nearly as much as them.

If the world ever were to get Digimon en masse, it was clear that something would have to be done about the food shortage which would inevitably result.

As for the Tamers, they took up two of the three sofas, the large family requiring a large space. Worries about putting feet on the coffee table were now a distant memory, backs of socks firmly plonked onto the wooden surface.

"I really should have got more homework done this break," Yolei groaned, conversation idle and casual.

"Yeah, it's really easy to just leave it until the last moment," Kari agreed, nodding from where she sat on the opposite sofa from Takeru, the boys and the girls having ended up on different sides completely by chance. For Takeru, this meant he could keep seeing Kari, but the loss of physical closeness made it a difficult trade-off.

Takeru shook his eyes and his head gently, dismissing the thought. _"Come on Takeru, you can do better than this," _he moaned at himself. He opened his eyes again, catching a gaze of bewilderment from Yolei. He ignored it, glancing across to Kari who was looking elsewhere.

Had she seen him? Had he just made her think he was depressed or had a problem? Did she know? Could she have worked it out? Had…

"Takeru," Yolei called, snapping him from his questions.

"Yes?" he said, quickly trying to catch himself up and hoping his thoughtfulness wasn't too obvious. Cody joined Yolei and Kari in looking at him, a rather imposing array of people which would only be made worse if all the Digimon were looking too.

Who was he kidding? Knowing how his luck had been with his unfortunate and unwanted crush, they probably had cast their beady eyes on him for an age now.

"Can I see it then?" Yolei continued, Takeru's mind flaring up in confusion as he wondered what he had just answered "yes" to. "I don't know what to do for mine."

"Sorry, I was kilometres away," Takeru confessed, trying to fake an innocent expression but coming off strangely.

"Oh, okay. Have you done Mr. Kakudou's essay?"

"Not yet, sorry."

"Aw, I was hoping that you'd know what to do for it. I really didn't understand the last half-semester of history classes, even with revision."

"Odd for you to miss something," Kari noted, giving her friend a curious gaze. Takeru nodded in agreement: Yolei got the highest grades of the four of them in general, beaten only by Ken. Of course, Cody was younger than them so he couldn't compare on the same level, and it did seem to be odd for him to watch his friends going through their penultimate year of Upper Secondary School whilst he was still in his last year of Lower Secondary, final exams right on his doorstep. Most of his friends, at least those closest to him, weren't even at his school, which seemed like a great shame.

"I've been a bit distracted lately," Yolei mumbled, a frown on her face as it occurred to her companions that she had been rather absent at times, not literally but in terms of concentration, in recent classes.

"What by?" Cody asked, Takeru thankful that the spotlight had been moved from him. Kari gave him a brief unprompted look, one he noticed out of the corner of his eye but didn't mention.

"Thinking about the future. Next year is our last year of life like this: we could all be split up all over the country."

"But my brother and his friends aren't – they all decided to go for universities here in Tokyo," Kari noted. Takeru glanced to her, nodding in agreement.

"I reckon Yamaki and co. had something to do with that one," he said, knowing that the privileges they usually received were less than subtle. Of course, Hypnos wouldn't want them split up and lost to other cities – what would happen if there were another Digimon attack?

"Yeah, but there are more of us this time – I really don't think we'll all even want to go there. But…that's not what's bugging me the most – I realised something horrifying in the lesson he set the essay."

"What was it?" Cody asked. Takeru pondered Yolei's words – she was right, things wouldn't work out so neatly. Would everyone even want to go to University? Then again, would they even be allowed not to? And who would that leave behind to defend the city if they did all go all over the place?

"The original Tamers and us, we're all going to be adults next year."

Takeru furrowed his brow, eyes widening as he realised she was right. The thought had failed to ever occur to him, and, by the looks of his companions about the room, hadn't occurred to them either. It just didn't seem possible that it would be such a short space of time before they would legally become independent from their parents, and be forced to grow up whether they liked it or not. Of course, it was a fairly new development – up until the previous year the age of majority had been 20, after which the result of a lot of governmental debating had lowered it to the global 'standard' of 18.

"Ugh, I don't like that thought," Kari said, frowning deeply. "I still can't get over Tai being an adult."

"Yeah, you're more mature than him," added Gatomon as she sprang onto the sofa back, evidently trying to get away from her urge to eat. Kari laughed, Takeru giving a half-smile at the sight, one that should've been good but which his infatuation-clouded mind saw as nothing but a reminder of what he couldn't have.

Once one of the Digimon had arrived, the rest followed, Patamon perching himself on Takeru's blonde hair. "Even if you are adults, you're still you, right Takeru?"

"Yeah but…it's a lot more work once you're an adult. Tax returns, contracts, sometimes I don't know how my mom handles all the work."

"I don't want more work, I've got enough pressure as it is and I just want to be a kid again and I'd rather face the Digimon Emperor again than…" Yolei complained, before pausing mid-sentence and shaking her head at herself. "Sorry, I'm overreacting again," she sighed, calming herself down from her complaints, something she probably wouldn't have done without intervention a few years back.

"You must be…practically anything must be better than that," Poromon noted, now sitting on the seat back behind his Tamer and giving a slight shudder at the idea.

"Speaking of which," Takeru said, pausing as the back of his mind nagged him that this was probably not the best way to link into his next question. "Sorry…but…where is Ken? I haven't seen him all week," he added, knowing that whilst not seeing Ken that much on a school week was the norm (except in Yolei's case), he normally made a point of meeting up with the rest of them a lot during school holidays to make up for it, and so this week should've been perfect.

Yolei gave a light frown at the link her friend had made. "He went about visiting universities with his parents over the past few days with his parents, and Ryo came back with him for a few days from Kyushu university so they're probably busy reminiscing again," she sighed. Takeru got the feeling from her tone that that was the reason she wasn't currently with him as normal rather than spending a fairly boring afternoon with them, even if she was their host and had invited them in the first place.

"How do those two know each other?" Cody asked. Yolei simply shrugged, shaking her head.

"No idea, they just…do. Ken's never really explained it and he usually just dodges the subject."

"We met Ryo before, but not Ken," Takeru noticed, scratching his chin and frowning as he remembered the events long ago of a particular set-up tournament. At the time, they as a group had just been pleased to see their friends again, but with the way everything turned out as regards their partners and facing Ryo…

Perhaps it was good that their memories were mostly foggy about it all, even if the painful reality of seeing the mountain explode and finding no trace of Ryo until a few years later had left them rather saddened as a result. He didn't seem to look at their group with the same high level of respect most other people partnered with Digimon did. Sure, he wasn't disrespectful, but he did seem wary of them, even if that wariness had subsided with time.

Takeru sighed, knowing that he couldn't remember the details. Even when those who had been there had explained it to other members of their rather large group of ex-Digidestined, they still struggled to both make anything even remotely clear and piece together all the bits of memories well enough to be sure of anything. Before the explosion, it seemed that they could only remember things such as per the nature of a dream, but afterwards they had just found themselves searching for Ryo. Even when he had met Veemon not long after, a Veemon who didn't seem to have any memories from the event, nothing had kicked in his mind, and the same had happened with Wormmon and Agumon. Why didn't he remember? Did someone not want him, all of them, to know anything? And who, particularly since it meant it would need to be a fairly powerful being to do so?

"It's good to see Ryo really trusting someone though…I get the impression he doesn't trust very easily," Kari noted, Takeru nodding in agreement. It was strange, Ryo had nothing about him that made him seem like the kind of person who would find trust hard, indeed, he seemed to be a fairly extroverted and friendly person even if one slow at times to acknowledge his own faults, or, worse, exchange his own problems.

"_Takes the weight of the world on his shoulders. I've heard that before."_

"Give him time, I'm sure he'll come around," Yolei said, oddly cheerful again now her attention had been taken from her concerns about the future.

"Yeah; if he's got problems, I wouldn't want him feeling like he couldn't tell us them," Kari noted, blue eyes glancing to her as Takeru got the distinct nagging impression those words were meant for him, and yet…yet he couldn't be sure. Was his mind just searching for that now? And if she did know, why hadn't they talked? Had the elephant in the room trampled through their relationship that much?

He looked away again with a frown, wondering if she'd noticed. She was only on the other side of the room, but she may as well have been a mile away. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw her gaze turn, but he couldn't be sure. He couldn't be sure of anything about her any more. What had happened to them being best friends?

As if wanting to answer his question, at that moment a fairly loud beeping resounded from his pocket, one soon echoed by a number of similar noises about the room, all out of step and time with each other. Curious gazes were passed about as Takeru reached into his pocket, pulling out his small silver oblong communications device, his D-Terminal. He flicked open the lid, taking a more concerned gaze around at his friends who were doing likewise.

"_This sort of thing always means something bad's happening," _he mentally prepared himself for looking down, as Patamon peered over at the screen.

Reality didn't disappoint.

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

"Government on warpath? What is he talking about?" Yolei asked, breaking the uneasy silence which had fallen.

"It must be pretty big if he wants us to run," Upamon noted, bouncing in worry where he sat by his Tamer on the sofa and leaving a dip down in the fabric.

"Then let's get moving," Gatomon said, the flicks of her hairs standing on end from her head down to her tail making her fear painfully clear.

Takeru frowned, looking back to his message and reading it again, his expression only deepened by reviewing it.

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

"Should we run Takeru?" asked a voice, one all too familiar, and, to his own cursing, almost heavenly to the boy's ears. He glanced up, even that infatuated side of him knowing that now definitely wasn't the time to concentrate on such matters.

"What are we running from?" Patamon asked, his voice sounding innocent as ever yet laden with a fear, a fear of an unknown enemy, or, rather, a known one once thought to be friendly. Being told that the government was after them, no, on the warpath, was like telling a child his parents were going to kill them. Would they believe it? It seemed far too…grand, particularly on such a relatively normal day as this when the news had nothing but…

Takeru paused in thought, an uneasy feeling flooding his mind as he leant forward, picking the remote off the coffee table where their once-casual feet lay no longer. The chattering box in the corner flickered into life, Yolei giving a brief glance of surprise that one of her guests had turned on their television without asking. Yet, it was an atom in the vast sea of that emotion manifesting on her face once she saw the headline, and heard the voice: Rayleigh Thompson.

**Digimon Tamers Named As Chief Suspects in PM Death With Video Proof**

"**...for I have already dispatched forces to neutralise this threat, and we as a whole will be taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence."**

It took a few moments for the two pieces of information to truly register in Takeru's mind, their significance seeming sketchy until it hit him like a truck what was to come…why their calm morning had flipped so quickly.

**Digimon Tamers Named As Chief Suspects**

Rise to the feet.

**SOS all Tamers.**

One step, staggered.

"…**dispatched forces to neutralise this threat…"**

Two steps, uneasy.

**Gvt on warpath.**

Three, hurried.

**PM Death**

Window.

**Mt at hdt.**

"_Shit."_

"…**taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence."**

The sight of a dozen or so military vehicles, a few blocks away. Delayed? Hopefully, but he knew they only had one option, one which Izzy had encapsulated in a single, simple word.

**Run.**

Takeru could've sworn that he literally heard that last word in the short genius' voice, a simple command that held so much weight as a whole as he swung around to face his friends.

"We have to get out of here," he said quickly to his fellow Tamers, a unanimous nod passing up throughout even if not all looked too sure yet on what they were agreeing to, and, in particular, why. "We'll fly to the hideout and meet up with Izzy there, and then…"

"Wait," Cody interrupted with a truly worried tone in his voice which proved to be rather infectious. "What about our parents?"

Takeru went to open his mouth, before stopping, the reality of it all occurring to him as images of both his mother and father flashed across his mind. They probably knew by now, and were probably scared for their children more than themselves. But, with what Rayleigh had said, both on the television and in the past…they could be in almost as much danger.

Where was his father? About a mile away, at the TV station. Would Matt be going for him? He couldn't assume anything; Matt could already be in the back of a police van, or d…

Takeru quickly dismissed the idea, pushing on with his thoughts. Where was his mother? Her case was far better, she was back home, only a few floors away in the same building, and it would be a cinch to get to her.

But…getting to both…that'd be pushing it, particularly with the government on their tail. What could he do? And what about his friends? Yolei was luckiest, her parents and siblings were spread out amongst work, holidays, shopping and friends' houses, they would be relatively safe if they kept their heads down and couldn't be so easily claimed to be aiding their escape. Not that that fact would reassure the girl, she'd probably be worrying herself silly until she was back in her parent's arms. Not that Takeru could blame her.

As for Cody, he lived in the same apartment block too, and could easily get home. With his grandfather, he probably would want to do so, the whole building being a target. Takeru wasn't too sure whether his mother was there too, or at work. He'd never asked, never had any reason to ask.

Which just left Kari. Takeru glanced across to her, finding her already on her mobile.

"Davis, please," she said, a hastened glance across to Takeru as she noticed him watching and listening. He tried to pretend his attention was diverted, reaching for his phone even when he knew it was pointless. His father had to have his mobile off at work, and was usually away from his desk around the TV station anyhow. It wasn't too far away, and only a minor diversion, but he didn't want to risk his friends in taking them with him on it. He knew his Dad would be less of a target, well, at least, would've been were he not working for one of the largest TV networks in the country. He could be publishing propaganda, or supporting their cause, if he hadn't already been arrested. Rayleigh was too smart to miss him from his plans. "I need you to check on my mom Davis," Kari continued, prompting a frown on Takeru's face. "If you can."

"Takeru, what are we going to do?" Patamon asked, the bleeping of his D-Terminal once again reaching his ears and interrupting him as Kari continued, joined by Yolei on the phone.

"What do you mean? Check the television. Is Jun there? Then she's in danger too Davis, you've got to get out of there!"

"Ken," Yolei mumbled, evidently having no such luck with the phone so far. "Of all the times to have your phone off!" she cried, torn between anger and tears in her expression.

"I doubt it's on purpose Yolei," Poromon chirped from her shoulder as she grimaced.

Cody tapped Kari on the shoulder, reaching up slightly to do so, his stature still fairly short concern in his eyes as he gestured to the front door. "I'm going to go check that my grandfather is okay, I'll meet up with you guys again in a sec," he said, a clear sense of worry laden in his voice at the older man he looked up to more than anyone for his calmness in any situation.

"Okay," she said, hanging up the phone with a frown and looking across to Takeru as Cody rushed out of the room, Upamon in his arms held tightly. She caught Takeru off guard as he opened up his D-Terminal, his attention immediately sent to her rather than reading the message provided. "Takeru, do you want me to go help your mom while you find your dad?" she asked, Takeru's feelings hit hard again by how she had thought of his parents in the midst of it all. Was it just her thinking of everyone, or was she specifically thinking of him? He tried not to look too deeply into it.

Takeru didn't say anything at first, checking the message which gave him all the confirmation he needed.

**TK, please help Dad and Mom. Matt**

"Yeah, if you can," he said, feeling slightly let down by the fact they'd be parted, but even he knew this wasn't the time. Kari nodded, giving the widest smile she could given the circumstances.

"No problem."

Yolei moved up to the pair, with a hurried pace and concerned expression. "I'm going to go via Ken's to make sure he's okay, see you at the hideout?" she said, Takeru visibly seeing how she cursed herself for making it a question rather than an assured statement, all dealing with it in an eerie calm and with more care for their loved ones than themselves. It was almost heroic, but...this all didn't make any sense. Two seconds ago (or at least, that was how long it seemed), they were having a lovely morning of chatting and thinking, and now…now they were just…screwed.

"Yeah," said Kari.

"Yeah," echoed Takeru, frowning deeply as he looked to Kari. "I'd better go too," he noted, Yolei already on her way out the door with the call of a digi-modify and of digivolution. Kari nodded, frowning, before stepping forward and catching Takeru completely off guard.

On the light of it, a hug wasn't really all that unknown in their group and certainly not between such close friends as them, but with Takeru's mind on that particular relationship at this moment, it may as well have been, well, imaginations suffice.

"Please be careful."

"You too."

A light blush crawled across his cheeks as they broke the embrace, one he quickly banished by glancing aside before his hopeful mind could even look for one on hers. He finally looked back, frowning as he hoped the redness wasn't noticeable.

"_It gets worse every day, doesn't it?"_ he thought, eyes glancing into hers for the slightest of moments, an uncomfortable one, no words exchanged any more.

"Come on Takeru," Patamon chirped, snapping him out of his thoughts as he turned to glance to the open doorway, both Yolei and Cody not particularly caring for home security given the circumstances.

He began to walk towards it, hurrying his pace as he heard Kari and Gatomon talking behind before following afterwards. He would have to be fast – they would need to be faster. The military were on their way here already, and unless Nefertimon was off that rooftop in a couple of minutes, passengers onboard…

Shaking his head briskly, he reassured himself. She _would_ be. These were humans they were dealing with, not Digimon, it'd be easy.

Of course, as the card swept through the D-Arc, the D-Terminal glowed and Pegasusmon was reborn, Takeru knew one, distinctive fact.

Humans were always the most difficult to deal with.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Hehe, apologies for the delay but I've been unbelievably busy lately. Still, a few nice (well, almost) moments between Kari and Takeru here, and a better exploration of their views on Ryo and Ken. Next time, it's Kristy's turn in the fray, as she watches our 'chief suspect' learn the bad news for herself…

Until next time…

B.C.


	9. Phase One: Kristy Nonaka

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. Oh, and also, just a heads-up to rukatoitsumademo, I can't reply to any of your PMs because you haven't got messaging enabled and I have already replied to all of your reviews. The same goes for all readers – if you want correspondence beyond review replies, you need to have messaging enabled because I'm not going to use chapter starts for such conversations.

This chapter was uploaded before, a few days ago, but on the advice of Crazyeight I decided it had a number of major flaws which required a fair bit of work, so I took it down again. Unfortunately, I was then (as per sod's law) insanely busy, but, alas, here it is now, in all its glory. I've already got a fair few words done on the next chapter (on the POV of our favourite dog-bunny) which may not be too long but will hopefully make up for the delays if I can get it out soon.

Anyhow, on with the chapter…

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**Phase One**

_Kristy Nonaka_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Nonaka Residence, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:23 JST**_

The Nonaka household was always an oasis of calm in a troubled city, a world away from the hustle and bustle of modern Japan in surroundings which echoed all the stoic and tranquil ideals it once had. Technology was kept subtle, a television laid as flat against a wall as possible, microwaves and ovens set into alcoves, even relatively Western furniture like sofas being chosen to be traditional in nature and as non-intrusive on one's view of the mostly open plan home as they could be. As a result, looking about, the house truly appeared to hark completely back to the days of pre-Meiji Japan, a country far away from the rest of the world.

Yet, it had a number of inhabitants which were anything but old in nature – Digital Monsters, comprised of data, albeit in reality that data being represented by false proteins, a synthetic creation far from any normal perception of nature. Yet, by a strange fluke of chance, all seemed to fit fairly well into the settings despite their artificial creation. The graceful, un-emotive Renamon, a Kitsune barely noticed in her walks around the home; Kudamon, a ferret who always spoke in polite tones; DarkBiyomon, a bird who always acted uncomfortably and politely, not sure how to react around humans thanks to her troubled past. All so traditional, like those in ancient tales and literature. Little to believe they were the product of what, to all intents and purposes, was a computer game.

But, not all were as such. Renamon and Kudamon both had fairly loud Tamers, even if their normal volumes seemed to dip further and further as they aged. Even compared to them, however, the newest inhabitants were a lot louder and more energetic (albeit not for their own fault or, indeed, awareness) and both were tied forever together by destiny and a D-Vice, one which sat as-yet unused on a side table in its owner's bedroom.

"You really don't want to sleep, huh?"

No reply, nothing but the soft flicking of lips and the light sound of dribbling. A muted chuckle rippled through the air, a finger reaching down only to be grasped by the dribbling creature.

"So tiny," the owner of the finger mumbled, smiling down to the girl in her arms – Rey Matsuki. The redhead's face lit up with a smile, despite the tiredness shared on it. There was reluctance to her expression though, one which its sole conscious observer noted every time she saw it with intrigue.

"_She looks like she doesn't know if she wants to be a mom. I know I'd want to be, I love babies," _she thought, thinking her presence wasn't known. And, of course, when contending with a being who was, in short, a god, it was a rather ill-judged thought.

"Kristy, either come in or go away, you'll let a draught in if you leave the door open like that," her sister said, not turning to face her in the dimly lit room, the fairly bright sunlight outside stopped by windows, doors, and the angle of the porch. Kristy nodded in acceptance, stepping forward before sliding the door shut behind her. The sound rattled through the house, but would barely bother its other occupants – Kudamon, presumably still back in the living room resting, and Renamon, somewhere, anywhere, probably everywhere too. "Your D-Vice better be muted."

"Sorry Rika," Kristy apologised, Rika not bothering to gratify her words with much of a response as once again Rey stole her attention, even when she spoke more. "It's on silent of course."

"Do you need to burp?" Rika asked, Kristy stepping closer and now noticing an uncomfortable expression on the baby's face, particularly around her mouth. It was subtle, yet Rika had noticed it, and quickly dealt with it via a gentle pat on the girl's back, her steady grip on Rey never faltering as the baby released a soft belch.

"_It's like she's always been a mom…odd since she's never acted like it before…at least I don't think so," _Kristy reasoned, coming to stand next to her sister by the side of the crib which the baby was held over. Rika finally cast a glance down to her, a smile on her face but a look of warning in her violet eyes about daring to let anything happen to Rey, someone she had been remarkably protective of, beyond and above the point most mothers went to. _"Grandma and Takato are so lucky; she never lets me hold the baby."_

"She's meant to be sleeping now, and so am I," Rika noted with a frown, looking back to her daughter. "Hmm, why won't you rest? What's bothering you, huh?" she asked, Rey's eyes restless and darting about to look at her aunt, mother and up in the rafters. Kristy glanced along her line of view, pondering if that was where Renamon was.

She really seemed so much like Rei, well, that was a given since she _was_ Rei. _"Notices everything," _she thought with a slight smile, remembering her time travelling niece who just happened to be older than her at present. The redhead had decided a while back that it simply didn't bear thinking about; it simply made her head hurt. "Maybe she's not tired?"

"She sleeps like a log normally, when I put her in her pyjamas and all…what's wrong this time? I've fed her, changed her, burped her…and she looks tired too. Ugh, me too."

Kristy wanted to ask whether she could look after Rey while Rika slept, but she already knew the answer. It was nothing to do with her age (or rather, the lack of it) either; Rika simply didn't trust anyone with holding the baby, let alone looking after her. Even with Takato and Seiko, the two people she let look after the baby for extended lengths of time, she still looked relieved when Rey was safely back in her arms.

Rey herself seemed just as relieved, quietest of all with her mother and mostly barely a peep heard out of her. Mostly.

As Kristy watched, a familiar look to all parents crossed Rey's tiny features, the slightly open mouthed and glossy eyed gaze which would lead to only one result.

"Aw, please don't cry," Rika muttered tiredly, pulling the girl in close as sobs came from her. "Ugh, what do I do?" she said, rolling her eyes upwards as if some other god would answer her. She paused, simply standing there in contemplation for a moment before she began to gently rock Rey from side to side, gently humming as she did so.

"_Harmony?"_ Kristy pondered, still finding it hard to believe that her sister had a voice so constantly in her head. She moved to see what she could of Rey now that the baby had been moved, her sister still a few crucial inches taller than her in spite of how quickly she was catching up with the onset of puberty. Rika noticed, shooting a stern gaze about the risks of making the situation worse. Kristy nodded, staying almost completely still as the sobs quietened down a bit thanks to the mother's actions.

A look of relief crossed Rika's face, as she inwardly looked for thanks. She frowned, gently lowering Rey into the crib.

"_She's gone all quiet now…maybe she's sleeping? Or going to sleep? Rika will be happy either way."_

Unfortunately, such would not be the case, for Rey simply lay there, staring up at her mother still without any form of indication that she was even remotely considering sleeping, not that it seemed she could. And yet, as she continued to glance from her mother, to the rafters (where Kristy was more and more certain by the second that Renamon watched from) and finally towards her 12-year old aunt, Kristy pondered whether this baby was really a usual two and a half month-old. Sure, she seemed drawn to sources of movement and noise, and of course her mother, but she just seemed too drawn to certain things. If Renamon were there, how did she know that? What had really made her so perturbed? It couldn't have been that, the fox was there constantly. And why, right now, was she locked in a staring contest with Kristy from where she lay inside the safe confines of the wooden crib?

Kristy felt an unwanted shiver rush up her spine as those eyes, those ever-darkening pale brown eyes which shouldn't yet have been able to see anything clearly according to any doctor, gazed endlessly at her. Rika glanced to her sister, visibly dismissing the gaze, but whether it was thanks to genuine disinterest or simply due to those tired creases about her violet eyes the shorter girl couldn't be sure.

Feeling rather off put by her niece's actions, Kristy's hand reached for her own neck, the ever-present gold necklace and its triangle and circle pendant adjoined in a '9' shape feeling cool to the touch yet being a great source of comfort for her. It was from the 'real' Rey, well, at least, the older Rey, Rei, a girl who cared for her and the rest of her family deeply. Did this baby feel the same way? Or did she see them as strange, or, not see them at all?

The child's eyes darted, following the pre-teen's hand to her good luck charm, one she'd had for over a year now and couldn't imagine life without. It was nothing particularly special, and, indeed, was rather ambiguous and probably less fashionable than a heart or cruciform pendant, but she'd found herself unable to resist the idea of wearing it whenever she could. Her sister and some of her friends gave her some strange looks at times because of it, but she wasn't entirely sure why. Yet…a nagging doubt told her it was important, that she was missing something very big here, and that the fact she wasn't the only one with such a necklace was more than just simple coincidence.

Kristy shook her head lightly, letting go of the object and the doubt for the time being. _"Don't be silly…it's just a really nice present…"_

A bouncing noise reached her ears, and so she turned, seeing a red blob squash itself through the thin opening at the edge of the main door into the room. It pushed, its body forcing the door further open as it moved through, almost like jelly, and returned to its previous energy-filled form.

"Piyah!" Rejimon squealed, Kristy raising an eyebrow. She glanced up to her sister, looking very worried and glancing between Rejimon and the baby. Rey herself seemed to have an odd sort of smile (at least, less of a blank expression) on her face, fixated on her Digimon partner as the blob bounced towards her.

"_Rejimon with Rei seems really quiet…wonder what made her so different…"_

"Piyah piyah pa…" the Digimon continued, her voice timid yet fairly loud, at least, enough to leave Rika looking very irritated.

"Renamon," she called out, crossing her arms in annoyance and glancing up to the rafters, confirming Kristy's hunch as a large, bipedal yellow Kitsune appeared, crouching between the bars. With a flurry of yellow but barely a sound, she touched down on the wooden floor below, looking to Rika wordlessly.

Kristy watched, wondering what the pair could possibly have been telepathing about. Yet, Renamon's nod gave her a pretty clear indication, a slim barely noticeable smile on her face as she took a step towards her daughter.

Rejimon, now, was simply bouncing up and down besides the crib, staring in with every chance she could at her Tamer whose eyes ran up and down to watch, transfixed by her.

"Piyah," she could chirp every time she passed the baby's face.

"_Ugh, she's never going to get to sleep at this rate." _"I'll play with her if you want?" Kristy suggested, looking up to Renamon and her sister. Of both of their children, this seemed to be the more likely one she would get to hold.

Renamon glanced to Rika, who nodded, the redhead's voice still whispering in spite of the fairly loud chirping coming from Rejimon which meant there wasn't a hope in hell of Rey sleeping anywhere near it. "Thank you," the Kitsune said politely, a light bow to her Tamer's sister.

"_I'm sure Kudamon is going to love this…"_ Kristy remembered, sighing and nodding. "No problem," she said, carefully trying to grab Rejimon without being knocked over by the energetic thing in the process. Catching the baby Digimon mid-bounce, she ignored the surprised squeaks from her as she held the Digimon tight.

"Piyah piyah piyah! Pi…"

Shushing the Digimon, and hoping that the message would stick for longer than a few moments, Kristy took one last nod towards her sister and glance towards her niece before heading for the door, now ajar thanks to the squirming thing in her arms.

The corridor was noticeably and ironically quieter than the room she had just left, Rejimon staying quiet out of curiosity and intrigue, an emotion that Kristy knew would probably be followed soon enough by more chirping until the ball finally ran out of energy. Or, until she did, whichever came sooner.

"Let's go wake up grumpy old Kudamon," she said, clutching the Digimon as she wandered down the hallway towards the lounge at the end. The sun shimmered off the polished floorboards, the garden as beautiful as ever thanks to the painstaking and never-ending work of Seiko, DarkBiyomon and at times Rika and Renamon too in maintaining it. _"Grandma will be back soon. Maybe we could take this little thing down the park to let her burn off some energy without disturbing Rey?" _

She glanced over the kitchen side as she entered the large, fairly open plan main living room, taking note of all those inside. "Kudamon," she said, making a bee-line for the sofa where he relaxed. "We've got a job to do." The Digimon, craning its neck up in curiosity, caught her smile.

Curiosity which inevitably turned to gall as he saw what she was talking about, Kristy placing Rejimon on the floor in front of her. The red blob immediately began to bounce up and down, turning in her bounce to look towards the two other inhabitants of the room as they spoke. "I am not going to be squashed again, am I?"

"Maybe…"

"Could we perhaps find something less painful than tag this time with her?"

"It's not like she can play chess Kudamon. I don't see you coming up with any better ideas."

The ferret glanced to the box in the corner, gesturing towards it with his tail. "Perhaps we could place her in front of that thing for a while?"

"Nah, television rots your brain."

"How?"

"Uh, I don't know, but grandma used to say it all the time. It's beautiful out after all, let's enjoy it."

"Alright, as long as you find some method of enjoyment that does not involve pain for me as a result," Kudamon replied, his words ever-stilted but a perceptibly more relaxed tone to it having settled in after a year of being with his rather more casual Tamer.

"Okay," Kristy said, grinning before putting her hand on her chin in a dramatic style. "How about we play catch with her?"

"But she could become injured, and then Renamon would kill you."

"Oh come on, she bounces like a billion times a day," Kristy said, turning her attention back to the red blob.

"Piyah!" Rejimon chirped, a wide smile on her face for all the attention she suddenly had as her bounces increased in rate, the thumping radiating through the floorboards somewhat and shaking some of the remotes on the table.

"Remind your parents never to purchase any valuable objects," Kudamon noted as he watched one of them fall straight off. Looking surprised and worried, Kristy quickly returned it to its rightful place, before putting her hands on her hips and turning back to face the energetic creature.

"Naughty!" she scolded.

"Piyah!" Rejimon chirped with a wide smile, clearly unaware of any wrong-doing on her part as the smile continued. Kristy sighed in exasperation. This was wearing her out already, and they hadn't even started playing yet. What on earth could they play that would get all this energy out of the creature? At least, how would they do it without killing themselves in the process due to running out of their own reserves?

"_Maybe Hide and Seek? But she wouldn't be quiet. How would I even explain the rules? Hmm…I'm no good at this…I wish Guilmon were here, she's only quiet around him and Renamon. Oh, why did I volunteer for this, she'd be so much better?!"_ she thought, giving an audible groan as she fell back to sit on the sofa. Rejimon subsequently leapt forward into her lap, catching her by surprise as she thanked the heavens she wasn't a guy and therefore didn't take as much pain from the move.

Kudamon crawled towards her and up onto his normal position around her neck and onto her shoulder, obviously wanting attention but not saying it or wanting to convey it in any way. _"I can read him like a book…hey, maybe I could read to her? But…oh, she wouldn't understand a word I was saying…can she even speak anything at all? Will she even speak anything? I mean, other than always going "Piyah" all the time, I mean, that's just really we…wait…I can't feel my legs…"_

She glanced down, noticing she had been mistaken in her judgement. She could, indeed, still feel her legs, but much less now, for there was no longer anything constantly bringing feeling to them. Raising an eyebrow in shock, she contemplated what had happened.

Rejimon had…in an unprecedented move, stopped moving. Well, that wasn't entirely true, instead her movements had become more reserved and simple, the bouncing ending and instead the Digimon simply quivering in fright on her lap.

Kristy raised an eyebrow, looking up to Kudamon who looked just as confused. His ears twitched, before a look of worry crossed his face.

"What's up Kudamon? What's going on?" she asked, fright in her voice.

"Trouble," was all Kudamon could say before the older, human form of Seiko Hata burst through the front door, the black blur of DarkBiyomon in hot pursuit by her legs below. The woman scanned the room, spying her granddaughter nearby.

"Kristy!" she exclaimed, relieved for some reason that the aforementioned girl simply couldn't tell. She rushed over, putting her arms around her awkwardly thanks to the redhead still sitting down. "I'm so glad you're still alright!" she cried. As she let go, Kristy stood up, scooping Rejimon into her arms as she did so.

"Grandma, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the look of fear and anxiety on the older woman's face. And this wasn't just worrying because of what emotion it was – it was worrying because of all the people around her Seiko was the calmest, even perhaps more than Renamon and Kudamon. She never got this worried, at least…apart from when things were truly awful, which was something Kristy had rarely seen so far, thankfully.

"Where's Rika?" Seiko continued, ignoring the question for now. Why did she need Rika? What was going on? Why couldn't she tell her? The woman breathed deeply to catch her breath – she had been running, but why?

"She's in with Rey, but…" Kristy answered, Seiko interrupting her.

"We have to leave, now," she insisted, taking a step towards the hallway as Kristy began to follow. Seiko glanced behind, before her pace quickened, a concerned Kudamon and shivering Rejimon clutching onto the truly confused and worried young girl.

"Why?" Kristy asked as they entered the porch area, the sunlight glimmering nowhere near as beautifully off the floorboards now. To be fair, it probably was just as amazing, but right now Kristy's emotions simply couldn't register such a thing. "Grandma, answer me!" she cried, frightened both by the woman's frantic nature and by her lack of any replies to her questions. DarkBiyomon looked worriedly back at the girl and her Digimon passengers, fear emblazoned across her face which only made the girl even more scared. "Grandma!"

They stopped outside the room once again, and before Seiko could even reply, it slid aside, Rika looking out with concern at her grandmother, evidently having heard the commotion. "What's going on?" she asked, glancing back and forth between the woman and Kristy as she looked for some answers. Renamon stood behind, still inside the room and keeping an eye on Rey with a troubled expression.

Seiko paused, the words on their way out but still evidently not clear on how to form themselves. Whatever it was, this was big it seemed. But how did she know? Was it a Digimon? Or…_"is mom okay? Please, please, please, don't let it be anything like that!"_

Yet again, however, destiny would interrupt her, Rey bursting into a spat of tears behind as Renamon worriedly looked up to Rika, not knowing how to handle the situation. Rika returned inside, the other humans and Digimon following to see her as she reached down inside the crib, cuddling the baby up in her arms. "Don't cry," Rika cooed, looking confused and apprehensive about everything that was suddenly going on. She looked up, forced determination flaring across her features as she glared towards her grandmother, the expression something she had never presented towards the woman before. "What's happening Grandma?" she asked, a fear in her voice about what it could possibly be.

Kristy found herself uneasily contemplating the various possibilities. Had something actually happened to her mother? Or Takato? What would make her grandmother so upset and anxious, and eager to tell Rika? Was a Digimon on the loose? They wouldn't have noticed with the D-Vice muted, something that had become the rule in their house now. Renamon would sense any Digimon anyway, which begged the question of why she hadn't told them.

The revelation, naturally, came as a surprise to both of the Nonaka children. "You and Renamon have been named Chief Suspects for killing the PM."

"…what?" Rika asked, the lack of the expected anger in her voice showcasing her shock and uncertainty in how to react. Kristy herself stayed silent, the words seeming alien and unreal. Compared to the tranquil setting of the home (broken only by Rejimon's chirping), it was like driving a tank through the wall.

Seiko, despite having told her secret, showed no comfort from sharing the fact. She nodded, frowning. "Rayleigh's gone on television and told the whole country that you and your friends murdered the PM."

"What? That's…insane, I've never even met him! This is bullshit!"

"He has got film of Sakuyamon breaking into the Kantei and killing him, and then blowing the place up," DarkBiyomon explained from below. Renamon phased in next to Rika.

"That's absurd – we've never been there," she insisted, as much shock on her face (albeit more subtly) as on her Tamer's.

Kristy glanced to Rika's hands, noting how they were tensed up. She looked to struggle with herself regarding how to hold onto Rey, periodically glancing down at her before looking back to her grandmother.

"I know, and it obviously wasn't you Rika," Seiko said. "For starters you would never even dream of such a thing, and secondly the images are so blurry that I can't believe anyone has been taken in by them – Rayleigh should be ashamed of himself."

"But if they're not convincing no-one will believe them…right?" Kristy asked, for the first time speaking since the revelation and hearing the fear in her voice for the first time.

"**The people won't care – it'll be like a witch hunt," **Harmony said, surprise echoed into her voice from her alter-ego. **"I've seen this sort of thing so many times."**

"Everyone looking for the blood of who looks to be responsible," Kudamon added sinisterly. Despite not wanting to, eyes briefly glanced to Rika, the girl looking like she was having a hard time both believing this and holding back her fear.

"That's not the worst part…" Seiko continued, somewhat reluctantly.

"It gets worse?!" Rika asked, blatant disbelief in her voice. Kristy's eyes widened as her shoulders tensed up in anticipation – what could possibly be worse than people trying to kill her sister?

The woman nodded, yet again looking like she was hesitantly passing on the news of bereavement. In some senses, she in all likelihood was, albeit rather too soon in advance. Kristy hoped that wouldn't be the case but knew that with supposedly the whole country out to get them, Rika would have very little luck in avoiding it all.

"Rayleigh says he's sending measures to neutralise any threats."

"But…wait…that means it's not just me that he's after then, he'll be after...everyone!" Rika reasoned, her mind slowly drawing onto the reality of the situation as her expression changed to match.

And then, she hit on the biggest worry of all, as the real reality of what was happening settled in.

Indeed, only Rika's maternal instincts prevented her from dropping Rey at that very moment. Her violet eyes widened, her mouth dropping open and her expression fazing from shock, to questioning, to sheer anger.

"Takato?!" she blurted, leaping from one conclusion to another as she feared for the safety of even more people. "Jeri? Henry? All of them…but…they…can't…be…it's just…"

"They are all in danger," Renamon insisted to her, countering her attempts to insist it wasn't so. Yet, even the Kitsune's seemingly static blue orbs for eyes had widened within their sockets upon hearing the news, and despite her restraining her voice to keep it as calm and controlled as normal it had conveyed a distinct tone of fear which must have been anything but reassuring for the girl. "And that probably means anyone else helping us too."

A hissed growl escaped Rika's clenched teeth. "I'll bloody kill that bastard!" Rika spat, Seiko pausing in surprise at her granddaughter's sudden outburst of colourful language.

The anger on Rika's face burned, before suddenly, it faded, a new worry appearing as she glanced down to the baby in her arms, the expression working itself loose as she didn't look sure what to think, before that horrible emotion, fear, once again returned.

And, indeed, fear was the same emotion occurring to Kristy at that very moment, as she froze, reaching for the door frame to steady herself as her mind added up everything. _"He's going to find us…but Grandma…Rey…Rika…and…mom! And everyone else…Suzie! Mari! My teachers! Everyone…he can't…he can't…will they be arrested? Or killed? NO…he can't…NO!"_

"What about mom?!" Kristy asked, feeling tears swarming at the edges of her eyes. She wanted to be back in her bed again, to be able to start everything today all over again without any of this happening. It simply couldn't be real – it just didn't fit with real life, it jarred far too much. This never happened, it just, wasn't realistic.

Her mind failed to acknowledge that she was surrounded by Digital Monsters. Of course, even if she had, it would still have been clear that having the whole government after a 17 year old girl and her friends was an insane proposition, one to be found in the writings of a burgeoning thriller novel writer rather than in the down-to-earth reality of boring news, tax, school, life and death.

To her slight relief, her grandmother nodded. "Yes, I called her…she's going to make her way to the hideout with Mimi."

Kristy nodded, her tears still dripping but no-one going to comfort her – all were far too locked within their own fears and worries: Seiko, staring almost blankly into space as she tried to deal with the stress of what was transpiring and telling her grandchildren that, not only were they in danger, but everyone they knew too; Renamon, looking with concern down to her Tamer, always aiming to protect the girl above herself; Rika, staring down at her child, so fearful for Rey and her father's safety that even her expected anger had proved unpredictable.

The shortest girl in the room, besides the baby in question, followed Rika's eyeline as she explored her concerns even further. _"What about Rey? What will they do to her? She can't die…she's…she's not even three months! This…this…aaaaaaah!" _Kristy thought, clenching her eyes shut and breathing to steady herself, trying to remember what her grandmother had told her before about breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. It failed to work, her breaths too erratic to even begin to form such a pattern. "What do we do?!"

With those words to pull her from her trance, a flash of determination swarmed across Rika's face. "I have to call him." She quickly put Rey down in the crib and reached for her cell phone before Seiko and Kristy could say a word to reason with what she was suggesting, a scary thought occurring to the latter.

"_But…I've seen films…they might…what do they call it…tap our calls…"_

But it was too late; the phone was already on Rika's ear, her eyes darting about the room in panic as the initial adrenalin and 'fight or flight' response faded only slightly. Kristy followed her line of sight: to the baby; their grandmother; to her; to Renamon; out through the porch into the world outside.

Were they there already? How long did they have? Why hadn't they been attacked yet?

"_Maybe they just can't get the cars in here…with all those bollards and all, even the fire brigade has trouble," _Kristy mused, frowning as she wondered if it would still be a real threat. Even on foot, they could reach them…where were they?

She glanced down to try to find something to distract her from her deathly fear, noticing her pale blue-ringed D-Vice had a small flashing message icon on it. How long had it been there?

"_And why didn't I hear it?" _As she tapped the button, and read the message, she quickly remembered why.

* * *

"Your D-Vice better be muted."

"It's on silent of course."

* * *

Looking down to its screen, Kristy saw the message and quickly took on a frown. The sight of it, so short and so unexpected, was deeply concerning, and yet more shock on top of what was already drowning her hit her hard with every word she read.

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

"Run?" Kristy said, before realising it was aloud. Seiko glanced over worriedly, noticing her granddaughter's unexpected actions.

"What is it?"

"SOS all Tamers. Run. Government on warpath. Meet at the hideout. It's from Izzy?" Kristy noted, finding herself questioning the email. "But wasn't that where mom and Mimi went?"

"Yeah…this must mean that they're all on their way there," Seiko said, turning to face her daughter who raised a hand in shushing as she clung with the phone to her ear, begging that it would be answered. Whether she heard their words or not, they really couldn't be sure.

The redhead muttered to herself as her anxiety about getting a response increased. "Takato, you better have your phone on for once you stupid…Takato?"

A surprised voice rattled down from the other end, Rika replying before Takato could even finish.

"No time Takato, have you seen the TV news? What do you meant it's not on? Just do it, okay?! Sorry…but…we're all in danger…don't tell me you didn't get Izzy's message? You did? So…you ignored it?! How bloody distracted can you be you stupid Gogglehead?! Takato, this is a lot more dangerous than that! Just turn it on…oh…you have…sorry," she said, her voice dampening from a shout as that initial anger faded to a worried tone. Kristy knew that it was always there, that concern, simply she was so angry at him for not noticing. But…what was dangerous? She secretly wished she had the hearing power of Terriermon – then she would know exactly what was being said.

"_But then I'd have really big ears," _she mused, the comedy barely helping her spirits.

"I have to find you," Rika continued, Takato going silent for a moment on the other end. "Please…where can we meet up?" she asked, glancing to Seiko, Kristy and Rey as she looked increasingly worried. "Yes I know Renamon and I are chief suspects!" she barked in response to more muted chattering. "I'll see you at the school, that's the last place they'll look…I hope…then get there quickly and they won't already be there you…"

She frowned deeply, looking awkwardly aside to her family.

"Yeah, shitless. You know I am, don't rub it in…I love you…bye…" she said, sighing as she hung up the phone, no moment of silence in relief for her as there was no time to waste.

Seiko in particular made no delays in asking her granddaughter above what she had just said. "Rika, what…?" she began, but Rika made no delays either - she was already striding across the room and grabbing a brown coat, throwing it on over her black plain top and looking back to face her family but not looking any of them straight in the eye, particularly not her grandmother.

"Listen, I have to go find Takato…" she began, looking across them and looking straight into her sister's eyes. "You'll be alright…you've got DarkBiyomon and Kudamon…they'll protect you."

"And he's got Guilmon to protect him," her grandmother said, clearly not wanting her daughter to risk it all like this. Kristy watched the older woman's eyes carefully, glancing back and forth between Rika and her and noticing a rather saddened expression on both. Rika looked downright guilty, and yet again barely looked the woman in the eyes as she grabbed a bag, pushing a few cards, clothes and random bits and bobs in as she moved about her wardrobe. Finally, she faced the music, turning to answer her grandmother yet still not meeting her gaze directly. Kristy watched, not knowing what to do – she didn't want to lose track of another family member, and she didn't want to lose any either. But…would Rika listen? And was she right to go to Takato's side? Evidently, she thought so.

"I know, but…we do everything together," Rika said, lurching the rucksack over her shoulder. "He didn't even know what was going on either; at least you were here to warn me. What if he needs someone to save his sorry butt?" A barely comic tone in her voice about previous times she'd had to do as such failed to reassure those about her.

"But they will want you and Renamon more than anyone Rika," Seiko said, shock in her eyes at the idea that Rika would take such a risky move. All knew the ultimate price which could result from one simple fact. "You're the chief suspects!"

"Yeah, they think you did it!" Kristy echoed. Rika couldn't go. She just couldn't. They couldn't lose her, they were a family.

"Which means you'll be safer without me," the girl continued, pausing suddenly as she seemed to look inwards in thought. She shook her head at herself. "They'll kill you all if you're with me."

"_Harmony again?" _Kristy wondered upon seeing Rika's random mannerism as the room fell silent thanks to Rika's fatal prediction. And it was still quiet. So, so, so quiet. This wasn't right at all…they were taking so long to get here. Were they waiting outside? Were they teasing them? How could they get out? What could they do? Were they going to…die? _"No, no, no, that won't happen! Rika will stop them…she…she's a God! And with Rey…they wouldn't kill a baby…would they?" _"What about Rey?" she asked, interrupting the pair suddenly. Rika stopped in her tracks, a look of even greater guilt and worry on her face as she moved to the crib's side. Kristy had a nasty feeling that she'd touched on the one thing Rika didn't want to worry about now.

A hand gently reached down into the cot, stroking Rey's soft cheek as the baby stared up at her with her usual wide eyes, no trace of those initial tears she'd had back when Seiko had burst into the room. So innocent, not knowing the hell that was breaking out around her…

"_Sis looks so sad," _Kristy mused, seeing the pained look on the girl's face which was in strict contrast to her daughter. Rika's voice carried the same pain as she spoke, clearly regretting every word.

"She…she'll be safer with you guys…" she said, turning to face her grandmother and flashing her full face to Kristy in the process. Sad just didn't cut it; she looked like she was having the worst day of her life. Making it worse, Rey reached out for her loosely fell hand, still in the crib, wrapping a tiny hand around one of Rika's fingers. "I have to keep away from you all," she said, gently breaking her way loose from her daughter's grip. She turned, lifting the baby girl up despite her shaking hands.

"Rika…please…we'll be safer together…" Seiko said, petrified for her granddaughter.

"Please don't go alone," Kristy echoed, for the first time noticing how teary her voice sounded and the water dripping from her ducts. Kudamon's tail swept across her face, taking away some of the moisture as she uttered thanks. Rejimon, in her arms below, had fallen completely silent, although the shaking had thankfully stopped long ago.

Rika pressed onwards against their objections, glancing down at Rey where she was scooped up in her arm, before looking up and talking to her family once again. "Take her with you guys…please!"

Seiko's mouth opened to object, but found herself occupied with taking Rey into her arms. Rika visibly fought the urge to look into Rey's eyes for too long, instead kissing her gently on the forehead before kissing her grandmother on the cheek.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning to look across to Kristy before moving toward her, seeming far taller than she ever had before to Kristy right then, towering over her imposingly. Renamon followed her, ever faithful to the last. The redhead bent down, kissing her little sister before frowning and looking into her eyes. "Keep them safe, okay?" she asked, glancing to Kudamon who nodded dutifully. Kristy nodded less so, only answering when she saw in those violet eyes that any other response would hurt Rika too much. "I will."

Rika stood up again, turning to face her grandmother with a deep frown. **"The military is currently surrounding this house on all sides, except to the sky and to the east,"** she said, it suddenly becoming clear that she knew far more about the situation than she let on. Just how perceptive was Harmony? **"Reppamon's fast but small, use a resize card. Either get to the tunnel under the park, or go with any other Tamers you find. **Please be careful," she finished, her last words leaping back into Rika's voice and carrying such heavy emotional weight with them. Frowned, she turned and took that critical step out of the room. "I love you all," she called back, not looking into their eyes again but pausing all the same.

"Be careful," Seiko said, in what Kristy feared could be their final words. She wanted to say some too, but found her lips far too dry, and ended up cursing herself about it.

With a flurry of blue wings, opened doors and shouts on the wind, she took to the sky, blue energy sparks leaping off the brass fittings as she did so. A flurry of yellow followed, and then…they were gone.

Silence fell over Kristy, as she stared at where Rika once was. There was a chance they would never see her again…or she would never see them again...anything could happen. This was so…wrong. Just…wrong. And they were helpless to do anything about it.

"Kristy, grab your bag…we have to get out of here…" she said, clutching the precious Rey in her arms so tightly and cautiously. Kristy stared on, seeing those eyes, so much like Takato's, facing her once again. She looked up to those of her grandmother, the woman evidently trying her hardest to look confident and self-assured for the two of them but looking frightened beyond her wits the whole time.

"_They're all relying on me…me and Kudamon at least. What if I let us all down? Rey's life is in my hands. DarkBiyomon can't even digivolve now…even Grandma's at threat…and what about Mom? I don't even know where she is…what if she doesn't make it? What if we don't make it? What if I never see Rika again?"_

Kristy clutched at her pendant once again for good luck, clenching her eyes shut.

"_But they are all still relying on me…Rika needs me to protect them…I can't let them down…we can all make it…if mom has Mimi, she'll be alright…Rika has Renamon and herself…and we have me…"_

She took a deep breath, finally nodding with a solemn frown to her grandmother, new hope burning in her eyes as yet more distant shouts sounded on the wind. Someone was coming, and this wasn't 'fight or flight' – they had only one choice:

"Let's go."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry about the recent spate of delays. Unfortunately they are likely to continue since I have exams coming up which are going to demand a lot of my attention again, but I'll try to get out a few chapters in the meantime.

Regarding a "crib", in the UK this is the same as what is also called a "cot", a specific enclosed bed for babies. I'm not sure if it's the same overseas where someone asked me before why a baby would be placed in a "crib" (referring to a bed). Rey isn't growing up _that_ fast.

Until next time…

B.C.


	10. Phase One: Terriermon

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER NINE**

**Phase One**

_Terriermon_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Wong Residence, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:28 JST**_

"Dad?"

"_**Henry. You…"**_

"Dad, are you alright?"

"_**Yes, I am right now. Is everyone there okay?" **_

"Yeah, but we're a bit shaken. I can't believe this is happening."

"_**Henry, we haven't got the time. You have to get out of there, all of you." **_

"I know, but what about you, Dad?"

"_**Don't worry about me, I'll find you guys, but you have to get to safety." **_

"My friend, Izzy, contacted us all and said to go to the hideout."

"_**But will you be safe there?" **_

"I don't know but I hope…Dad? Dad? Are you there? Dad!"

It was at that moment that Terriermon was finally snapped from his dozing, his ultra-sensitive ears only then truly catching Henry's deep panic in the next room over the phone.

Yet, it still didn't seem enough to make him move from his unbelievably comfortable place on Henry's bed, the room still dimly lit and no-one having truly bothered to wake him up. Perhaps they didn't want him to annoy them, perhaps they were simply being nice, and in all honesty Terriermon truly didn't care or mind. He was used to people endlessly saying they were annoyed by him – he rather took pride in how many times he could get people to say it in a week. It was a mere game, and he knew that deep down they loved him and wouldn't want life without him.

"_Well, most of them at least."_

"Henry, where is he?!" came the panicked voice of their mother, worry laden deep in her voice about some unknown thing. Terriermon stayed where he was, a tingle of curiosity in his mind but one that he knew would be just as easily satisfied by lying there as it would be if he made his own investigations.

"I…I don't know," Henry's voice said, sounding loose and unsure of itself as Terriermon chewed his lip. This was getting closer and closer to the point where he would have to make a move – something really bad was definitely going on outside. It seemed far too early though, too early for…

Terriermon finally noticed the sight of a number of red figures in a dot matrix style, projected onto the ceiling right at the top of Henry's bed from a small alarm clock on the side.

"Half eleven?! Why didn't he wake me?" he complained out loud, his belief that it was still early in the morning quickly vanishing. Sure, he fancied a lie in, but he knew the main reason he hadn't yet checked out what was going on was simply because he thought he still needed to rest and recover his energy. After all, who knew when the time would come when he'd need it?

Judging by Henry's continued panicked comments, Terriermon was pretty sure that this was one of those times.

If it wasn't, of course, he would raise hell. Or at least pull a prank on it.

His muscles, or, at least, whatever he did have, groaned as they were moved properly for the first time that day, his ears, the same ones that had proved so useful for snooping, pushing down at the bed sharply and projecting him upwards. So much, in fact, that he almost fell over the other way, the bed shaking as he did so.

"_Henry doesn't know how lucky he is to have long arms," _he mentally grumbled, before bouncing across and off the end of the bed, gliding to the ground. He looked up, seeing daylight pouring through where Henry's bedroom door was ajar, lighting up the array of computers, disks and books assembled along every wall. So many, in fact, that Terriermon had taken to seeing how much power he could pull out of the plug socket by running all at once playing whatever game their various specifications could survive on, something which not only led to a severe scolding from Henry for fear he could have overloaded the power supply or started a fire, but which also meant the same boy had to spend the next hour or so reconfiguring the wire arrangements for the computers, most of which weren't even regularly used. _"It's not my fault if he doesn't throw out old crap," _was Terriermon's mentality, of course.

Thankfully, Terriermon also had some productive pursuits with his many computers, not least his rather impressive attempts at programming, his previously casual and secret work having been aided from some tutoring from his Tamer and Janyuu after they had learnt about it back when they had applied the Digimon V2.0 patch. Of course, it wasn't entirely crucial – Terriermon seemed like a pretty advanced programmer as he was, hacking into the supposedly impenetrable Hypnos, creating spam-bots able to beat any CAPATCHA and insert the word 'Momentai' endlessly on the internet, and, of course, cheating on online games, but both Henry and his father had recognised that his skills at data manipulation and programming could be rather more effective if he were to apply them to more benevolent pursuits.

"_At least with the 'Momentai-er' I prevent other morons posting on there – I'm doing them a favour!"_

And, of course, they had naturally also told him to check his facts before making any major changes to a program or code – lest there be a repeat of his Digimon V2.0 mistake. Of course, it had oddly turned out, at least from Renamon and Guilmon's experience, that the egg approach was far better, and in retrospect programming an individual appearance of pregnancy for each Digimon would probably have broken down the whole patch. As it was, it was relatively lightweight, even if its changes were fairly dramatic although not consciously noticed by the vast majority of its subjects.

But, they certainly didn't plan to do any similar program any time soon. They hoped they wouldn't have to either.

"_Pah, spoil my fun."_

In all honesty, however, Terriermon still wasn't sure where the whole idea for creating such a patch had come from. Part of it, of course, had been simply his ponderings on how screwed the Digital World would be without Yggdrasil, ones which turned out to be pretty accurate, but he doubted that was all of the case. It was fun to experiment though.

"_Hey, maybe it was…ditch that thought," _he pondered, it occurring to him what the real source of his interest could be in creating the program, or rather, who it could be. _"But could I change someone's thoughts like that? Hey, if I could, why stop there?"_ The image of every Digimon he knew laughing at all his jokes, cheering whenever they saw him and basically regaling him as their emperor occurred to him, prompting a grin on his face.

Yet, in the dark room, the computers cold and silent, the worried words coming from outside and his ears dragging still tiredly as he walked, he knew that it was a far-from-realistic proposition. And, besides, right now, he had far more important matters to look into.

Reaching the door, he found it far enough ajar that he simply needed to squeeze through, before pausing to let his eyes adjust to the much brighter lights about him. He began to notice Henry, Suzie, their mother, Mayumi, and the eldest sister, Jaarin, all gathered about. A reassuring hand was put round the youngest by the university student, their other sibling, Rinchei, currently still at university.

A concerned look crossed Henry's face as he saw his partner. "We're in trouble."

"Looks it…" Terriermon said, surveying the scene with a mix of bemusement and worry. All the family gathered, both mother and youngest on the edge of tears and both Henry and Jaarin only avoiding tears themselves thanks to having to support someone else. Lopmon clung to Suzie's shoulder, gently stroking her to comfort the girl but looking highly on edge herself. "Want to let me in on why?"

"That government guy you all know went on TV and said that Rika killed the PM, and that you're all going to be 'dealt with'," Jaarin summarised, a deep frown on her face as she with her free hand make a gesture of quote marks.

"What?! What was Rika thinking?"

"What do you mean? She obviously didn't do it, Rayleigh was lying!" Henry said, raising an eyebrow at his partner, who chuckled nervously.

"Opps, yeah…sorta makes sense now…and makes Rayleigh a huge bastard too. What does he mean by 'dealt with' anyway?" the dog-bunny asked, a slight fault in Mayumi's facial expression as he swore.

"Police, military – you name it," Jaarin answered,

"He sounded on the news like he wanted more than you Tamers too," Lopmon noted.

"Yeah…and…that's the problem, I've lost contact with Dad," Henry added, grimacing and showing the phone he was previously using.

"So? Let's find him then!"

"Huh?" Henry asked, once again giving Terriermon a bewildered look as the Digimon gazed back, no awareness in his mind or eyes that it was an absurd suggestion.

"Yeah."

"But, he could be arrested, or running, or…anything," the blue haired boy elaborated, glancing across to his youngest sister and mother as he shook off some unknown idea that occurred to him.

"_Or dying," _Terriermon thought, shuddering at the concept, but still feeling determined that they could do something. "Then let's save him!"

Henry glanced to his mother, a questioning look crossing his eyes as he followed it up with questioning glances to the other members of his family. Terriermon didn't really know why – wasn't this a simple answer? He rushed forward, leaping and swinging himself round onto his Tamer's shoulder, before gesturing his points with his ear.

"If some bad evil guy kidnaps someone you love, you go and save them and then kick arse, don't ya?" he asked, tactlessly as always. "And Rayleigh definitely counts as a bad evil guy now in my book."

Despite the nature of the situation, Terriermon still saw a slim smile on Henry's face at his up-started nature and insistence on "kicking arse".

"I can't stop you going, can I?" Henry's mother interrupted, the smile vanishing as Henry looked at her with worry once again.

"No…we'll all get split up," Suzie cried, the blue-haired boy looking down sadly into the girl's eyes as he swallowed uncomfortably and crouched down to put a hand on the eleven year-old's shoulder.

"Suzie…Suzie, I'm sorry but…I have to go and save Dad, I have to keep us together as a family. But…I'll be back, I promise," he said, hesitating on the words. "And you and Lopmon have to promise me you'll keep mum and sis safe, okay?"

"We will be," Jaarin reassured, interrupting the pair. "Don't worry about us."

"_Doubt even that will prevent Henry from fretting like always."_

"Okay, I promise," Suzie said, closing her eyes, nodding and clenching her hands into fists before lifting one up in front of her. "You can trust me," she said, Henry nodding and kissing her on the forehead before kissing his older sister too. Terriermon noticed his further hesitation as he went to see his mother, the woman having apparently reacted very badly ages ago when both her children ended up in the Digital World thanks to her husband's 'experiments' and who had objected before to Henry becoming involved in fighting the D-Reaper on the risk they would lose him.

Life was never really that easy for Mayumi Wong, finding herself marginalised in her own family at home as connections to Digimon manifested all over whilst other members began going to university. Terriermon saw the look in her eyes as Henry finally faced her, that deep-seated worry he wouldn't return, that she'd lose her child again to this 'game' her other half had made as an experiment. Terriermon found it hard to comment on the matter, usually staying away from any family discussions on it, not least because he was part of that 'game' himself and hence his voice was unlikely to be really convincing, beyond assurances he would keep the boy safe from harm.

Now seemed like a time it was needed more than ever. "Don't worry, I'll stop him doing anything I wouldn't do," he quipped, hoping that his humour would lighten the mood and spirits of those about her. "You know what _he's_ like."

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai."

"Ugh," Henry groaned, looking up to his mother who, remarkably, was smiling, even if only slightly. Terriermon was equally surprised, not expecting her to be cheerful.

"Just…be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, you too," he answered, looking across to his sister who was gradually building up her confidence for the task ahead of her, Lopmon looking similar to her partner, mentally prepping herself for the task ahead. "Head to the park as quickly as you can, okay? Hopefully, there'll be someone else at the hideout who can help you."

"_But what if there isn't?" _Terriermon thought, knowing he was echoing the ponderings of all but Suzie herself. He decided not to voice them, as Suzie nodded.

"Okay, I will."

Henry finally looked up to his shoulder, into his partner's eyes. "You ready?" he asked, the Digimon nodding quickly.

"As ready as I'll ever be for doing something I haven't a clue about."

"I'll explain on the way."

"Then what are we waiting for, use the card already!" Terriermon said with a grin, already knowing that Henry needed Rapidmon for his speed. The boy nodded, looking back to his family as he took a step towards the hallway leading to the door.

"I'll see you all soon," he said, all nodding and saying no more – luck had been wished, advice had been given, and all that remained now was for it to all happen. Henry's footsteps barely echoed in the warm, carpeted hallway, yet as the room burst into darkness behind him his passenger knew that time was now a problem.

"_Or we're overdue on our bills," _he thought, trying to reassure himself with humour like usually but doing rather badly. Voices of concern from the family behind echoed along, Henry taking a glance back but clearly knowing that he couldn't do anything.

The door opened, and the wind blew in, a click sounding as it closed again. Henry reached the edge, putting his hands on it and looking down at the cars a fair few stories below, parked haphazardly around its base.

"You'd think they'd be fined for that."

Henry didn't reply, instead looking back at the front door of his flat, Terriermon trying gently to prod him out of his melancholy trance.

"Come on Henry, your Dad's waiting and you know what he's like with delays."

The boy smiled a half smile, his spirits lifted only slightly by the joke, but, as Terriermon knew, that was all he needed. He wondered plenty of times how the boy would ever manage without him – would he simply fret endlessly about every little issue without any comic relief to free him from those burdens? Knowing Henry, he probably would – that was why their partnership worked so well.

"_He needs me to stop him overthinking, and I need him to be my sidekick," _the ever-modest Terriermon thought, as he watched a blue card sweep through Henry's wrist-mounted D-Vice, suddenly flashed up to its full glory.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

**M-A-T-R-I-X**

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

"**Terriermon Digivolve to…"**

Terriermon's form was swept back to a wireframe, a red crystal sweeping into it as it reformed upwards into a far larger and more mechanic form, green and silver armour all over with a few bits of cream like on the ears shining through to boot. His wings were tipped with red, with cannons on both arms and a turret behind his back, the threatening array finished off by a spike on his forehead.

"…**Rapidmon!"**

"I'm back baby!" Rapidmon called, feeling reenergised by finally being back in his fastest mode after such a long period of mundane and fairly infrequent bioemergences. As harrowing as the old days were, at least they were interesting, and it seemed like the same would apply to today too.

His form, of course, was far too large for the exterior hallway, his height likely to crash into the ceiling above, so instead he floated just away from it, the sound of gunfire making it clear he had been noticed from below.

"Quick!" he called to Henry, putting out his hands to the boy still on the hallway who looked very perturbed by the sound, freezing up on the spot. "Come on! If anything, they'll get distracted by me and let your family escape!"

"Yeah, I guess but…"

"Henry, just trust me! And hurry up too, or we will be screwed!"

"Okay," Henry replied, taking a few steps across before clambering up onto the edge of the concrete barrier along the edge of the hallway, standing perilously on the edge. Rapidmon mentally prepped himself for what to do if the boy were to fall.

Oddly, he paused for longer than the Digimon expected, mumbling coming from his mouth and reaching the Digimon's still-large ears with ease as he looked down below.

"…as an Angel, you'd think…never mind…"

Rapidmon grimaced, before Henry looked back up to him. Carefully, he launched himself off the barrier, landing in the ultimate's awaiting arms and quickly being secured tightly. Henry looked out, seeing the front door to their apartment open, Suzie leading with card and D-Arc in hand and a nod of gratitude running between them as the other two members of their family followed.

"_At least now he won't be panicking about them constantly," _the Digimon thought, before looking upwards and deciding this unexpected coincidence in timings would have to wait. "Going up!" he called, his engines bursting into fire and sending him rocketing upwards in the air faster than any other. He half-expected his Tamer to be dizzy, but apparently his continuing concern was preventing such.

"Rapidmon, we have to stop those soldiers from getting to my family," he said, digital eyes inspecting the cars below, in various greens, whites and blacks. He raised a hand, a missile prepared in it.

"No, Rapidmon, don't!"

Rapidmon knew far better than what Henry thought he was doing, however, as the missile was launched with a thundering growl. "RAPID FIRE!"

It squealed away from them, the Digimon ignoring the shocked and appalled looks that his Tamer was dealing him as both watched the projectile draw closer and closer to a car on the ground. Rapidmon knew, after all, what would be going through Henry's mind…

Were there people inside?

Would someone be killed by the impact?

Would they get in trouble for this?

But, he also knew it didn't matter, and was amazed that Henry thought he would be so stupid.

The missile suddenly steered away from its 'target' at the last moment. It smashed into the pavement, a thunderous boom rocketing through the apartment complex as a ball of flames and smoke shot up into the air from the crater, guns fired randomly in shock but nothing hitting anything.

It worked – diverting their attention perfectly. Of course, Rapidmon saw it as more than a simple good strategy. "I'm _that_ good!"

"Rapidmon, what were you thinking?! You could've killed someone!"

"Only if you distracted me," Rapidmon said, his voice oddly optimistic as he spied the dots below gathering around the smoking and burning crater rather than flooding into the building. "Anyway, it worked, didn't it?" he added, seeing the light of digivolution envelop Lopmon standing on the ledge.

"Yeah, but…" Henry sighed, audibly giving up on fighting back. "Let's just go…we have to find my dad!"

Chuckling at his Tamers difficulty in admitting the perfect nature of his plan, Rapidmon spun to face across the city with his jets, which subsequently burst with flames from their tips, as much energy as possible thrown into them to get them to their destination as quickly as possible.

With a burst of green and a cheer upon the wind, they were gone.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** A shorter one this time but a nice one just to see Terriermon's thought processes and how he sees himself fitting into his Tamer's life. And, of course, to learn about his many computerised pranks. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thankfully it was along sooner than the last one. I'll try to keep up a reasonable pace but with exams approaching I'm not promising anything.

Until next time…

B.C.


	11. Phase One: Hawkmon

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN**

**Phase One**

_Hawkmon_

**

* * *

**

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Outside Tamachi Apartment Building 4, Minato Ward**_

_**11:42 JST**_

They were there already, so many of them, all lining the wall of the lowest floor of the grey apartment block. Cars and vans, in black, grey, dark green and white, parked about in a slapdash manner, the hurry to get inside far overcoming the need to meet parking regulations and keep the road clear.

A few civilians, naturally, had their attentions drawn, but kept their distance at the sight of officials and soldiers, rushing into the building in a fairly long stream. A few dozen or so, one of them estimated.

But that one, was far more than a civilian – indeed, he wasn't even human, even if he wasn't one of the military either. Yet, he seemed to have been drawn up in their matters, in their concerns and in their battles often enough that one could be easily mistaken.

Once again, he found himself fighting a battle, and once again (cringing at the memory), he found it was against his very own Tamer: Yolei Inoue, a rather passionate girl with a habit of letting her supposedly 'solid' head be overridden by her heart on the worst of occasions, and this was no exception.

"Yolei, what are you doing?" he called, gripping onto the neck of her top and flying backwards with all he could muster.

"Hawkmon, let me go! I have to get to him; they're going to kill him!"

"But they'll kill you too!"

"I don't care, I have to save…" she continued to rant, before Hawkmon frowned and pulled back more tightly, before quickly releasing her again to gag at how tight the neck of her purple top had been around her throat. She stumbled slightly, swinging around to face him on the floor behind her with an angered look.

"Yolei, what are you thinking of?"

"What are you thinking of?! You nearly choked me!"

"Sorry Yolei, but, I can't let you run in there."

"Why not?! We've got to save him, you have to trust me."

"You're not thinking straight! You have to stop yourself!"

Hawkmon froze upon saying those words, his mind harkening back to a disturbingly familiar time when he had said it before, a time when she, just like now, hadn't been listening to him regardless of his completely reasonable advice: all those months ago when Chiyo had taken control of her and she'd not been in her own mind.

It wasn't her fault but…in both cases she wasn't thinking straight, letting her heart lead and forgetting how much pain she would cause to herself and others in the process. Hawkmon frowned deeply, not wanting to raise this particular memory even if he knew it would prove his point very aptly. But…it still hurt how none of their Tamers were able to do anything to stop themselves under Chiyo's control – even their love or relationship with others made no difference. The only reason any of them had been freed was because Chiyo's further action's 'loosened' the bond on Mari, yet

"I have to…I must…we don't know…" Yolei continued, tears now blurring in her eyes and making Hawkmon even gladder he had chosen against making her relive the memory. She avoided her Digimon's gaze, turning her head and looking up to the apartment building. "He needs me," she mumbled, seeing the black pistols and machine guns in the hands of the military.

"But Yolei, he has Wormmon and Cyberdramon with him and Ryo – if we go in there, we'll just be a target."

"You could go in? Shurimon's perfect!" she suggested, pointing upwards to the floors above them as Hawkmon followed her eye line, briefly considering her idea before the quiet clicking of guns reminded her it was an insane one.

"But it's only an armour level, and those people probably have those electric guns like Mari…they'd kill me!"

Yolei gritted her teeth, clenching a fist defiantly. "We can fight back before they do that though. You're stealthy as Shurimon."

"If we fight back, Rayleigh will just use it against us," Hawkmon said, keeping back in the alleyway in which he had landed only a few moments earlier as Halsemon, well out of sight from the civilians and military. If they saw them, they'd be caught for sure.

The girl sighed, loosening her fist, nodding and running a hand through her purple fringe. "Yeah, and I bet if we go in all guns blazing as Valkyrimon they'll…" she began, before stopping and shuddering even more than before. Hawkmon imagined the idea – it wouldn't be pretty, and certainly would either result in hostages or deaths, even if they themselves would probably be relatively safe. He looked out to her again, a slightly more defiant look on her face once again. "I'll call him then!" she decided, reaching for her pocket and pulling out a small, black cellphone. Putting the speed dial to quick use, she had the phone on her ear and ringing before Hawkmon could even think of the possibility it could be tapped. "Come on, have your phone on this time, please!"

Still, he knew that, seeing the redness in her eyes, the tears on her cheeks and the fear on her expression, it would be far better to let her go ahead with the call than risk her running out there again where she would certainly meet a bloody end.

"Ken, you're safe! Listen, you're in danger, you have to…hello? Hello? KEN!" she cried, Hawkmon staring up at her in horror in the hope that she hadn't been heard in her shouting. "Ken!" she said, more quietly this time but with no less alarm and fear.

Wordlessly, she turned, taking one step towards the apartment block as Hawkmon felt it was hopeless. He couldn't stop her now, not without being seen or without hurting her more than he could bear and inevitably drawing too much attention to themselves either way.

He thanked Goddramon when, from behind them in the alleyway, a call stopped them in their tracks. "Yolei!" it cried, evidently male and very familiar.

Both girl and bird swung round, eyes widening when she saw the large form of Raidramon taking up a pretty large amount of the alleyway as he rounded its corner. An ever-goggled Davis clung to his back with one hand whilst his other held his D-Arc out, holographic screen lit up and ablaze with movement. Behind him, using two hands for extra safety, his brunette sister, Jun, looking rather dishevelled and disorientated, and his girlfriend's mother, Yuuko Kamiya, brown hair loose rather than tied in its usual bun. No time, perhaps? They all looked to be in a hurry in any case.

"Davis, what are you doing here?" Yolei asked, her voice sounding saddened still and her face still red, something which didn't go ignored even with the usually fairly oblivious boy as he leapt off the back of his partner, before Raidramon could even reach a proper stop. "Hey, are you okay?"

Yolei looked into his eyes, Hawkmon seeing clearly that she was on the edge of tears. "He's dead…they've got him…" she cried, tears running loose again as Davis stepped forward and gripped her in a comforting hug, something that Hawkmon was glad of as he knew that giving a similar comforting gesture was very difficult for him given his rather diminutive size. Behind, Jun and Yuuko stumbled off Raidramon, a glow then filling the alleyway as he returned to his rookie form, Veemon.

"Yolei, please don't cry," Davis said, still looking uncomfortable with such a situation as Yolei's head rested on his shoulder. As much as he'd progressed beyond simply standing there and looking shocked when a girl burst into tears, he evidently still hadn't mastered the art.

He showed this fact to an even greater extent when he paused, putting his hands on her shoulders and moving his head back with his eyes widened. "Wait, did you say he's dead?!"

"He…"

"He's not dead Yolei," Hawkmon interjected, not wanting his Tamer to go into an inevitable flurry of emotions again. He turned, gesturing for Davis towards the building behind and, in particular, the cars at its base. "They were here when we arrived – and we think that Ken's still in there."

"Have you called him?" Davis asked, eyes determined and in 'battle mode'.

Yolei nodded wordlessly, frowning deeply before answering. "I heard a thump, and…the line cut out," she said sadly. Davis looked defiant still, taking a few steps towards the road between them and the apartment block.

"Then let's go and save him before those military guys tear them to…"

"Davis, are you stupid?! They'll kill you!" Jun interrupted, proving like all siblings to be an effective foil to Davis' misjudged burst of courage.

The messy-haired brunette turned back, looking unfazed as Veemon reached his side, looking unsure what to do and awaiting some clear direction. His Tamer clenched a fist, giving an empowered smile. "No they won't, Magnamon could break in there no problem; I don't even have to be involved!"

Finally, Mrs Kamiya spoke up, having stayed rather quiet and looking rather saddened so far whilst their conversation had transpired. "Those people have guns…and they have your friends – you don't want to provoke them," she said, her voices carrying a strong tone even if fearful, the woman evidently applying the same fear she must've had for her own children to these ones too.

Davis went to object, but hesitated, looking down to Veemon and gritting his teeth. "We have to do something…"

"There's nothing we can do," Yolei sobbed, looking once again up at the building. "If we run in, they'll kill us, if we attack, they'll kill them…"

"They might be able to fight back though!" Veemon suggested, clenching one of his fists. "Ryo never stands by and lets it happen any other way, and I know that Wormmon wouldn't either!"

Hawkmon gave his fellow Digimon a bewildered look that went rather unnoticed until he spoke up. "How exactly do you know that?" he asked, Veemon looking across to him with a similar look of confusion.

"Uh…know what?"

"That Ryo 'never' stands by – we've barely ever fought beside him and correct me if I'm wrong but he hardly talks about his past."

"Well, I dunno…none of us would ever let bad things just happen without standing up and fighting," Veemon insisted, still looking very unsure about the question and his answer. Hawkmon was left pondering, but still wasn't sure entirely what to do about his thoughts on the matter.

"Yeah, there's still a hope. We just have to trust those guys."

"Hmm..." Yolei answered weakly, looking upwards to the building as Davis seemed off-put by the lack of a rousing response to his sentiment. Yuuko stayed silent and contemplative, probably about her children, Jun meanwhile looking anxiously at the military vehicles across the road. As Hawkmon watched, she shook her head from it, breaking the silence that had fallen since Davis' words and reaching out to Yolei.

"Hey, Yolei, did you call your folks yet?"

"Uh…no…" the purple haired girl answered, her head dipping slightly in guilt. Hawkmon looked sadly up to her, knowing that she had become swept up in the business with saving Ken. "I was sort of hoping that he'd go after them afterwards."

"Where are they?"

"Well, my parents are at work right now…my dad's away on business, and my sisters and brother are in university or away with friends…but…my mom's store is only a few blocks away from home…I have to call her," she decided, reaching for her cell phone. She paused, her gaze lingering on it periodically as she held it out, a contemplative look to her eyes but a blank one to her mouth, perhaps even a frown. "But…what if that's what'd get them caught? Maybe they are tapping us…maybe I shouldn't have really called Ken earlier?"

"I guess…they could be," Davis answered, the possibility evidently not having occurred to him. "I hope Kari's okay, she called me earlier to tell me to go and help out her mom."

"Yeah, I was there. Takeru's gone to find his dad, and Cody and Kari have gone to find his mom and also Cody's mom…but…that means they're probably all in danger. What should I do?"

Davis looked rather unsure under the 'spotlight' of Yolei, not wanting such a huge decision on his back as he looked to his sister for guidance. She shrugged, his eyes moving to Hawkmon who began to ponder the issue in his mind.

"_If we just draw the police to her mother…then…she could be in big trouble, but…at the same time, they're all going for…"_

"Call her," Mrs Kamiya interrupted, only the slightest of smiles of reassurance and confidence in her suggestion on her otherwise deeply saddened face. "She'll want to know that you're safe,."

"_You know, I am getting the impression that she's not really talking about Yolei and her mother here," _the red and white bird mused, seeing his Tamer nod in agreement. To Hawkmon, she simply looked relieved with someone finally making a decision for her, her fingers activating the speed dial and moving the device to her ear.

"Please answer," she mumbled, her eyebrows coursing in worry and frustration as she glanced about at her now-silent observers.

A look of relief swept across her face as a barely-audible sound came from the device.

"Mom, are you okay? Yeah, I'm okay…I'm with Davis right now…huh…where are we?" she said, looking about as if she had actually forgotten where she was amongst her worry and fear. "We're heading to meet up with everyone else," she said, a white lie. Hawkmon knew why: her mother wouldn't want to know how she was risking her life right now by…

It was at that moment that a sharp feeling shot up Hawkmon's back, eyes tensing as he felt something…wrong. Unfamiliar, yet unjustifiably wrong, alien perhaps. He felt his eyes ache, Yolei giving him a bewildered look as she glanced at him and pulled the device away from her ear for a second.

"Are you alright Hawkmon?" she asked. Was it that noticeable? And what was it?

Hawkmon didn't answer right away, instead looking about periodically to see if there was any clue of what he had felt. Yet…there wasn't…there was nothing at all. Nothing had changed, nothing had arrived, just…nothing.

But he didn't seem to be the only one, and he didn't seem to be the worst one affected either.

"Davish…I can feel something…" Veemon said, eyes dilated and his small reptilian hands clutched into fists. Davis looked down from where he stood with his back against the alleyway wall and his arms crossed, a bewildered expression on his face.

"Huh? Like what? Something…uh…evil?"

"I don't know but…something's telling me to get away from it now!"

"What is it?" Jun asked apprehensively, Yuuko's shoulders tensing in fear at the new development and her glance moving about the narrow passage they found themselves in.

"You sense that too Hawkmon?" Yolei asked, drawing the bird's attention back to his Tamer. He nodded unsurely…what was that? Veemon seemed to be far more affected by it than he did…but…how did he know to get away from it? Hawkmon felt more curiosity than fear about the source of whatever sent this feeling straight to the Digicore of both Digimon – just what was it?

"Yeah, and…" Hawkmon began, but was suddenly hit by an even stranger feeling.

Relief.

Veemon glanced about in confusion and anxiety, whilst Hawkmon simply had a strong case of the former. "It's gone," the blue Digimon said, the same sense of apprehension remaining in his voice from before.

Yolei, taken by surprise by a sudden shouting from her mobile, put it back to her ear. "Calm down, calm down, I'm here…listen…I'm going to try and get there but I need to stay low for a while…I'm sorry…"

Hawkmon felt an odd twinge of guilt despite his bewilderment as Yolei looked tearful again – it was all because he was with her. Sure, she would never have had those same adventures without him, without finding out about Digimon and having her own partner just like those originally chosen…but…was it worth the risk of her losing her life? If not her actual life then at least her lifestyle: neither being 'on the run' nor in jail sounded like fun from what Hawkmon knew about those prospects, but both seemed fairly likely now.

Sure, they had had the risk of such before. A thousand and one Digimon had sworn their death, along with some humans to boot, and he was certain that far more would do the same in the future. Yet, despite them also running the risk of destroying their homes, their city, their planet, so many times before, it seemed incomparable to that very same planet, that very same city, their very own home, declaring such a decree. So much for home being safe – right now he couldn't think of anywhere safe in the whole of Japan, and, save for running to (and, for that matter, locating) someone like Willis or Michael in America, or any of the others they had met on their Davis-dubbed 'World Tour'. And, even then, what was to stop this state search from becoming an international one? Extradition, execution, or maybe even simply excommunication from society, to be locked away in somewhere as bad as Guantanamo if not worse. All those thriller movies which they had been to see as a group, usually on the urge of Davis or Takeru and the revulsion of Cody, all portrayed the 'other world', away from civilian eyes, as a horrible place of death, pain, brutality and innocents being killed simply because they knew someone who wasn't.

And then, there was the other 'other world', always an option and seemingly, given the destination they had been given by Izzy, their current choice. But, the Digital World simply wasn't made for humans, well, at least not the bit they had been to before when in the Southern Quadrant (at least, before it all became one and the same). The 'Southern Region', as it was now unofficially dubbed by a combination of Izzy, Ryder, Henry and Hypnos (so, in all honesty, the full 'certification' required for a name to become official), was the harshest of all four regions. Life and death was a fact of life, anything on its lowest plane was at constant risk of abduction, and even the more complex and safer higher levels were still rather risky and unpredictable. The City of Domain and Tibo Village, on the Plains and Mountain levels respectively were the greatest signs of development that they knew of in that region, and knowing the nature of the Digital World, Hawkmon suspected that even they could already have been lost or reformatted.

To be fair, the Southern Region was the worst. They hadn't explored most of the areas yet, but if what some had said was right, the Eastern Region was their old home, although whether its peace had been maintained with its noisy neighbour was unknown. Perhaps the other two regions would be hospitable too, but, even then, Hawkmon knew that in doing so he would be taking his human Tamer to a world where she simply didn't belong. _"I suppose it's not like I belong here either, but with her here it seems like home."_

Still, anything would be better than death for her and perhaps even himself too. But, could they really survive there for how long they needed? Not that food would be an issue, but what about sanity? And what about people like Jun and Yuuko who seemed to be along for the ride? This could easily end very badly.

Hawkmon frowned, looking out at the vehicles again as Yolei finished her call sadly and tearfully. His eyes analysed their forms, all so threatening now but before only a sign of government involvement in their battles. Yet, as he looked closer, he noticed something far more curious.

Soldiers were rushing…away, into the vehicles. Did they already have Ken and Ryo? What had happened? The soldiers' fairly slow and cautious pace on the way in, perhaps trying to secure their prey with as little attention as possible, had been replaced by a flow out of two dozen or more soldiers, all getting into the vehicles.

"Are they done?" Davis asked, staring over at them with a curious look in his eyes, just like everyone there began to do. Was this it?

Hawkmon looked up to Yolei, the girl now off her cell phone and instead looking quite worriedly at the sight, as the first of the cars and vans began to drive away. "Have they…got him?"

"Maybe…gee, they sure packed up pretty quick, huh?" Veemon mused.

Yolei looked down to the diminutive blue creature, a look of wondering on her face, one which brought worry to Hawkmon's as he pondered what she wondered. "Wait…then…maybe they haven't got them," she exclaimed, taking a step forward as more vehicles drove away, a deeply emotional tone still hanging in her voice and pushing her every move, even irrationally. "Maybe they're in hiding and need our help! We have to save them!"

"But if they are, they'll…" Jun began.

"Yolei, stop!" Hawkmon called, but the girl was already at full pace, ignoring the brunette and her partner's words and darting towards what could be a fatal error out of the alleyway. As the final few vans pulled away, Hawkmon's eyes widened, before clenching shut in contemplating. _"If they see her…even when they're pulling away…they'll…they'll…"_

There was no choice about it. He had to follow. And so, with a flap of the wings, he swooped after her, following across the concrete as tyres rumbled against it, each flutter filled with more and more force as he rushed after her. Footprints followed behind more slowly but still running, as Hawkmon's eyes turned to look at the cars driving away from them.

Would the drivers be oblivious enough?

Would Ken and Ryo be alive?

And, even if they were lucky now, would they be lucky later?

As he cast his eyes back to the purple haired girl, his Tamer and best friend, he pondered whether any of them would retain any sanity after the end of this – if there was an end that allowed them to retain anything at all, that was.

The shadow set in over him as he welcomed the cooling embrace of the porch over the doorway, such a familiar setting yet one so alien right now. He followed Yolei down the corridor to the lift, where she stood impatiently, staring up at the numbers.

"Yolei, what were you thinking?" he asked, hearing annoyance in his own voice which he regretted.

"If we don't see if they're here quickly, we'll never have a chance to catch up with those cars."

"But Yolei, they could've seen us!"

The girl gritted her teeth, shaking her head. "I'm sorry…I know, I acted irrationally but…we're alive."

Jun, Yuuko, Davis and Veemon reached the lift, all looking with concern at Yolei as the doors shunted open with a clunk. Without a word, she stepped in, her companions quickly following along behind lest they be trapped on the lowest floor. A passing resident gave a curious look, but it was evidently not enough to make him realise before the doors closed again.

Hawkmon felt odd, trapped in a box moving upwards when he was so used to moving by flying, even if this wasn't his first experience in one of the metal contraptions. Yolei tapped the floor impatiently with her foot, as the others seemed to be trying to psyche up the courage to talk. It did not surprise the Digimon who was first to manage the feat.

"Yolei, seriously, what the hell were you thinking?" Davis asked, looking rather annoyed with the behaviour of his fellow Tamer. "I know you want to save Ken, but that was just…"

Yolei ignored him, chirping "our floor" with a slightly guilty tone as the lift doors reopened and she stormed out into the corridor. She barely took a look back, Hawkmon following after through the air as they went along the all-too-familiar hallway. Those cream walls, that brownish carpet, the not-cheap but not-expensive door numbers, a typical household for a middle-class family here in Tokyo. Of course, the household they were about to visit wasn't exactly home to a typical middle class family.

Reaching the door, Yolei swallowed hard, rapping her knuckles against it and calling to the inside. "Ken," she said, her voice half-shouting, half-whispering as she daren't draw the attention of the neighbours. "Are you t…?"

She stopped talking, as the door opened, creaking so slowly on its hinges as the gap drew wider and wider, revealing a figure, one which sent a burst of widened eyes went up amongst the group.

"_How?!"_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Yet more English to English translations for those for whom certain terms aren't local: a 'fringe' is what you may know as 'bangs', or the hair right over or on the forehead. And, again, a 'lift' is an 'elevator'.

Until next time…

B.C.


	12. Phase One: Izzy Izumi

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading, and also to bsh41194 for being the 100th reviewer.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

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**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

**Phase One**

_Izzy Izumi_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Tokyo University Library, Bunky**__**ō**__** Ward**_

_**11:24 JST**_

Once the sole preserver of ubiquitous silence in a world of noise, the library has changed greatly over the years, every sort and style from loud interaction and discussion to the traditional silent book reader's hideaway now catered for somewhere. Previously in decline, the proliferation of free wireless internet, resources beyond just books and consolidation of government services in many libraries worldwide has at least slowed if not grown their use.

Of course, one type of library forever remains in use regardless of the stuffy perception of others: those in universities. When the alternative is a loud dorm room or shared apartment full of potential distractions, a place where, for the most part, the rule is 'stay silent and work', is a godsend. The loss, mostly, of the high school image of geeks and nerds being the sole users of such a place aids this somewhat, even though the free internet attracted one particular 'nerd' to this one particular library, the central and largest library of Tokyo University.

The computer whirred away, planted on a fairly low table in the more casual area of the study part of the library, away from the higher 'cramming' desks frequented by anxious freshmen worried about their finals and who seemed to think an reading an entire textbook in a day would enable them to pass the course. The hard chair backs there probably didn't help, and contrasted greatly with the soft, sofa-like armchairs where this particular redhead sat, curtained on either side by large bookcases with many shelves and even more books.

Most students liked to take time away from their major when they could, but not this one. He lived and breathed his course – Computer Science. At least, he lived_ with_ his course, namely a red machine-like insect creature sitting next to him, fairly large for an insect and yet still having the characteristic multiple-eyes which presently stared at the boy's work with intrigue. The boy already had plans for his dissertation in the following year being about the creature, and everyone that knew him knew that he would almost certainly do well with it. The bearer of the Crest of Knowledge did rather well in that department, promoted above his normal years both to stay alongside his peers and fellow crest-bearers and to avoid wasting time with content he already knew and was well-enough able to complete.

Small crumbs under the nail, a finger pressed onto the laptop's track pad and darted about, double-tapping rather than clicking as a dozen or so things happened on the screen at once. A terminal window, a browser with a thousand tabs open, a music player relaying tunes along to the headphones stationed on his ears, a programming application, instant messaging, RSS reader, email, to-do list, solitaire…all kept in the boy's mind and dealt with efficiently and promptly, an eternal juggling act which took barely any effort on the boy's part thanks to his intrinsic affinity with technology.

Even if said technology decided otherwise.

"_Ugh, damn Linux…I don't want to have to switch over to the virtual Windows again…"_

**# sudo apt-get install freeciv**

Sighing, he reached over to his bottle of water again, taking a glance at the fairly quiet creature next to him as he did so. "You sure you're not bored about this stuff?"

"You've changed Izzy – once you wouldn't have asked."

"Heh. Come on Tentomon, don't keep quiet," he said, tapping away at his computer again and bringing up a weather map in the browser which he then gestured to, ever-using computers in everything. "The weather doesn't look too bad."

"You could've just looked out the window."

"Heh, I haven't changed that much then. Anyway, if you want, we could go for a walk or meet up with the others or something? We don't have to stay in here all the time."

"Would make a change, but I thought you were chained to that thing."

Izzy chuckled, holding up a black PDA from his pocket, its screen glowing with application icons covering the vast majority of what he was doing on his laptop. "Well, I don't change that much – I'll always be connected somehow."

"You're incomprehensible."

A smile still on his face, Izzy turned back to his computer, having learnt in his life that whatever he once would've thought was more important on it could always wait as he clicked through, closing down each application in turn. "I'll just shut this down and then…"

He froze up as he saw the news feed in his RSS reader.

Maybe not everything could wait.

**BREAKING NEWS: Tamer named as PM Murderer**

"_What?"_

"What is it Izzy? You look like someone just swatted you," Tentomon chirped, Izzy too shocked at what he was reading to acknowledge the example of Tentomon's terrible sense of humour. "Izzy?"

Fingers and buttons moved as the news story on the internet was brought to full screen, the details looking rather sketchy and the text rather limited. The update time was that very minute, giving a clue as to why that was. As he read the first paragraph, his eyebrows forged down, his teeth clenched and a horrified look slowly constructing itself.

**The Japanese Government has released a video (which will be available on this site shortly) featuring the acting Prime Minister, Rayleigh Thompson, naming their chief suspect for the shocking murder of the Japanese Prime Minister yesterday evening as Sakuyamon, the combined form of the Digimon Tamer Rika Nonaka and her Digimon partner Renamon. The video also claims that the rest of the Digimon Tamers were involved in planning the atrocity, and vows firm action to deal with the threat.**

Izzy continued scanning down the page, suddenly feeling that time was pressing as he tried to get the gist of the matter. He refreshed, the video now prominently displayed at the top of the page and started as soon as it appeared.

"This is just…" he began, not sure what to say. He glanced to Tentomon, who had likewise fallen silent, and held out an earphone to him. It didn't fit too well, but right now such really did not matter.

He looked back to the screen, the familiar voice having started talking. Sure enough, there he was: Rayleigh Thompson, a man seemingly living to the word of his threats as he spoke over a small podium in an equally small-looking room, a single microphone in front of him making it apparent that this conference lacked the swarm of press that most such events had. Was it recorded?

Izzy began to tune into what the man was saying, cutting back the window size to just show the video and moving it to one corner of the screen as his fingers subconsciously darted about, bringing up his RSS reader again. It now swarmed with notices, from Digital Watch, from blogs, from news sites.

"…**saddened as you are that I have to make this address."**

The boy glanced up to note the deep frown on the man's face as he looked up from the podium, a determined look oddly remaining in his eyes regardless. He never seemed to lose his confidence.

"**Last night there was a horrific attack on our country, an attack which struck to the very heart of every Japanese man and woman. The Prime Minister, Inukai Keishiro, was murdered in his own home. It was an inhuman attack, and, unfortunately, I have to reveal that there is good cause for that."**

Another browser window opened, quickly afterwards trimmed with the Sky Blues of Twitter's search, the trending topic scarily precise in its wording.

**#Tamerskill**

It wasn't alone. A full range followed, from **#Digimon **to **#PMKill **to **#Sakuyamon** to, most worrying of all, **#tmrhunt**

The whole world was talking about them. And if they weren't, they sure enough would be in the next half hour or so. He glanced up, the video still chatting away to itself but having disappeared into the depths of his subconscious while he distractedly checked out other sites for news, an odd departure from his usual omniscience with computers.

Fairly dark footage was now being shown – a CCTV camera? It changed soon after to show an image of a familiar figure, **Chief Suspect** overlaid on it.

"…**confronted his prey. We have identified this Digimon as ****Sakuyamon. She is the top or 'mega' form of Renamon, a Digimon, and Rika Nonaka, a Digimon Tamer, merged together into one very powerful Digimon. In this case, as can clearly be seen in the video, she was attempting to avoid recognition by not wearing any of her armour, but we were not fooled by something so simple. Sadly, despite this, using her abilities she was able to break in undetected, circumventing the state-of-the-art Japanese security systems and almost going without a single record of her ever being there. The fact a single Digimon can do such things is worrying enough, but I am afraid it is merely a drop in a scarily large ocean."**

"…zy? Izzy? Earth to Izzy!" came the fairly panicked voice of Tentomon from his side, the boy finally snapping out of his continuing stunned daze and looking to his partner.

"Sorry Tentomon."

"Finally! I was worried I'd lost you there," he said, breathing a sigh of relief even though his words had a chilling resonance to them.

"_Are they…coming for us?"_ Izzy wondered, paying a brief glance to the remainder of the fairly-empty library, the boy being oddly thankful of the lie-ins which other students tended to take whenever possible.

"What are we going to do?!"

"Uh…" Izzy hesitated, both of them quickly interrupted by a surprising word through the headphones.

"…**terrorist organisation has subversively been planning to target Japan and other countries of the world, imposing their status and placing the rights of Digimon above those of humans. Well I am here to say that this ends now: I will not allow that to happen!" **Rayleigh continued, slamming his hand down on the desk with a disgusted and determined as ever expression

"We're not terrorists!" Tentomon exclaimed, Izzy scarcely able to believe what he was hearing. Was form would this **firm action** mentioned in the news report take? Would Rayleigh say? Would they be left guessing? What could they do? The whole country and everyone in it would be against them – no one would want to side with a single "terrorist", let alone a whole group!

"…**is absolutely no need to panic, or worry, or hide, or indeed do anything but go safely about your day-to-day lives, for I have already dispatched forces to neutralise this threat, and we as a whole will be taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence."**

His question answered, Izzy stayed oddly silent for a moment, noting how quiet the world around him was. Still silence in the library. The windows stayed undisturbed, not broken in. The doors stayed unbuttered and without soldiers cramming through them. And not a single fellow student had yet said anything, not that any of them had really noticed him, he being part of the furniture and all and with exams coming up meaning that everyone was far too panicked to care.

But how long would it be? Was he safe in here? _"Of course not, this is the first place they'll go but...in the city, we'll stick out like a sore thumb, everyone knows who we are. Heck, the whole country, maybe even the whole world would arrest us or kill…"_ He let that thought hang, looking down to Tentomon again and simply staring.

Who was safer in this situation? The Digimon, the central cause of all this, or him, the human who had 'betrayed his race'?

But, with a cold, harsh, brutal man like Rayleigh in charge, maybe neither of them had the upper hand.

"**Thank you for your time," **the video finished, the charisma of the man holding right to the end. Izzy doubted that all but the least swayable would've been convinced by the video of what wasn't true.

His mind pondered briefly whether it could've been, however, before dismissing it. Rika wouldn't do that, none of them would. They could barely kill fairly unknown human enemies, let alone very powerful allies, and even then it led on the two occasions involved to a lot of depression for the gun-wielder. It did seem rather hypocritical that by comparison, they swatted down enemy Digimon, both weak and powerful, without even a moment of thought. Sure, the 'new' Digidestined had been rather more iffy on the matter, but the original ones and also the Tamers had seemingly had no problem at all for most of the time. For the original Digidestined, the atrocities involved only finally caught up on them when they faced the Dark Masters and Mimi had constructed some commemorative graves out of grief, unfortunately without bodies due to the nature of Digimon. That argument had torn their group apart.

As he remembered his friends, their actions in the past, and what they would and wouldn't do, he realised that this was much bigger than he had been imagining. It wasn't just his safety, it wasn't even just the safety of the Digidestined and Tamers, it was the safety of everyone they knew that was in danger. Everyone could've been involved, from parents to teachers to Dr. Imai, and that was forgetting the flare of Tamer-aid which was Hypnos.

Izzy knew that, with the position he was in, a relatively quiet location with a fully-fledged computer, he had the best way of contacting everyone. It was his job to tell them, all of them, or at least as many as he could contact. He knew D-Terminal and D-Vice email addresses, mobile numbers, computer email addresses: something had to work.

The email application shot to the middle of his screen, fingers hammering away as the email was written. It had to be short – it would be sent to mobiles, and would also need to be read and understood in a hurry.

"_I've always wanted to send out an SOS like in thriller movies…but…not like this. Not this."_

He frowned, staring at the message he had written…

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Izzy.**

No time for proper explanation, no time for much more than orders. He moved about the program, adding contacts to the list, both emails and phone numbers, until it grew to a fairly large one. The larger the better it seemed.

His finger hovered over the mouse as its virtual component likewise hovered over the send button.

How would they react? Would they be scared? Was this really enough?

What would Tai do?

Izzy frowned, knowing how this instinct was one remaining from the long-ago days when they had first seen the Digital World. Tai had always been the most spontaneous and most active yet…he was also the best leader, always knowing how to rally people together. This would've come to him in a snap but, for Izzy, all he could do is stare on at the email and wonder what was missing. Something was missing, something…

"Izzy, where do we run to?" Tentomon asked, answering the boy's question there and then. His mouth dropped open, shocked that he almost forgot such a thing – they've have been like headless chickens and doubtless would never find each other again.

But…where?

It finally occurred to him that they had only one option. It was a long shot, relying on a lot of coincidences and heading pretty close to their enemy, in the heart of Shinjuku itself, where everyone would be watching and would see them all converging but…it was their only hope.

The Digital World.

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

The send button clicked, several dozen copies of the same message despatched via the many networks of their world.

It completed seemingly in the nick of time, the wireless connection suddenly dropping and the power in the library flickering out around him, leaving only natural light (and the laptop, of course) to illuminate the expansive library, both in his room and in the other rooms beyond.

"Izzy, what happened?"

Izzy looked about, gritting his teeth and pushing his screen down into standby, promptly jamming the laptop into his bag and putting on his rusty-coloured jacket. Tentomon's eyes glowed slightly in the gloom as surprised voices echoed down the halls, ringing in time with a thumping of feet upon the creaky floorboards.

"We have to go!" he said down to his partner, the Digimon nodding in complete agreement. But…how could they get out? What was coming down the hallway? Soldiers? Police officers? Fellow students? _"Whoever they are…they managed to turn off the power…and…there's a lot of them…I…I have to find mom…and dad…they're in danger and…I'm stuck here…what can I do?" _he worried, before shaking his head sharply._ "Come on Izzy…there's always a way out." _

The light glistened down onto the table nearby, seeming like far more of a beam as it lit up the dust. His eyes tracked upwards, Izzy looked up to the windows running round the walls from two-thirds height upwards, instantly knowing it was his only escape. He crossed to the nearest table, grabbing a rather large textbook from it. He rushed back, pausing only to contemplate the ramifications.

"I'll lose my library card for this for sure," he mused, before taking a short sprint up and lobbing it forward at the pane. It smashed into fragments, a pinging sound echoing in the room as those pieces landed on the windowsills both inside and out. It evidently wasn't the strongest of glass.

He heard new footsteps drawing closer, the sound evidently drawing attention. He walked over, putting his hands up on the ledge and, with the help of a bookcase to one side, clambered up onto it, Tentomon following. He paused when halfway through, brushing bits of glass away using his hands enclosed in the sleeves of his jacket. Tentomon continued out past him as he looked down, seeing the three storey drop and quickly deciding it wasn't for him. He reached to his pockets, pulling out a silver purple-ringed D-Arc with red buttons below along with a card.

"Digivolution Activate," he whispered, now already dramatic enough and not the time to draw even more attention by shouting.

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

"**Tentomon, Digivolve to…"**

A shell encased the bug, data and electricity warping him as his wireframe reconfigured. A new, larger, more insect-like Digimon burst free, a grey and threatening head mask with a sharp horn a notable exception to his mostly-blue form.

"…**Kabuterimon!"**

Izzy crept forward to the perilous edge as Kabuterimon floated just a short distance away on his four wings, the same number of hands held out to catch him. "Careful," he advised, fear in his gruff voice.

The boy nodded, pushing one foot against the edge of the ledge and launching himself, rucksack, jacket and all, into the awaiting arms. He wasted no time in moving up and around onto his partners' back, and neither did the Digimon in moving away afterwards. Time was of the essence – in finding his parents, in finding his friends, and in saving all of their lives.

If only he knew that, thanks to his heroic act, he would be responsible for their shootings…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm going to be very busy (and absent from the world of computers at times) a lot over the next five weeks thanks to exams, so the pretty fast rate of updates these two weeks will unfortunately let up somewhat. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid disappointing people too much with long delays but exams come first I'm afraid. Apologies in advance. In any case, next time will either be Ayaka, Tally or Takato, I'm still undecided. Being away until Tuesday means that I won't actually be able to put much writing in so go ahead and suggest what you want in reviews if you have a particular preference, but I can't guarantee I'll end up writing for that part if I've already started on another.

Until next time…

B.C.


	13. Phase One: Ayaka Itou

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. And apologies for the delay, this chapter went through a second beta-read due to me not being completely satisfied with how I'd written it the first time round. Oh, and exams aren't helping either. In any case, on with the chapter…

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**Phase One**

_Ayaka Itou_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Streets of Shinjuku, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:31 JST**_

Ayaka cursed as she stumbled, feeling herself topple and encountering that moment when it is all too apparent that one is about to fall. The crumbling tarmac beneath her gave way, her hands slipping out and landing on it an attempt to minimise the injury.

They failed to stop her knees taking the brunt, however.

"Damn it…crap, s…" she groaned, before a fearful yet irritated male voice spoke down to her from above – an outstretched palm offered.

"How about less swearing, more running, okay?"

Reluctantly, she grabbed the hand; inwardly thankful for being helped to her feet but knowing she wouldn't say it.

"_Not after that jibe about swearing at least. It bloody hurt and he doesn't give a crap."_

Of course, the caramel-brown haired girl wasn't solely annoyed by the gravel she had hit: she wasn't that weak and was known as being fairly tough, particularly with boys, even though she paled in comparison to Rika and the late Chiyo in that regard. They were escaping from Kenta's home thanks to soldiers rapidly approaching it, a cell phone text to the boy from one of his Tamer friends proving to be their saviour, just in time. However, right now the girl couldn't really appreciate the luck of it all, for they now found themselves running down every random alleyway in the locale, some of which, as the girl had just discovered, had painfully unstable paving, and others weren't actually meant to be paths. Still, they had to stay out of sight as much as they could, and at least they were helped by the fact that together Kenta and Kazu knew the whole area nearby and all its back paths thanks to a game of 'Ultimate Snowball' as children.

She brushed off the bits of tarmac on her knees, before brushing her hands together and looking up to see Kenta, Miki, MarineAngemon and Guardromon pausing at the end of this alley to see what was keeping the pair.

"Where are we actually going?" Ayaka huffed, shooting a glare to Kazu who had yet to apologise for not asking how she was. Wasn't their friendship much improved now compared to their tiff at the end of the previous year, or had that all just been for naught? And after that moment they had shared…something she'd been left to ponder for a long while. But, she knew Kazu, she knew him all too well, and knew that that moment couldn't really have meant anything. And besides, it was just her trying to comfort him, a friend, nothing more.

"The hideout – weren't you listening?"

"I know _that_ Kazu, but why? And how are we even going to get there? We can't stay in these alleyways forever you know, at some point we'll have to go out into public."

"That's true Ayaka, but I trust Kenta," Miki interrupted, looking to the aforementioned boy who quickly yielded a light blush and muttered thanks. She didn't seem to notice, instead pointing down the path they were on, stone walls and fences lining the sides of a fairly long alleyway running between sets of houses and gardens and crossing a number of roads before its distant conclusion. "He lives here after all – if we can find the least public way to the hideout, then we might just be safe."

Ayaka snorted lightly. Miki was putting a lot of faith into her crush. Not only that, but she was putting faith in Kazu too (even if she hadn't actually mentioned him) – always a mistake in her experience. "Fine," she huffed, looking to the boy next to her again, who gave her a look of irritation.

"Hey, could you can the grouchiness for just one second while we try to save our sorry butts?"

"My butt isn't sorry," she retorted, knowing that she was now arguing just for the sake of arguing at the worst of times.

"Okay, so it's _cute_ then," Kazu said sarcastically, a smirk creeping onto his face as the expected angered blush manifested on his target. "Happy now?"

Ayaka huffed again, crossing her arms in irritation. "Pervert."

"Kazu, Ayaka, can we please save this for some other time?" Kenta asked, interrupting the pair mid-argument. "We sort of have to save our lives right now." MarineAngemon chirped in agreement as Ayaka felt thankful for the rather long alley and quiet neighbourhood they were in. Still – it seemed so unusual for Kenta to stand up so much against them, even if they were clearly in the wrong.

Ayaka gritted her teeth – what were they doing? Why wasn't she being the responsible one? Why was she taking behaviour lessons from Kazu? _"And do I really have a cute…oh shut up mind!"_

"Let's go then, before we get blown to bits," Kazu said, striding away from the introspective girl, the clunking and roaring of metal and boosters sounding as Guardromon whooshed past and caught up with him, bits of their conversation caught only thanks to the downwind.

"Kazu, are you sure that was the right way to talk to a Lady?"

"She's a girl Guardromon, not a 'Lady'. Geez, you make her sound old."

"_Should I take that as a compliment?"_ Ayaka pondered, the voices now out of earshot. She glanced to Miki, looking at her with a half-bemused, half-smiling expression. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked her best friend with a smile, the pair setting off after the already-departed duos of Kazu and Guardromon and Kenta and MarineAngemon. The latter pair hung back somewhat, the human of the two making glances back to the pair of girls which he seemed to think went unnoticed as Miki's assured gaze didn't falter.

"You know," she replied, Ayaka cursing the intrinsic bond of friendship which seemed to expose all secrets. Not that this was the first time Miki had suggested it – Ayaka had much refuted even such an idea of a crush on Kazu of all people long ago when the dark-haired girl had first asked, and repeatedly again since then. Yet, the girl simply kept finding more evidence, sometimes by luck and sometimes seemingly through trying. For someone who seemed so quiet, she had a whole extra level of unexplored depth. "I've asked before and I'll ask again: why?"

"Why what?"

Miki nudged her with an elbow, a slight grin despite the circumstances as they caught up more and more with the dithering Kenta.

"It's nothing, stop seeing things."

"What's she seeing?" Kenta interrupted, the pair now close enough for him to clearly hear by the looks of it. Ayaka shot him a glare for intruding, while Miki answered.

"Never mind – just girl stuff," she insisted, Ayaka inwardly thanking her best friend for that part of their friendship. At least their secrets stayed secret.

"Oh, okay," Kenta replied, looking a bit off-put by their excuse as he glanced about the vicinity, at the various alleys around them as they caught up with Kazu. The boy waited for them at the kerb of yet another road, the quiet residential lanes of a few moments ago beginning to give way to far more busy streets. Still, the time of day meant it was thankfully quieter than it could be. "Can you see anything?" he asked his best friend of many years.

Kazu frowned, shaking his head and still looking rather off-put by his earlier encounter with Ayaka. The girl unknowingly mimicked his expression, paying glances up and down the road to check its safety. "I really don't think we can keep running this way though," he said, nonetheless taking a first step into the road with the group quickly beginning to follow after.

"Yeah, I know…I really can't see where we can go though."

"Great, and I was hoping that one of you might even have the slightest clue," Ayaka complained.

"There must be some way we can get to the hideout…I don't know, maybe we can go underground?" Miki asked, her attention (and subsequently theirs) pulled to a drain cover clunking as she walked over it, the group now safely in the refuge of the opposite alleyway.

"Ugh, in the sewers? Are you serious?" Ayaka asked, for one moment thinking that the presence of the two boys had rotted her best friend's mind.

"Hey, why not? Wouldn't be the first time us Tamers have had to go through underground tunnels," Kazu said, an odd glint of pride in his eyes as he crossed his arms and smirked, a pride that still held strong despite the price now on their heads.

"First you drag me out here, and now you're asking me to crawl in…I don't even want to imagine it."

"Would you rather Rayleigh captured us all?"

"It'd be more pleasant and safer I'm sure."

Kazu snorted. "Not from what I remember. He made it pretty clear last year that if we did anything, then…" The boy made a cutting gesture across his throat. "Somehow I doubt he's about to go back on that."

"Why did he tell you that?" Miki asked curiously, prompting a rather surprised and bewildered look from the tall brunette.

"Tell us what?"

"What he'd do if you…like…crossed the line or whatever."

"Yeah – even if politicians can have balls sometimes, they don't just go around randomly tossing out threats on a good day like that."

"Uh…" Kazu mumbled, looking anxiously to Kenta who simply returned his gaze, a back and forth which prompted a raise of the eyebrow from Ayaka. Just what was so secret about that? It was probably just some Digimon battle or something. "Well, I guess that just shows you guys how much of a bastard he is, huh?"

"I see." Ayaka looked unsatisfied but grimaced. "But I'm still not taking the sewers – I'd rather you just left me behind."

Half-expecting an "if that's what you want" reply from Kazu, she was thrown off guard when he simply sighed and nodded. "Fine, fine…come on, let's get moving again then," he said, beginning to trudge forward up this next alleyway, the sight of its end not far away. Indeed, it wasn't simply the end of _this_ alleyway; it seemed to be the end of their whole route, unless the continuation was shifted to one side, something she doubted given how the building style and height at the end of the path completely changed.

As a group, they began to follow after the boy, their informal leader (although Ayaka wouldn't have admitted as much), only to be surprised when he stopped again, footsteps, jet whirs and mumbled complaints stopping again.

"Can you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ayaka asked the boy, currently standing with his nose slightly up in the air and his eyes slightly shut suspiciously. She tried to listen in, but at first heard only the noises of the city.

"It's a siren," Kenta explained, it quickly becoming apparent to Ayaka what they were listening to.

"A _lot_ of sirens," Miki augmented, frowning deeply and looking agitatedly back to her best friend. Ayaka looked concerned, her gaze crossing to their 'leader', now talking to his rusty Digimon partner alongside him.

"Go check it out."

"I shall do it right away Kazu," he said gallantly, turning and jetting away at a rapid pace along the alleyway.

The caramel-blonde quickly pondered why they didn't simply use him to propel themselves. _"Does he have a weight limit or something?" _she mused sarcastically, placing her hand on her only slightly rounded stomach. _"Peh, if it's anyone, it's Kazu who'll weight him down," _she thought, the group taking careful steps forward whilst their 'leader' jogged after his partner to the end of the alleyway.

"Kenta, what should I do about my parents?" Miki said, pulling Ayaka from her wondering as her friend looked to the shorter boy for advice. He looked slightly fearful, shrugging.

"I don't know – I'm going to call my mom when I can. I wish she was home…then at least we could've brought her with," Kenta sighed, bowing his head sadly. MarineAngemon chirped, placing a reassuring fin on his shoulder, a move mirrored by a slightly blushing Miki and the boy uttering thanks to both. Ayaka wasn't sure whether to lend her own hand in reassurance, or simply treat the sight with disdain like she did whenever either of the pair were involved in a crush moment. Instead, however, she simply answered the question herself, slightly irritated that the other two were so caught up in their own worlds that they hadn't thought of asking her yet.

"My mom and dad are probably petrified about me – they're always so paranoid. I mean, why would I get swept up in stuff like this? Ugh, unfortunately, thanks to Kazu, they're right too," Ayaka sighed, looking up again for the boy and his Digimon further on down the passage. Guardromon was already coming back towards Kazu, meeting him a short way down the alley as their rather loud pair of voice voices floated along it. The two girls and the shorter boy picked up their pace.

"Kazu, we are in trouble!" he called.

"Why? What's up?" he asked with a grave tone, coming to a stand just as his partner did. Ayaka took note of the dramatic change in his moods over the past few minutes. This was a side of Kazu that she seemed to be seeing more of lately – the determined side that was – and she wasn't too sure what she preferred: him or the irritating, loudmouthed Kazu she was used to. At least with _that_ Kazu you knew where you stood – _this _Kazu seemed like he was about to either save the world or freeze up in horror.

"There is trouble on the road ahead," the Digimon answered, clunking as a hand pointed back along the path from whence he came, the alleyway walls at the end beckoning. Beyond, the road – oddly bereft of cars at this very moment but not of their sound, which seemed to grow louder by the moment along with the song of many sirens.

"Crap," Ayaka hissed under her breath as her trio caught up with the Digimon and his partner. She knew that right now sirens were not the good omen they once were when a policeman was something to save the day, not to end it (and perhaps every other day of their lives with it). She still couldn't understand why she was involved in this so much now – she wasn't a Tamer, she could easily step away. Why was she still here?

* * *

"No way Ayaka, you're both coming with us," Kazu had quickly objected, the rush to get out of Kenta's home intensifying as a bag was haphazardly prepared with a few bits and bobs of supplies, nothing which would probably be useful in a real emergency but which gave them all peace of mind nonetheless.

"Hell no, they'll kill us even more!"

"Haven't you ever seen movies? They'll hold you to ransom, or worse!"

"Only if you're seen with me…so let me go!"

"Hey, I'm trying to save your life here."

"Hey, come on guys, we don't have this much time to waste," Kenta had interjected, causing both parties in the argument to turn and face the shorter boy.

"Right…Miki, let's get out of he…" Ayaka had begun, but she had quickly been caught off guard by her best friend's reply.

"I'm staying with Kenta."

That only the lightest of blushes had resulted on both Kenta and Miki's faces reflected highly on their emotions. "What…why?"

"He's got MarineAngemon, and Kazu's got Guardromon…if they're after us, at least we're safer this way, right?"

"Looks like you're outnumbered Ayaka," Kazu had added, Ayaka shooting him a glare at how he dared to turn it into a popularity contest. "Now let's go before we don't even have a choice."

* * *

Shifting the bag on her back, she felt that Miki did have a point. Begrudgingly, she admitted that she felt…safer…with Guardromon. She daren't consider it was due to Kazu – the boy was so erratic that he was a danger to them all. Even right now, he was running up the alleyway, soon proceeding to poke his head around the corner at the end without any consideration as to the threat they faced.

"Kenta, quick!" he shouted, another mistake as he beckoned his best friend and the pink fairy that was his partner to follow. Kenta rushed afterwards, Ayaka glancing to Miki before both nodded and copied the pair of boys.

As Ayaka drew closer, she could make out more of the road. It was a fairly large artery, at the edge of Kazu and Kenta's residential complex, four lanes total across all flowing in a one-way system past them. Yet, however, the majority of the cars were stationary from what she could see, but the sirens simply drew louder and louder, as did the distant roar of an engine clearly not meant for the load it was behind placed under. She craned her neck out like her friends, seeing the chaos that was approaching along the street, one which stretched off in a completely straight line for an impressively long distance through the city blocks.

The outside lane was reasonably empty with a fair few of the cars in it pulling over into the other lane, but the rest were cluttered with parked cars for a fairly long distance as they seemed to await the sirens approaching. The only respite in the sea of standing vehicles were around where roads joined and left the main artery, drivers having taken the chance to avoid being stuck in all of the traffic made thanks to other drivers 'clearing the way'.

Those 'other drivers', meanwhile, sat inside their parked cars, diligently following the highway code for approaching sirens, albeit adding to it looking worriedly over their shoulders and into their mirrors a lot due to the sheer number of sirens approaching from behind. As a result, thankfully for them, no-one noticed the shocked teens already peering out around the corner of an alleyway.

"_What the…how many are there?"_ she wondered, seeing an uncountable number of 4x4 military vehicles and other assorted police cars in a pair of lines chasing after a single dark blue one. The military seemed to be taking the clearest lane whilst the police cars dealt with the number of parked cars and onlookers, their cars left behind like breadcrumbs. Yet, they didn't slow, and even sped up as they approached a clear section just after a clearly much-used side turning. They broke out into two rows when they could, the dark blue car swerving somewhat as it tried to avoid smashing into the various vehicles about it whilst the 4x4s seemed to be able to simply scare the cars out of the way.

"Who is it?" Miki asked, looking to Kenta but Kazu answering in his stead.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they're on our side," he said, pointing out a finger towards the dark blue car. "Guardromon, help them out, quick!"

Ayaka's eyes widened as she looked to the boy and his command, Guardromon nodding in agreement before sending a sharp gust of wind through them all as he shot off at full pelt towards the vehicles. How on earth was this subtle? _"What the hell is he thinking?"_

"Kenta, this isn't safe," Miki meanwhile said worriedly, putting her hand on his arm with a frown. "I'm scared."

The boy turned his head to face her, looking rather concerned about the look in her eyes. "I know, but…no wheres really safe now, it's all just…" he began, before he was cut off by a large explosion.

Ayaka's eyes widened, watching as a pair of missiles launched from the Digimon and seemed to strike the dark blue car, a further volley following as a sharp crack thundered through the streets and a long line of concrete and tarmac burst, a great cloud of dust billowed into the air all around the blue car and across the street faster than she could even really tell what was going on. When it finally became clear, she turned to Kazu, about to berate him for the rest of his days for killing someone, before the screeching sound of brakes reached her ears. Her eyes shot back, seeing the car flying out of the dust and now only a few dozen metres away (if that). It began to swerving after a loud sharp popping noise, the front dipping on one side.

Behind, more brakes screeched behind the smoking road, a strip of it across completely cut off by additional missiles that kicked up an even thicker smokescreen across the whole carriageway. Guardromon obviously wasn't leaving anything to chance. At least someone was paying attention, for the rest seemed to be distracted by the stunt display in front of them.

Like all of them, Ayaka couldn't believe what she was seeing as the car continued to spin out of control, once spinning before skidding sideways across towards the lane nearest them, her legs too frozen to even consider moving if it reached her. The tyres, hating being forced the 'wrong way', resisted it, the force and friction sharply pushing it up into the air moments before it would've had a side-on collision with a red parked car. The driver of the lucky car could only stare on in shock as the Honda rode up to the air, half aided by the shape of the car.

A cringe-worthy sound filled the air, metal screeching against metal as the dark blue car rolled over the slightly smaller red one, coming to a rest with its doors up in the air directly on the other side, a tyre pressing on the window of it.

Well, it was almost resting, for with a final deafening crash, it tumbled downwards onto its wheels again, all standing frozen still as they stared at the wreck, still with a slight bounce to it as its suspension took up the shock.

For a moment, apart from the cackling flames where Guardromon had unleashed all hell on the road, a silence fell, all eyes still surprised at what they had just witnessed.

Ayaka, staring at the car, couldn't even begin to form a coherent thought about the horrendous sight she was now witness to. Its sides were bashed in, its roof buckled downwards, windows smashed and headlights too. The red car it had tumbled unceremoniously over didn't fare too much better, its roof crushed downwards and it's occupant only seeming to escape death by crouching down in the foot well. By contrast, it was difficult if not impossible to see those in the blue Accord, the windscreen crushed downwards by the top of the roof above it and the doors hanging open beckoning any to see what remained inside.

Thankfully, and Ayaka meant that thought for once, Kazu was hard-headed enough to run straight in there, despite the risk of something gory or otherwise unpleasant. She followed uneasily after, feeling patterns in her eyes and feeling fit to faint as she contemplated what could've been caused.

She glanced across as a car door slammed, the fairly short form of the red car's owner clambering out his door and wandering loosely over to the wreck himself, half-shocked, half-angry in his expression.

"Damn…Fumiko! Are you okay?" she heard Kazu's voice drift from the car.

"…ugh…my head," groaned the female's reply. "And…" it began, audibly wincing and gasping. "My arm…hurts so much."

At this point, Ayaka was finally able to see the occupants, both of whom looked slightly familiar but not completely enough to make them immediately notable in her mind. The female looked in her thirties, and wore a large now-ripped white jacket which made her occupation fairly obvious. Cuts and bruises ran up her face and her dark hair was in a terrible state, whilst her eyes conveyed just the same emotion yet also carried pain, pain at her arm which she now cradled across her chest.

"Come on; let me help you…wait…Joe too?" Kazu continued, finally looking up and across the car to the other seat in more detail as sirens continued to sound, albeit now seeming oddly distant in comparison to the noise about them.

"I'm okay," Joe said, the also dark-haired man crouching down somewhat into the foot well but still having many of the same cuts, bruises and injuries on his face and arms, albeit without the same cradling which the doctor was doing. Shock ran in his eyes, however, as he surveyed the scene, his words sounding forced and poorly formed. "Damn…" he said, wincing at some pain in his head. "What…what was that?"

The short, black haired driver of the other car peered in, still looking shocked, yet he also held an odd look of guilt in his eyes. Compared to the passengers of the other car, he looked relatively unhurt apart from a few scratches, reflecting the relatively better stage of his car. "I, I don't know, what happened. Oh god, sorry, sorry, sorry, so…no…wait a minute," he said, his slightly ruffled eyebrows coursing into a glare as he turned to face Kazu. "Hey…it was you! It was your…weapon there which blew them up!" he said angrily, shaking a fist at both the boy and the surprised metal robot behind. "You Tamers are harming innocent people and…"

"We're not, honest!" Kazu interrupted, raising his hands in objection. "This is all a big misunderstanding."

"Yeah, well the police think otherwise. You killed the Prime Minister…and now you tried to kill these two and me too!" He gestured angrily at the two occupants of the car, both not looking in the mood right now to be made an example by anyone.

"No…you've got it all wrong," Kenta joined in, pointing across to Joe, currently looking rather confused and disorientated but the better of the pair in the car in terms of their state after the crash. Ayaka frowned, it could've been a lot worse, although it seemed that destiny was still going to try and make it as bad as possible. "He's a Digimon Tamer too."

"Yeah, so where's his partner? Do you really think that I'll fall for that, you little brat…"

"Shut up," Fumiko hissed, wincing from the pain in her arm but pressing on with her words regardless. "They've done nothing wrong, and they're just trying to help us. Now get out of the way of the door!" she ordered, the man still looking uncertain what to do until Kazu gave him a sharp shove in the side.

"Just move!" he ordered, the man stumbling away only to turn and look back with a shocked look.

"Help me," Kazu called to Kenta, the boy nodding as she reached round to undo Fumiko's seat belt, the pair beginning to gently help her round onto her feet. She took to them carefully, clearly hoping that she wasn't about to suffer from even more breakages. Glass sang as it landed on the ground about her, Kazu helping her to her feet.

"You shoved me you little brat," the man hissed, pointing a sharp finger at the Digimon Tamer even as he helped out.

"Hey, lay off arsehole!" Ayaka spat, feeling her temper seriously pushed well beyond its limits by the still-anonymous gentleman. She shoved him backwards against the edge of the bonnet of the car, glaring at him as he looked rather shocked at how hard she had done the action and how easily he had fallen back. "Kazu's just trying to help here!" she continued, doubting that she would be able to overpower a full grown man without the element of surprise. She glanced over towards the cloud of smoke, knowing that she certainly couldn't overpower _those_ full grown men even probably _with _the element of surprise.

"Yeah, we don't mean any harm," Miki echoed, coming to the side of her caramel-haired friend as Kenta and MarineAngemon stood by Fumiko, now leaning against the back door of what presumably was her car. Kazu, meanwhile, was reaching across, trying to help Joe out through the obstacles of the glass, the seat belt and the dramatically-uneven ceiling above. Guardromon helped, pulling the car open with his powerful hands.

Ayaka glanced back along the road periodically, seeing the smoke beginning to clear as some figures stepped through it. She gritted her teeth, the black-haired gentleman quickly seeing this as his chance and running towards them giddily and with a great sigh of relief.

"Oh…crap," she mumbled, both her and Miki in shock as the man waved to the three soldiers he approached.

"Finally!" he shouted, before turning and pointing at the car and the people around it. "Quickly, arrest them! Especially the two loudmouth teens, they attacked me," he added, seemingly overjoyed as, once he was behind the stationary line of the three, guns were raised and cocked.

"FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND STEP AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE!"

Joe practically fell out of the car as Kazu froze up in shock, only his quick attention to grabbing onto the younger lad's hands preventing him cutting his hands on the sharp glass below. Slowly and carefully so as not to prompt any rash actions by the soldiers, he climbed to his feet and joined Ayaka and the rest in having their hands in the air. The leader of the three men began to speak as further soldiers stepped through the rapidly thinning smoke.

"Under the orders of the acting Prime Minister, you are under military arrest for conspiracy to murder and the possession of unauthorised life forms. You will be detained in a high level security facility until the military court has decided how you will be dealt with for the security of the state and its allies. You will have no right to a trial or representation and any disobedient actions will result in execution, do you understand me?"

Ayaka felt her lips run dry, hell, she could barely breathe, her muscles frozen and her mind blank as she stared at the guns pointing at her. Her hands felt locked in their places, fear in her eyes at what would happen if she were to lower them.

"That's illegal and you know it! What about all that UN human rights stuff?!"

The caramel-brunette, hearing Kazu's sudden words, a step taken forward, a fist clenched in front, felt her eyes couldn't get any wider. He was risking all of their lives…for what? His anger, the anger which now permeated his voice? His ego? To save his friends? He was more likely to kill them now.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"Do you think we did it?!"

"_What the hell Kazu?!"_ Ayaka panicked, seeing the guns all become trained on him as he stepped further forward.

"Stop, now!"

Kazu complied, but just repeated his words. "Do you _really_ think we did it?"

"Our orders come from the acting Prime Minister and are to deal with…"

"We're just…kids! Don't you get it?!"

"This is your final warning. Put your hands in the air now or…"

"Hold on, even I think this is a bit much," interrupted the black-haired gentleman, as he stepped forward up to the leading soldier.

"Excuse me?"

"Killing them?! I just wanted them arrested!"

"We have orders to kill anyone who presents a threat – it is for the safety of this city and the safety of the state."

The man continued to walk backwards, drawing closer and closer to the car and pausing and looking over his shoulder once he reached about half-way, looking uneasily at the children behind. "But…they're surrendering!"

"The tall one isn't…" he replied, gesturing to Kazu. Did they even know their names? This was…just…unbelievable to Ayaka. "Now stand aside."

"No, I won't – this is going too…"

"Stand aside or you will come under the order as well."

The black-haired driver now stared on – shocked at what he was behind ordered to do, before he stamped a foot forward in defiance, gritting his teeth and hissing. "Like hell you…"

A crack echoed upon the air, and time slowed to a crawl for Ayaka.

The falling.

The widened, horrified eyes.

The bullet lodged ever-so-quickly in the man's chest.

Ayaka's eyes and mouth shot open in shock.

The man tumbled backwards, crashing to the floor as the soldier stared on, the slightest touch of guilt in his eyes. Fumiko took a step forward, before being beaten to it by Joe as he dizzily rushed past, pained footsteps rushing past their group and towards the man, his newfound patient. He bent down, wincing from his sore knees and body as he reached for the man's wrist. It was at that moment that Ayaka realised to her horror that they didn't even know his name.

"Come on…come on…be a pulse, be a pulse…" he muttered to himself, before he stopped, dropping the arm in revulsion and disgust. "He's dead," he pronounced, his words loose and in total disbelief. "No…no…he tried to help us." Fumiko joined him, putting her (relatively) good other arm on his shoulder whilst wincing from the other one, and giving him a saddened grimace as he angrily glared over at the murderers nearby.

The soldiers seemed either to freeze up or talk amongst themselves. Guns were still pointed but no threats sent out, their barrels drifting loosely. It was a welcome relief but one which Ayaka, watching, had the feeling would be short lived.

Ayaka heard a deep, erratic breathing, worse than hers. She swung her head around, barely catching Miki as she threw up along the edge of the road. Kenta quickly grabbed her from behind around the waist and called out her name before she completely fainted, a determined gaze in his eyes.

But the breathing continued, for it wasn't from her.

It was Kazu.

"You…bastards!" he swore, two hands clenched into fists in front of him. He looked ready to rush forward and punch the soldiers, and with Guardromon next to him, eyes dilated and the awkwardness in his movements lost, it seemed likely he would win.

But, in a moment of clarity, seeing Kenta help Miki stay conscious, seeing Joe and Fumiko around the dead man, panic and anger swelling in their eyes, seeing the soldiers distracted and not ordering their deaths for just a brief moment, but most of all just seeing Kazu so incredibly angry, Ayaka realised what they had to do, and quickly swung around…

…to face MarineAngemon.

"You have to get us out of here!"

Kazu, hearing her, did a double take, looking back to the caramel-haired girl and the pink fairy, who quickly nodded despite the angry glare in his little eyes. With a series of chirps, he propelled a number of hearts out towards them – one towards Joe and Fumiko, one towards Kenta and Miki, and one towards Kazu, Guardromon and Ayaka. The doctor and her trainee looked most surprised as they were lifted up, the heart only taking them and not the body they leant over as they rose into the air. "Hey, what's going on?!" Fumiko exclaimed, Joe reaching out to the ground and the body he had been looking at but failing.

"What are you doing?!" Kazu asked Ayaka and MarineAngemon, Guardromon next to him looking bewildered by how he had suddenly been scooped up without asking. "We have to get them for what they did!"

"What, and risk our lives too?!" Ayaka spat, glaring at the boy with fire in her eyes as she furiously pointed down towards the body now a fair way below. "He hated us, and now he's dead! What do you think they'd do to Miki and me?!"

"Kazu would not let that happen," Guardromon insisted in his usual gallant tone, whilst his Tamer simply continued to glare on at Ayaka.

"You two couldn't stop that happening!"

Kazu looked put back by this argument, this suggestion that he and his partner were useless in all this. His tone changed, becoming less angered but darker. "We can't just…"

With a bubbly sound and a rapid shake up and down, their argument was interupted, the three bubbles merging into one around them. Ayaka and Kazu glanced around, seeing Fumiko looking at Joe's injuries despite her own, whilst Miki looked down and lurched again. She sat down on the floor of the bubble queasily, whilst Kenta hopped across further into what once was Kazu and Ayaka's bubble.

"Guys, now is not the time to argue. We have to get out of here!"

Kazu looked ready to shout Kenta's head off for making the same suggestion as Ayaka had, but she could see him visibly restrain himself. The shorter boy turned to look at his partner, the fairy looking rather pleased to see him again despite the straining look on his face.

"Can you hold this for long?" he asked, the fairly large bubble now holding six people and another Digimon within it. MarineAngemon simply chirped, as if he was ignoring his pain. His Tamer frowned, before with another lurch he was drawn back to helping Miki, who tried to utter apologies to him without throwing up at the memory still hot in her mind.

"They're firing!" Fumiko exclaimed, her voice deadened by the flexible walls about them. Ayaka looked down to the soldiers below as an equally deadened pinging sounded, bullets reflected off the edge of the bubble seemingly easily but their pink host grunting in exhaustion every time one did. She stared at them with revulsion and disbelief at how they could continue to fire after what had happened. As if in response, the shots simply increased. Praying that the wall would hold up, she turned to Kazu, who she found to be staring at the same sight with a silent anger. She walked over, frowning to him as she grabbed around his wrist, drawing him from his trance.

He stared into her eyes for a moment, each looking back into the others' and seeing the full scale of emotions there. The pain, the hatred, the horror, the regret…was this what his life was like? She reached down, forgetting how much in a normal situation she would tease him and clenching around his hand, giving him two simple words, an oddly caring tone to them which Ayaka was surprised to hear herself.

"Let's go."

Kazu turned his attention back down once again to the body below, before looking up to Ayaka, his face incensed by what had happened and his hand clenching back around hers. He nodded, a distant reluctance to the movement. "MarineAngemon, get us away from the cops and then we'll go on foot, this bubble will be too slow to get there," he ordered. There was no need for subtlety now, and certainly no need for orders to come from the Digimon's own Tamer, particularly when Kenta was currently rather preoccupied with a very nauseous girl. Despite their newfound transport, Ayaka had the sinking sensation she would have to do a lot of exhausting running very soon, one she met with a simple grimace and an unconscious clenching further of the hand she held, a strange feeling of safety sweeping over her that she found impossible to logically relate to the insane boy called Kazu.

Nevertheless, with a sad chirp of agreement to his words, the huge heart-shaped bubble and its reluctant guests were propelled ever-closer towards Shinjuku Park.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Right, you may or may not be pleased (or care) to hear that the Dimensions Wiki has now moved from Wiki-Site to Wikia, meaning it looks a lot nicer, should hopefully have a lot more background resources for maintaining it, and basically make my life a whole lot easier. Since vandalism should hopefully now be easier to control, there won't be the large-scale protection from edits which the old wiki was forced to have. Therefore, if you want to lend a hand wherever you can, it would be greatly appreciated since it's definitely a large task which obviously takes time away from me being able to write or deal with real life business. In any case, I hope you enjoy it – the link is available from the 'homepage' button on my profile.

Until next time…

B.C.


	14. Phase One: Takato Matsuki

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

**

* * *

**

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTEEEN**

**Phase One**

_Takato Matsuki_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Streets of Shinjuku, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:44 JST**_

It was an odd feeling for Takato, running to school like that. So familiar, and yet still so surreal given the circumstances.

He knew how long it'd take, even with the increased pace of him and his partner, bounding alongside him. He knew the route, the best way to get there without being in public too much. He knew the severe consequences which would result if he was late, albeit they were now far more severe than usual.

Yet, he didn't know one thing.

He didn't know what to expect when he finally reached there.

Would she be there? Would she be safe? Or, worst, would he simply find an empty school, the last place a child wanted to be on his holidays?

"_Come on Takato, she said she'd be there…Rika wouldn't let me down," _he thought, his mind quietly nagging him that that couldn't be an option. He tried to ignore it, but the other part of his mind, the part out of his control, decided otherwise.

"_**Well, unless she's already been caught."**_

"_You're not helping!"_

"_**Hello?! Why would I? They're going after Harmony here."**_

"_They're going after us too."_

"_**Hey, we'll be safe. I have contacts in the US government; look at how powerful their army is."**_

"_Wait, why have you got contacts there?"_

"_**Duh, I worked for them, you know, in a former life."**_

Takato put his hand on his forehead as he remembered his incarnations, the memories from his former life as the psychopathic Jiro Shiro flashing back across his mind.

"_Ugh…" _

"_**No, I mean the one **_**before**_** that one you dumbass! During the whole kaboom thing, I was pretty high up – do you really think that I wouldn't have…oh…no, wait…ah crap, they'll all be dead or retired. Bloody humans, you and your stupid short lifespan! So bloody useless."**_

"_Thanks."_

"_**You're welcome. Now come on, time to cover our own arses and screw the girl."**_

"_No, we've got to find her and protect her! It's Rika!"_

"_**That just strengthens my argument."**_

"_Hey!"_

"_**Come on, do you really think she can't protect herself? Renamon's like a bleeding ninja and Harmony…Harmony is…ugh, I'll admit it, pretty strong."**_

"_But she's scared and…"_

"_**Wah, wah, wah, wah, scared lonely miserable, we can't possibly be talking about the **_**same**_** Rika here."**_

"_Hey, you've seen the other side of her too."_

"_**I have but it wasn't pleasant – I can tell you that."**_

"_But…you heard how she sounded on the phone…"_

* * *

The bread dough began its long process of hardening to be stale, its owner currently rather distracted as he stood nearby, the phone cord stretched as he stared at the flat-screen television in the living room, blinking periodically at the sight as a voice chattered down the line to him.

"It's on."

The brown eyes stared on at the sights beheld – a press conference, images of Sakuyamon, of Rayleigh, of CCTV footage, as his ears listened intently both to its message and the words of his girlfriend and fiancée on the other end of the phone. His D-Vice on his wrist was illuminated, the message he'd only just learnt about left open. Without any alarm from him, a small red dinosaur-like creature tilted his head around to try and read it, before looking up to the boy with a half-curious, half-worried gaze. "Takato?"

The boy put a finger to his lips periodically, a panicked look in his eyes as he shook his head at the creature. Now was not the time.

"**This terrorist organisation has subversively been planning to target Japan…"**

"_**I prefer 'freedom fighters'," **_chirped the ever-present and ever-annoying voice in the brunette's mind. Takato frowned, looking to Guilmon.

"This is bad," he mumbled, prompting a worried groan from his partner.

"What's wrong Takato?"

"**I have to find you," **echoed a voice down the line, Takato looking back to it as his attention was cast away once again from the television, right as Rayleigh began to say something about taking strong measures against them. Guilmon looked to the television, evidently trying to understand its meaning when he had only seen part of it. Takato knew that the red dinosaur normally relied on him for such clarification.

"_**Aw, how romantic,"**_ Chaos quipped.

"_She can't be serious? What about her family…and Rey?!" _Takato wondered, looking at the slightly-scorched plastic cord, one of the few surviving bits of the downstairs of their home after last year's…problems.

"**Please…where can we meet up?"**

"But…you…you're with Rey, and your family and you guys are…you're…" Takato began to stutter.

"**Yes, I know Renamon and I are chief suspects!"**

"_They're being framed!"_

"_**No shit Sherlock. Unless your little girlfriend is an assassin on the side…you know, that'd actually be kinda hot."**_

Takato, as he had learnt to do over so many years, ignored Chaos. "Where do you want to meet then?"

"**I'll see you at the school, that's the last place they'll look…I hope…"**

"You hope? I'm getting a sinking feeling here…"

"**Then get there quickly and they won't already be there you…!"**

Takato knew that voice, this anger, this side of Rika, all too well, and he knew exactly what it meant, even if she'd never admit it alone. That was Rika, that was the girl he had fallen in love with, and this was her most stubborn side, one so hard to break but which he suddenly found so easy to derail.

"You're scared for Rey, aren't you?" he said, his voice laden with a deep care for her as a slight grimace manifested on his face.

"**Yeah, shitless."**

"Sorry…keep her safe. Are you going to leave her with…?"

"**You know I am, don't rub it in," **she replied, Takato knowing that she was worried about letting Rey go out of her sight, even for a second, and that was on a normal day.

"Sorry…I'll see you as soon as I can…I promise."

"**I love you."**

The slightest of smiles broke onto his face, the light of hope seen in the midst of all hell suddenly seeming to crash down on him, so much that he couldn't even begin to come to terms with the implications of it all. "I love you too."

"**Bye…" **Her words were left hanging as if she never wanted to say them.

"Bye." He heard a click as the phone was hung up, and he did likewise.

Having placed the phone back on its slightly burnt hold, he stood in the moment, hearing the hum of the oven, the talking of his parents in the shop front, the final words of Rayleigh from the television…

"**As Shakespeare once said, "hell is empty and all the devils are here." We shall make sure they are nowhere. Thank you for your time."**

For some reason, those words were what finally made it truly click for Takato. They were all in danger, all so suddenly, from his parents to his friends to Rika. In fact, she was more at risk than anyone, and she was now counting on him to find her.

* * *

"_She's so scared, even if she doesn't want to say it. Everyone's after her, and they all want her life. I _have_ to protect her, even if it means risking my own life in the process."_

"_**Yeah, but while you were being all heroic and idiotic I must also add, did you consider how you're risking Guilmon too?"**_

"_Uh…"_ Takato thought, rather blindsided by the unexpected question. He wanted to object, but he couldn't find any words. He grimaced, looking to his ever-loyal partner, racing alongside him as they ducked into another side street, knowing that at any moment the army, police, heck, maybe even the secret service of Japan could pop out and it'd all be over. How could he drag the innocent Guilmon into all this when there were so many safer options?

* * *

"Takato, what's happening?!"

Takato frowned, looking down to the impatient Digimon, the level of anxiety increasing in his voice every time he hadn't got a reply. "I…really don't know how to put this…but…the whole government is after us."

"**Yep, every cop, soldier and jobs worth will be piling down on us, and they want us put away for good."**

"But why?" Guilmon asked. Takato frowned, this was going to be so difficult to explain to a creature that saw the world as a carefree place and couldn't really understand even the simplest thriller series. Sometimes Takato did wonder what having a wiser partner would be like. Then again, that wouldn't be Guilmon, the bread-scoffing happy and insightful creature he loved with all his heart.

"Because for some reason, they think that Rika and Renamon killed the Prime Minister…you know, the most powerful guy in the country…."

"Renamon?! Rika?! What's going to happen to them?!"

Somehow Takato doubted much more than the fact that something bad revolved around Rika and Renamon had truly registered on the Digimon's mind.

"**Well, have you ever heard of something called a Witch Hunt? A brilliant invention of mine, and…"**

"Chaos, stop confusing Guilmon! Nothing's going to happen, 'cause we're going to meet up with them at the school…"

"Oh, okay," Guilmon chirped, oddly satisfied by what little he had learnt. Takato made a mental note to explain more later, even if he didn't really understand all the facts himself right now. Where did that footage come from? Who was doing all this? Who really killed the Prime Minister?

* * *

"_**Rika's not your only loved one either. What about your parents? I thought you cared about them too!"**_

"_I do!"_

* * *

Takato took a step towards the shop, and another, finding every one to be so weighted as he wondered what he could do. They couldn't come with him to see Rika – she was their biggest target, and Takato didn't want to put them at that much risk. He knew they'd probably think he was being stupid too. But…what could they do then? Would they have to go alone? But…where? The hideout, like Izzy had said? Surely they'd be found on the way? But who else could he send with them?

"Takato?" his father asked, the boy looking across to the older man with a mix of worry and surprise about being called out. "What's the matter son?"

"Uh…" he mumbled, glancing out the front windows from where he stood behind the counter. Nothing yet…although he wasn't too sure what to expect. He looked back to his father, his mother now watching over him with impatient eyes "I'm not sure how to…"

"**They're blaming Sakuyamon for killing the Prime Minister, and the acting PM's called for every Tamer and anyone helping us to be arrested or killed."**

"What?!" Takato's mother exclaimed, the boy quietly thankful for Chaos' quick synopsis when he himself knew that his own words would probably have been chewed up so much as to have been completely useless for any purpose.

"That's…ridiculous!" Takehiro complained, his eyes flashing up with anger as he himself looked to the doorway, clearly as apprehensive as his son about what could happen even if his words refused to show it.

Mie looked equally shocked and annoyed. "They can't do that!"

"**Tell that to Rayleigh – he seems like a big enough arse."**

"Then…we're all in danger?" his mother continued worriedly, looking across to her husband and then back to her son.

"Yeah…" Takato said, looking back to those doors again. Where were they? He half-expected the whole army to be there – he was Rika's boyfriend! And this was Rayleigh, he'd already threatened to have them arrested before if they crossed the line.

"_**Maybe he'll just sniper you guys when you step outside."**_

"_What?! No, they wouldn't…please tell me they wouldn't…"_

"_**I have a policy of not lying." **_Normally Takato would've contested such an idea, but right now he got the impression that other matters were more pressing.

"Takehiro, we have to run!" Mie said, a worried gaze cast in the direction of her husband as all were thankful for the absence of any customers at that particular time – that would definitely have been awkward.

"But where to?" he replied, looking to his son for guidance.

"Uh…Izzy emailed and said that they're all going to the hideout."

"Then let's get what we can and go," Takehiro decided, beginning to head towards the stairs but being stopped by his wife's concerned words.

"But, if they're all going – then that's a huge risk! We'll be attacked for sure! I couldn't bear that to happen."

Takehiro stopped short, turning back and pausing silently for a moment as he looked across the room. "I trust our son to keep us safe," he said, looking confidently into the boy's eyes. Takato felt a lump begin to grow in his throat, a difficult moment quickly approaching as both Guilmon and Mie joined his father in staring at him.

"Uh…about that…"

* * *

"_**You'd fight a whole D-Reaper, the army of Devas and every Demon going to protect them from harm, but now it all changes, doesn't it? Cast aside now that your precious Rika is in harm's way."**_

"_Hey, I didn't want to do that either. But dad…"_

* * *

"You're not coming with us, are you?" Takato couldn't fault his father's quick reasoning – his parents seemed to always be able to read him like a book, be it wanting to go fight the D-Reaper or bringing 'a pet' home.

"I have to go find Rika – everyone will be after her!"

"If you're with her Takato, they'll go for you too," Mie said, Takato finding her words slightly harsh but completely understanding her worry. "And what about Rey? Is she okay?"

"Rika's going to make sure she's safe, and I know, I know the risk, but…I can't just leave her, and…I just…"

Takehiro put his hand on his wife's shoulder, grimacing. "Mie, you know that Takato has to do this…I'd be doing the same for you…"

Mie seemed unfazed by the touching sentiment, still caught in the fear of the moment. "We're going to be alone then…they'll catch us!"

"Not if we keep quiet – I really doubt we're a big enough target, but Rika is, and Takato has to go find her," Takehiro said, his son wondering if he was really that sure on what he was saying. How could he possibly think he'd be safe? Takato wished that he could be in two places at once, but even with his two minds he still only had one body. His father clearly had a lot of trust in him and a lot more worry about his safety than his own. The boy, being a father himself, could easily sympathise.

"Really? But…you guys…you'll be…"

"He's right," Mie sighed, looking to the windows again melancholically. "Your father's right – as much as I think we're at risk, I doubt they'll come after us without you. Just…promise me you'll keep yourself safe, okay Takato? I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."

Takato, finding a hand on his shoulder, looked up into his mother's saddened eyes, seeing her deep-seated worry for his safety. She'd had to let him go off on his own so many times, to the Digital World, against the D-Reaper, and a thousand times since. Gone were the days when he had to hold onto his mother's hand crossing the road.

"I will mom."

* * *

"_**Duh, they were feeding you crap Takato. Of course they'll say that, they don't want you worrying about them all this time. Didn't seem like they needed to worry though, all you ever seem to worry for is your precious Rika, while your parents are left all alone to…"**_

"_Hey, stop it! This isn't fair…I'm just trying to help and you're being…you're being…mean."_

"_**Chaos, pleased to meet you. But still, you left them all alone."**_

Takato's tone of thought became rather saddened as he found himself defending his every action. _"They're not completely alone."_

* * *

His mind besieged with worry, Takato stepped out of the side door of his home of all those years. It'd survived Digimon attacks (most of them, at least), earthquakes, heck, it'd even survived Guilmon. It was a place of safety, but not only that. His parents worked there, it kept them fed, it kept them happy and it was…it was his home.

He stole a glance at the glass front to the store. It all looked so…

Within the space of a few seconds and a thump in his side, he found himself staring instead down at the floor, the concrete below looking very painful, something he was sure he wouldn't no doubt found out for himself if it weren't for his hands quickly reacting and landing palms down on the ground.

Had he been attacked? Was about to find himself bundled into the back of a van? Was this…

"Hey, dumbass, your species better learn to look where you're going or evolution will…oh, it's youse two! 'splains a lot."

Takato knew that voice all too well, and as he looked up to find Impmon back on his feet again, the Digimon looking half-irritated and half-bemused by the newfound situation.

"Hey, Impmon!" Guilmon cheered, still optimistic in the light of events.

"Hey ya Pineapple Head – still two pips short of an apple?"

"Uh…" Guilmon mumbled, turning his snout up to his Tamer as his claw found its way to his mouth. "Takato, am I?"

"Uh, never mind," Takato sighed, looking down to Impmon. Normally he'd have at least considered explaining it to the dinosaur, but right now straight off the bat he knew they had bigger priorities. "Did you hear?"

"No, I'm hurrying through Shinjuku because I'm looking for aliens, time travellers and espers."

"Cool," Guilmon chirped, oblivious to Impmon's sarcasm. The Digimon looked surprised by his friend's ongoing ignorance, before he rolled his eyes.

"It was sarcasm, ugh," he explained. Takato noted that, despite his irritation, he seemed to have a slight bit more patience for his fellow Digimon than for humans like himself, something demonstrated by his next choice of words as he looked up to the Goggled Tamer. "Of course I heard the news you dumbass!"

"Sorry…" Takato had learnt from experience that it was easier to get alone with Impmon if you just accepted his casual insults. "Are Ai and Mako okay?"

"I dunno…I spent all morning over to the east. They've roped off the whole of some government building there, the Can Die or something like that."

"The Kantei."

"Yeah, that's the place. Still, people acting weird and all – all complaining about their stupid phones not working. Geez, and there were guns everywhere – I sure as hell ain't getting my ass in the firing line. By the looks of it though, I don't get an option."

"So where are you going then?"

"West, to Ai and Mako – they'll be screwed if they don't have me."

A thought occurred to Takato, and he chewed his lip as he pondered it. _"Can I really ask that?"_ He looked back towards those glass doors again, seeing the shadows of his parents moving as they readied their things to go. They seemed a lot more prepared than him, taking more than just the food for Guilmon, the single change of clothes and the spare deck of Digimon cards that he had (the latter due to experience that, if a deck was to get caught up in the wind or dropped or otherwise lost, it would always happen in the midst of a battle miles from home).

"Hey, Pineapple Head! What ya dreaming about?"

"Um…" Takato bit the bullet. "Could you maybe take my parents down to the hideout before you go and find Ai and Mako? It's not too far off route…is it?"

"Meh, a little. Can't you take them yourself? They ain't _my_ parents, after all – we Digimon don't need parents."

"But I thought that Takato was my mommy."

"Oh god," Takato sighed, putting his hand on his forehead in response to Guilmon's remark as Impmon let rip a bale of laughter.

"You crack me up Pineapple Head!"

"Ugh…Impmon," Takato began, trying to get the Digimon's attention back after that unwanted diversion. It seemed he'd never get away at this rate. "Listen. I'm going to find Rika, because she called me and now she's in big trouble because they think she killed the Prime Minister…but…this means they're alone. So, can you…"

"Fine, if I have to…but…why the hideout? I mean, if I were ya, and, god, I'd hate if I were, but if I were ya, I'd be running for the hills!"

"Izzy sent us all emails, telling us to meet up there," Takato explained, once again passing over the comment. To an untrained observer, it'd seem like he really hated them, but they were all so used to Impmon's way by now, and, after all that had happened between the dino, the Gogglehead and the Imp, they'd grown rather close, even if the circumstances had been tragic. "Once they're there, I'm sure they'll have safety in numbers, but…can you take them? At least until you bump into someone else. Please."

"Okay, fine I will, but…you owe me. And I'm not talking small-time owing, I mean 'mountains of bread' when I want it."

"Okay, okay." _"Mom'll kill me for agreeing to that…."_

* * *

"_**Not as safe as with you. And what about Ai and Mako now? Don't you give a crap about them? Do you really think he'll get that far before he's caught up in all this?"**_

"…_they'll be fine…I…I trust Impmon."_

"_**Yeah, well trust only goes so far – I trust you to not hurl yourself off a cliff but if Rika dies I'm pretty sure it'll make sod all difference."**_

"_Hey, I thought you said you didn't care about her!"_

"_**I don't, but I'm bloody sure I'm not going to have you ending this incarnation."**_

"_Yeah…well…I'm going to protect her, no matter what you say! I love her too much to leave her alone."_

"_**What about Rey? You love her but I didn't hear you volunteering to protect her?"**_

"_Yeah, 'cause Rika's family will do that."_

"_**Just like always, you leaving it up to the Nonakas to do it…you're such a crap father."**_

Takato paused at the low blow, surprised that Chaos would sink so far. Was he really this passionate about this all? Was he really this concerned? Was he really…right?

"_**Of course I'm right!"**_

"Ugh…fine…then what do you want me to do?"

"_**Well, it's a little game I call 'Soldier Bowling.'"**_

"_I mean about the father thing!"_

"_**Hey, hear me out, 'Soldier Bowling' has the most awesome rules. Basically…"**_

"_You must have been a dad before, right?"_ Takato interrupted, not feeling very open after the earlier low blow from Chaos to laughing or tolerating any further jokes.

"_**Yeah, but most of my kids grew up…freaky."**_

"_O…kay…I'm now worried for Rey's sake."_

"_**Me too. But, I suppose, if you really, really, really want to take advice from me, and I'm told that's a mistake…you could be there a bit more."**_

"_How? I practically live at Rika's now…I kind of feel I'm letting down mom and dad."_

"_**Yeah, it's a pain when your slave labour has a kid and goes walkabouts."**_

"_Hey, they do pay me."_

"_**Peh. If you won't do it, looks like it'll be me who has to demand the minimum wage. Still, either way, you're going to have to make compromises somewhere. Let down your parents, or let down Rika. Wow, where have I heard of a situation like that before?"**_

Takato sighed deeply, wanting to object but still feeling unable to after his previous attempts with Chaos in this particular topic.

"_**Or you could marry Rika already, or just move in with her some place. Heck, then, every night you'd…oh crap, bad thoughts, bad thoughts, bad thoughts!"**_

"_You're so dirty-minded."_

"_**Yeah…god…having sex with Harmony…something I never want to even imagine happening again…it was bad enough the first time round…ugh…no-one should ever have to go through that! It has to be against the law or something. What happened to control over my own incarnations, huh?"**_

"_But…didn't you create yourself like this?"_

"_**Yeah, but most of my idiots weren't this strong-willed. And that's not a compliment."**_

"_Ugh."_

"_**Still, you'll be a married couple soon so I won't have to worry about sex anyway."**_

"_I really don't understand you."_

"_**Then I've been successful."**_

Takato groaned, amazed that his sanity remained at all after nearly four years of life like this. He looked up, seeing the familiar school buildings quickly drawing into view and feeling half-surprised that he was actually in one piece after he had spent the last few minutes walking in what could only be described as a schizophrenic trance.

"Takato, I can smell Renamon but I can't see her," Guilmon said worriedly, Takato grimacing and nodding in agreement. Normally, such a thing wouldn't be that useful – Renamon was able to keep herself hidden remarkably well, and a game of Hide and Seek with her would inevitably be a futile exercise. Well, unless you had Guilmon's nose, but even right now it didn't seem to help. Then again, that couldn't been just because he couldn't see her right now – they didn't have to think the worst. Even so, his mind still insisted on doing so.

Worse still, he couldn't see Rika either.

He paused at the gates, trying to avoid panicking as he glanced around, the school buildings looking empty and dead away from the bustling way they were during the week. He just hoped they weren't. Maybe she was inside?

"Smell anything?"

Guilmon made an all too familiar groaning noise, tilting his head around to look around the vicinity. "I smell something new Takato."

"Like?" Takato replied apprehensively.

"Like Mari."

"Mari? Huh?" _"What does Mari even smell like?"_

"_**I'm surprised you don't know. You see…"**_

"_Chaos, please, of all the times I'd rather not hear your perverted musings right now…we've got to find Rika."_

"Yeah, Mari…uh…at least, I think. Although…she doesn't always…"

"Smelt like what boy?" _"And now for a fun game of 'guess the smell'."_

"_**Oh yeah, it's what all the cool kids play."**_

"Uh…I dunno but it makes my nose burn a bit…hey, come to think of it, Chiyo smelt of it a bit too."

"Chiyo? Mari?" _"What do those two have in common? Is it them being Angels?"_

"Yeah…but it's a lot stronger right now."

Takato glanced at the vicinity, wondering what on earth he could possibly be smelling. What made Mari and Chiyo so unique that didn't apply to anyone else? And what made it so that Mari wasn't always that way? This was just getting weird.

"Where's it coming from?"

"All around us," Guilmon answered, pointing with a claw in a circular motion.

"**You sure it isn't just the smell of being a female brunette? If that smells of anything, that is."**

"Nope. It's just…a bit…burny."

"Burny?"

"Yeah."

Takato sighed and looked out. The street had a few people walking along it a short way away, unlikely to be the source if it was really all around them. Thankfully, the people were also too preoccupied with their own thoughts and chatting to notice the red dinosaur and Gogglehead a short way along the road. He doubted it would last, before looking down at his partner again. "Are you sure you can't smell Renamon or Rika at the moment?"

"No…the weird burny smell is too much."

"Oh." _"Too much? Then why can't I smell it? It must be really strong to overpower even Guilmon, particularly when it comes to smelling where Renamon is…but…if it's all around us…then what is it? I've got a bad feeling about this."_

"Guilmon, Takato," interrupted a new voice, an all too familiar one matched with an all too familiar form which blurred into life just inside the schoolyard with the slightest of sounds.

"Yay, Renamon!" Guilmon cheered, whilst Takato felt a mix of relief and confusion. This had to mean that Rika was here, but, still…something felt so wrong about all this.

The slightest of smiles reached Renamon's face at the sight of her partner, at least, in Digimon terms. "Come with me," she beckoned, gesturing with her hand into the school yard.

"Right," Takato replied, taking steps across the paving through to the main doors of the school, Guilmon still sniffing as he went. Renamon cast a gaze back to him about his odd behaviour, but said nothing. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for him.

"Takato, I can smell her now."

"Smell who?" Renamon asked, an eye widening inquisitively.

"You," Guilmon said with a dumb smile. Renamon's look advanced to a confused one, as she glanced up at the Goggleheaded Tamer.

"Uh…Guilmon thinks he can smell a strange burning noise from nearby that he says he could usually smell on Mari and Chiyo too."

"I see," Renamon replied, evidently not thinking much of the problem for the moment as she pushed the door open for them. Takato bowed slightly in respect as he and his partner stepped through, before Renamon followed, gesturing up the stairs in an all-too-familiar direction. "She is in your home room."

"_I guess she's trying to get out of the public eye."_

"_**See, she can take care of herself."**_

Takato didn't bother replying, instead tracing his way along a route he could've done with his eyes closed, and, indeed, given the way he normally ran in there, pretty much did very regularly. It hadn't always been like that – he could still remember his first day two years ago. Not just because it was his first day, but for another reason as well...

* * *

All those years ago, Takato raced through the doors and into the corridor, heading straight for the classroom. He skidded to a stop, having found that he'd gone the wrong way, and so he doubled back on himself, headed up a set of stairs and along the corridor. Again, however, he'd made a wrong turn, exasperating Renamon and Guilmon in pursuit, the former being Rika's 'insurance' to ensure that he didn't screw up his very first day at their Upper High School, particularly now that his parents had to pay for it. He stopped to check his book, part of the entry pack he had been given, but found the map to be practically useless. Still, he quickly found his classroom number, and reassured himself of which one it was.

"Ah, right, Classroom 29…where _is_ that?"

"_**By the way these numbers, go, I presume it's on the second floor at the western end of the school."**_

"_Right."_

Takato ran down the corridor and up a set of stairs again, floorboards creaking as he ran and his mind noting that probably every class he passed as he raced along the hallway was seeing him, every teacher marking him down as a useless latecomer before he even had a chance to make their acquaintance. Ah well, that was life, unfortunately. Regardless, he saw the number 29 on a sign poking out of the wall, alongside a set of steps, smiled victoriously, and raced for the entrance.

It was at that moment that someone walked up and out of the steps, holding a lot of books on a tray, obscuring their face, and so, Takato being Takato, he ran head-first into them. Both of them fell back on the floor, Takato knowing that actually stumbling at the first hurdle was not a good omen.

The floorboards creaking once again, the other person stood up, Takato looking up as his expressions of embarrassment turning to fear, and, eventually, greater embarrassment.

"Not you again!" Takato said to his teacher of many years, Mrs Asagi, who sighed at his rather harsh manner of delivering his thoughts, something which Takato himself quickly regretted.

"Same as always Takato." Takato smiled nervously, and stood up, laughing sheepishly. "Just try not to be late in future, okay?"

Those words would turn out to be so ironic. Perhaps she already knew that it was far too much to hope for.

* * *

Regardless, Takato couldn't help but appreciate that irony in the woman's words all those years back, as the **29 **beckoned above and the familiar feeling of rushing into class returned, only with a strangely surreal sense to it. He followed Renamon into the room, the sliding door shunting aside to bring them back into their all-too familiar classroom.

Rika stood by the windows, facing out with a melancholic look, one which brought a grimace to the boy's face. She turned upon hearing him, her face fading from shades of curiosity to guilt rather quickly, a nervous look permeating throughout. No sudden embrace, no thankful praise for turning up at all, hell, not even a typical insult about being late.

"_She looks so…guilty."_

"_**Maybe she's realised how stupid dragging you out here was."**_

Takato wanted to deny it, but it did make a lot of sense. Rika, stuck in a room and knowing that he had been dragged away from his parents to protect her. Rika never liked being protected, and this…this just left her in an emotional state which Takato hated seeing her in, even if it was the one which she relied on him the most in. Well, aside from her lengthy labour, but that was…

It was at that moment that Takato became aware of another figure in the room, tilting his head across, past the unoccupied desks, the chalkboard and the computer, until his mouth fell agape.

"Not you again!" Takato said to his teacher of many years, Mrs Asagi, who sighed at his rather harsh manner of delivering his thoughts from where she leant on her hands, sitting on her desk. His choice of words, eerily familiar, was something which Takato himself quickly regretted. A packet of paracetamol sat on the desk, the ripped open half shining from where the light hit the windows.

"Same as always, Takato." Takato smiled nervously, laughing sheepishly. "Just try not to be late in future, okay?" she added, the boy feeling a remarkable sense of déjà-vu about the situation. "As if that has ever stopped you."

"_Yeah, I have definitely been here before." _"What…what are you doing here?"

"Nami _works_ here," Rika said, her tone still carrying that guilt behind it's "how didn't you know that?" attitude.

The woman nodded. "Most of the teachers stay at home and do paperwork, but unfortunately, I never get anything done with easy access to a television and a list of chores the size of Tokyo Tower," Mrs Asagi said, sounding oddly open with her students, something Takato would've been shocked at a few years back but was growing used to as the teacher-student relationship evened out and maturity resulted, hopefully in both parties. Still, he didn't want to be on first name terms with his teacher, even if Rika seemed to be.

"_And she's known her for less time than I have."_

"_**Maybe she's just less socially useless than you."**_

"_But calling a teacher by their first name…I mean, isn't there like, a law against that? I mean, when Kazu originally found out her name and started saying it all the time in class, he got a detention for about a week."_

"_**That was like, two years ago though. And plus, hasn't it occurred to you that Rika's on edge enough right now that Nami is trying to put her at ease? God, you really are useless, aren't you?"**_

"Plus, it seemed like a fairly nice day, and there's something so peaceful about this place when the kids aren't here."

Takato nodded, reminded of their sojourn during the D-Reaper crisis. That time, they'd awoken to the city being destroyed, but this time, it seemed like the city wanted to destroy them.

"Hey, Rika, how'd you get here so fast anyway?"

Rika still had that oddly distant look on her face, as guilt once again appeared. "I flew."

"You flew?"

"_**Okay, correction. She **_**doesn't **_**know how to keep herself safe."**_

"**The military were there, they already knew where we were. Once we were away, Renamon managed to get us away from them following," **Harmony explained, Rika nodding and frowning. **"We turned up here at the school, and Mrs Asagi suggested we come inside."**

"I'll never get used to that voice thing," Nami noted, shaking her head in disbelief at Rika's suddenly deepened and altered voice, familiar yet different. "So, as I asked Rika, what are you going to do? Because, if what you tell me is all true…then you're in a lot of danger here…"

Rika turned her gaze to the windows again, as Takato realised what point he had walked in on in their conversation. "I don't know."

Takato raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were going to go meet up with the others in the hideout?"

"No way, I'd just be putting them all at risk," Rika argued back, turning to face him properly for the first time so far as Takato looked straight into her eyes. "I'm safer away from all of you." Somehow, Takato had the feeling that her real concern was Rey, even if her friends and family were also a worry.

"But you didn't do anything."

"So? They still want me dead, and the closer I am to you all the more likely they'll take you guys down to get to me."

"I was under the impression from the news that you were all wanted," Nami noted, gesturing to the now-off television as a look of worry filled her complexion. Takato nodded in agreement, recalling what he had heard earlier.

"Yeah, Rayleigh said something about it on the television."

"Rayleigh?" Mrs Asagi asked, raising an eyebrow, evidently unfamiliar with the name.

"The Chief Cabinet Secretary," Takato explained, putting his hand on his chin. "I didn't really hear it much as I was busy talking to you Rika, but he did say that he was taking some kind of measures against us."

"Well…yeah, but…" Rika mumbled, looking down at the ground once again. The precious eye contact was lost. "I don't want to risk it. Even if there's the slightest chance that Rey…"

"**Oh come on! There are so many in our group, and most of us can go mega. Like having you two there is going to make **_**any**_** difference to how much of a target they are."**

Rika grimaced. **"He has a point Rika, as much as I hate to admit it," **Harmony said, reluctance in her voice.

"But if you guys fight back, they'll just use that against you? I mean, whoever's doing this has a grudge," their teacher noted. "And, I'm guessing that now I've helped you guys, I'm just another one on the list."

"Uh…" Takato couldn't think of what to say, but unfortunately, a muttering from Rika took his place.

"Seems no matter what I do, I just can't stop hurting people."

Takato frowned, not sure how to react as Rika's attention turned back to the window and the world outside.

Mrs Asagi looked uneasy – maybe they weren't as comfortable as talking about this than they had seemed at first when Takato had walked in. Still, during Rika's pregnancy, the woman had helped Rika out a lot, particularly in dealing with the judging eyes of the class – was that where this bond came from?

He'd expected her to be more worried than she was too. How long had she and Rika been talking? Did she know the whole situation?

"Takato," she said, her relaxed voice from earlier being replaced by the rather authoritative 'teacher voice'. "Do you think we're safe here?"

"Uh…I really don't know."

"Do you think I'm safe now?"

Takato frowned deeply, shaking his head. "Probably not…sorry."

The woman let out a deep sigh, looking to the ceiling and back to the boy. "Ugh, I guess I got myself into this by calling her in…but…still…it's my job to support you guys, even if you always seem to end up supporting yourselves."

"**Or annoying you," **Chaos added.

"Yes…so…as much as you two are going to be on the hit list, I get the feeling that I'll be safer with you both than on my own…so..."

"_This just makes things more complicated." _"Well…if you really want…I…uh…guess so."

"Thanks."

Takato nodded, looking across to Rika again, still silent by the window side. He wanted to go up to her, to comfort her, but she looked so on edge, so closed, so…guilty. Her face didn't have the reddened cheeks he had seen on the rare occasions she had cried, but he doubted that the absence of tears made any difference.

He turned, glancing to Renamon and Guilmon who now stood by each other's side behind him, nearer the now-closed door. Both had fallen silent, watching their Tamers actions and hearing their words. What were they thinking? How were they dealing with all this? Did they feel guilty, for being the Digimon whose mere existence now risked their Tamers' lives?

Guilmon, if he was having such thoughts, wasn't particularly showing them beyond his normal concern. As for Renamon, she remained unreadable as ever.

Until, as if hit by a sudden realisation, her frame bolted straight upright, her eyes widening as she turned to say a few words to Rika, her form tensed and a shudder creeping down it.

"We've got trouble." The girl stared on at her Digimon, looking shocked and yet with that same guilt, the same thing which tore Takato apart to see on her face.

"Huh?" Guilmon mumbled, looking up at the vixen. "But I can't feel a Digimon."

Renamon furiously shook her head. "No, not that…I worked out what that smell you mentioned outside was."

"What smell?" Rika and Nami asked together, both evidently shaken by Renamon's sudden interruption which brought back all of that former unease. Rika took a step forward in concern for her partner, the first time she had left the window side for that whole time.

"I read it…in a book once…guns use gunpowder, right?"

"**Yeah, or stuff like…that…oh…mother…of…crap…" **Chaos said, his rate of words slowing as he began to realise the implications.

Rika span around quickly, placing both hands on the windowsill and peering out at the streets and buildings around. Takato rushed to be next to her, putting one palm on the back of her hand in reassurance but getting little in the way of thanks beyond the feeling of tension lightening ever-so-slightly where he could feel her skin.

"I can't see anything, where and what am I looking for?" she said, staring out and around. It began to make sense in his mind: both Mari and Chiyo always had guns. But…maybe Mari didn't always wear hers? Takato could never tell, she kept it on her leg somewhere and it seemed to be out of its holster before he could even notice on rare occasions he had actually seen it in action.

"I don't know, but…" Takato began, looking across to Guilmon. "You said you could smell it all around us, right?"

"Guns? Smell? All around us? What are you talking about?" Nami asked, looking about for a sign of someone offering to explain things for her. Takato was surprised that Rika had worked it out so fast, but, then again, the mere mention of guns with her right now was probably enough to make her extremely nervous, as if she wasn't already.

"When I was out there, I could smell something burny from all around us but I couldn't smell Renamon," Guilmon explained, looking up to the yellow Kitsune, who nodded.

"Yes, and you said it was a strong smell. What if it wasn't actually a strong smell, but a lot of weak ones?"

"But…" Takato said, continuing to stare out the window. "That means…there could be hundreds of them. Police, soldiers, secret…" he began, feeling Rika's hand tense up again moments before she snapped at him.

"Okay Takato, we get the picture," she said, Takato seeing those eyes again with their mock anger, so clearly fake for it lacked that passion she always held such complaints with.

"Then what do you want to do?" Given her earlier reluctance about the hideout, he knew that he had to ask her before they did anything. He heard vehicles approaching through an ajar window. Were they being watched? Had they already been noticed? Were the real forces coming in? And why hadn't all these soldiers attacked yet? They had so many chances.

"_**Maybe we're too big a threat for them."**_

Rika kept her hand on his as she glanced around the room, to Renamon, to Guilmon, to Nami, and finally into Takato's eyes. The boy wished that he, like Renamon, could hear her thoughts, but from how her hand kept tensing up and relaxing he could easily hasten a guess. _"She has to come to the hideout," _Takato reasoned, but knew that that what had already happened that day had left reason recoiling and pleading for mercy. _"Looks like Mrs Asagi is going to have to as well."_

The redhead finally sighed, prising Takato's fingers up and gripping his palm in hers for reassurance. The feeling felt all too familiar, like it was fitting into well-pressed folds, like a pencil on an ear still 'being there' even once removed. Her violet eyes looked up into his, and in them he could see a reluctance, a worry, a fear, which ran contrary to her simple words.

Her eyes flittered across to Nami, speaking to both in one fell swoop.

"Let's go."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, I'll be honest with you here, I wrote up to the bit with his parents and then I decided it was god-awful in its flow and all even if it was faster than most recent chapters in getting going. So, instead, I took the text I'd written, and stuck it within a lot of flashbacks (whilst cutting out the cringe worthy bits), and I found myself suddenly with this amazing hidden option for a fantastic moral conversation between Chaos and Takato which I put in-between and which gave a lot more context and meaning to those flashbacks, and so, here we are, and I hope it looks a lot better.

Oh, and the bit from Takato's first day at Upper High is from all the way back in Extra Dimensions Story 2, 'Same Old, Same Old'. I've improved the writing a bit and filled in anything which didn't make sense without the context, but essentially it's the same, and made a useful set-up for the following moment of déjà-vu.

Out of curiosity, does centering the flashbacks make them a lot harder to read when they're this long? If it does, then I'll change it to be like normal. Let me know in your reviews.

Until next time…

B.C.


	15. Phase One: Katashi Takuma

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Katashi Takuma_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Shinjuku Station, Shinjuku Ward**_

**11:52 JST**

Sergeant Major Katashi Takuma had never had orders from so high up before, and something made him doubt he ever would again. The highest he'd had before had been from the Central Readiness Force, part of the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Forces, and even those were rare, most coming simply from the force which he belonged to, the SFGp, the Special Forces Group.

But, this was no normal day – the Prime Minister had been murdered the night before, and so, as a result, the Sergeant and his squad found themselves in Shinjuku Station, the busiest station in the world in terms of passengers, and it showed. Everywhere they looked, their vision was blocked, everywhere they moved, they had to ask to be excused, and people seemed to be unfazed by the army clothes with the guns held facing down in their hands, safety on naturally. He was under the strictest of orders to ensure that it was only the targets and those harbouring them who died, something he couldn't disagree with but he still found made his job hard.

"_Two-hundred bloody exits," _he thought to himself, making it clear to a person standing in his way that they would have to move. The man shunted aside, looking somewhat surprised by Katashi, but he paid no notice. _"Such a huge haystack." _It probably didn't help the man that, like all SFGp personnel, the sergeant wore a balaclava to disguise his identity.

He paused, finally having crossed the intersection between two of the tunnels through which passengers reached the platform, a comparatively open pathway ahead. He turned back, looking to his fire team of three privates, following him through, all as equally anonymous as him with their faces unknown to the world.

Takehiko 'Slowarse' Yuu lived up to his nickname, being last to make his way through the crowds (even if he was probably far faster than anything outside the special divisions of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces), joining his colleagues Nobuyuki 'Nob' Hachirou and Hideki 'Trigger' Ryota, the latter getting his nickname thanks to his rather trigger-happy attitude. Every one of them had their annoying difficulties, all of which 'Bastard' had to deal with in order to make them work. But, still, in spite of the derogatory nicknames they had for each other, which would probably make them sound like they absolutely hated each other to anyone not-in-the-know, they worked fine – their squad was close-knit. You had to be in a situation like this.

They were part of the Fourth Platoon of the First SFGp Company, a platoon specialising in urban warfare, and, along with the other fire team of four in his squad, currently approaching on the same point through another tunnel as a backup, they had been tasked to flush out and arrest the terrorist group which called itself the Digimon Tamers and anyone associated with them. They had the permission to use deadly force if the enemy were to prove un-cooperative, and they had been tasked with an EMP variant of their normal weapons, a switch on the top to switch modes which the sergeant was rather disgruntled with, knowing he'd forget it in the heat of the moment. The fact the firearm was heavier and bulkier didn't help either.

"Bastard, how about asking Lefty why we're running around in circles? Is their recon that crap?" asked Trigger, after he and Nob gave Slowarse an unseen glare about his legendary slowness through their balaclavas.

Lefty was the nickname given to their Lieutenant who led their platoon, one featuring three squads of about eight people each, all with different roles: a sniper squad, currently posted around the station at strategic points, a reconnaissance squad, currently monitoring the various CCTV cameras of the station, and their squad, the assault squad, responsible for the actual work. At least, that was how their squad saw it.

Takuma pressed down the button on his communicator, his microphone on his helmet coming to life as he called for a situation report, or sitrep. "This is Third Sergeant requesting sitrep over."

"**Targets Yankee Tango Romeo Echo confirmed in TMGB escape passage, over."**

"Copy, over."

Figured: these were Hypnos personnel coming through their special tunnel, one which ran directly from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to Shinjuku Station, used only on a few occasions in the past. It came out just a short way into one of the subway railway tunnels, at the end of the Keiō Line terminating platform in the run-around loop.

"**Shadow approach, hold fire until further orders. No civilian casualties, over."**

"Wilco, shadow hold fire, no casualties. Request to clear platform over."

"**Trains cleared only. Civilian panic not allowed, over."**

"Roger out."

"Pah, why don't they just let us do our job?" Trigger complained. Katashi could understand: with the delayed trains, the civilians would just stay on the platform waiting for a service, or, worst, flood through the tunnels onto another line like the Keiō New Line and make life difficult. Wasn't it the police's job to make sure the security services could operate?

"Follow," Bastard said, beckoning with his hand and not taking any nonsense from his colleagues. Nob and Slowarse nodded promptly, followed soon after by the disgruntled Trigger. They continued down the passage, passing plenty of civilians along the way, some paying them a curious glance and others too caught up in their own lives to notice. Katashi couldn't help but sympathise – knowing what he knew about Japan, about the militaries of the world and even about simple day to day life, it was hard to avoid getting caught up with things, and that was only from what he knew from being relatively low down the ladder of command, even if his training was far above most in the Japanese Self-Defence Forces thanks to him being chosen for the SFGp.

Still, he felt a billion times more experienced than the three privates trailing him, even if they were at the most only two years his junior. At least looking too old wasn't an issue: the balaclava helped there, joined by the combination of the stress of the job and the heavy-duty training and exercising tied in with it leading to excellent fitness and an avoidance in most of the 'beer belly'. The sizes their clothes were made in were equally limited, another incentive to work hard to keep the job.

"_If this job is worth keeping, that is. Seems all we end up doing is killing – I thought we were for intelligence gathering," _he grimaced, but knew that his particular squad, being assigned about 9 times in every 10 as an assault squad, was more for the former than the latter even if they were trained in both. Even if they were killing some Grade A bastards, it still on occasion struck a huge contrast with his family meals. He knew he was lucky for even that – this job didn't leave much time for families, and given that the forced retirement age (if you weren't already in a high enough rank by then to be away from the physical work and secured for life with a cushy pension) was in the mid-thirties, if that, the men both in and leaving the service were usually pretty lonely even if they were tough enough not to show it. Sure, the mere mention of being involved in some kind of secret service could get you a job at a whole range of companies even without going into illegal levels of detail, but after all this such a job would seem so boring and pointless. The mind would be permanently tainted by all it had witnessed and learnt about the darker side of humanity, and yet none of it could ever be mentioned.

And that was why Katashi knew that he just had to stick at it. He had a few more years left before the "we're concerned about your recent fitness levels" talk occurred, and then he was out, regardless of his connections with the force. He had to get himself recognised and promoted by then.

And so, he followed every order as much as he could, even if it put him into conflict with people like Trigger who preferred taking orders by their spirit rather than their law. But, it'd take just one unwanted dead kid found out by the media – unless he'd prepared a security blanket, like evidence of the government's involvement in so-called 'deniable operations', he'd be thrown to the wolves quicker than you could say "hold your fire".

"_Maybe I'll get a promotion just for keeping his ego in line."_

As for the other two, they were rather more responsible, even if neither Slowarse nor Nob had families or even girlfriends. This job didn't leave much time, but whilst Katashi found himself using every spare hour he got to be with his wife and two kids, Slowarse and Nob were usually to be found in one of the drinking dens of Tokyo, risking every second that they would blab some military secret while drunk and be shipped to some god-awful place with no prospects, not promotion, not respect, not even a hope of being sent into battle, ironically rather since that would probably result in a quick death and 'deserved punishment'.

Trigger on the other hand – Katashi knew he, despite having a huge ego, was still a pretty smart kid. He did drink, from time to time, but was usually to be found more in one of the more cultural bars, one where alcohol was a simple lubricant for conversation rather than a way of losing the ability to do so. His parents were moneyed, enough so that he probably didn't need this job and could survive anything _but_ being tossed out on his arse to the wolves of the media. Heck, he could probably even survive that with either a faked death and passport or a good PR guy. Whatever happened, he was in line for a pretty good inheritance, that much was clear. That probably explained his irritating arrogance.

Nob was your typical orphan – the sort of thing which governments the world over used on their missions because they had nothing to lose. Not that anyone knew who the members of the SFGp were – they were taken off all military registers, even backdated ones, when they joined, and taxes from them were paid into a single pot which was in turn given to the taxman. Like the balaclavas, it was all about anonymity – if they all looked alike, then no-one could find them. Still, Nob had a habit of being a fairly quiet chap, probably less the subject of childhood trauma and more to do with having a brain the size of Russia and the resultant poker like way of holding his cards close to his chest. If it weren't for his habit of being disastrously open and talkative after a drink, and his inability to keep it down (or had Slowarse eternally accompanying him like usual to ensure he didn't blab), he'd probably have made a good spy.

Slowarse on the other hand was probably the nicest in the group, and the most likely to pass for a decent human being on the outside world. That was probably why he was the subject of most of the abuse, even if he usually took it in good humour. For them, normal was bizarre. Trigger was arrogant and egotistical, Nob was secretive and Katashi could admit that he was probably too career-driven and obedient for his own good, but Slowarse was just…nice. _"And from what I've seen of nice guys, they usually end up dead in some hellhole somewhere. God is an arse."_

Still, how a nice guy could end up on this kind of task was unknown. Even if they were terrorists, Bastard couldn't help but note he was being told to arrest and even kill children, well, close enough to it anyway. He was more concerned for the far more unpredictable monsters, and rather surprised that they weren't being told specifically to take them down first, but he knew he wasn't about to disagree. The higher-ups had their reasons: this wasn't Iraq or WWI. Those calling the shots clearly knew the reality of the situation, and had video proof. Not that he'd seen the video. The members of the SFGp were given a filter on reality to avoid them formulating too many views on it.

"_Still, if I were them I'd be getting us some of those monster things too – rather them than me doing all the dirty work."_

Turning, they entered a tunnel towards the terminating platforms of the Keiō line, a poster on the walls showing the various stops, heading right across Tokyo. If someone was looking to vanish from the radar, the subway was the place to do it, particularly given both how the thralls of people made the CCTV virtually useless (until they could get some of their proper, advanced face detection technology on it about four hours too late) and how some of the lines joined up with surface lines heading out across Japan. That was why they had to catch these targets at the source, along with any other targets they were lucky to stumble across.

They reached the escalators, four in a line making it clear this was a pretty busy route. Two ran up, two ran down, and naturally, Nob and Slowarse took the left hand one heading down and Trigger and Bastard the right. People looked fairly wary about them, giving them a wide berth as they got more than a fleeting glance of the soldiers for the first time, standing on the side to avoid causing further panic by making it look like they were rushing to deal with something. _"They must think a bomb's about to go off or something." _If it weren't for his disguise, if he were perhaps a normal soldier or even just a policeman, he'd have reassured them, and probably evacuated the station. Heck, even if it were true, at least a bomb would be more predictable. He didn't even have much time on his way down here to look at the photographs of the targets: a blonde, a redhead, a brunette and a black haired bloke, AKA Yankee, Romeo, Tango and Echo. All had been in fairly smart clothing in their photos. Of course, that could easily be a red herring – the pictures were marked as being from the Hypnos files – staff photos – and they could've changed clothes if they were like most civilian fugitives in this situation, trying to copy what they'd seen in thrillers like _Bourne_ and _Bond_ and not realising how useless it was.

Feeling a jab in his back, a rather quick and furious one at that, he turned to Trigger, the man gesturing towards the opposite escalators. Although gesturing was perhaps a misnomer – it would have been unbelievably stupid to actually point in such a situation, these hand gestures were much more subtle.

And, sure enough, there they were, a group of four on the opposite escalator whom they passed about halfway down. A blonde guy, a redheaded woman, a female brunette and a black haired bloke, the former Chief Cabinet Secretary Eiichi Nakazawa – a surprise naturally but all part of the job, he'd seen far worse. Down a gun barrel he'd seen supposedly squeaky-clean politician's fresh from a meeting on how they were going to cut crime, clean up the environment and give free kittens to everyone – it was always the ones who seemed good.

Trigger quickly signalled to Nob and Slowarse without any order from his Sergeant, leading to a grimace on Bastard's face below his mask. This was not the time for hasty actions, and a sharp whisper to the man made it clear that was the case. "Stop."

Even without seeing Trigger's face, Katashi was completely certain that he was irritated about this. To Trigger, targets were best taken down quickly and easily, arrested or dead, either was fine so long as the job was prompt. But this task, and the Lieutenant, were calling for subtlety, at least whilst they were in the station. They had to be flushed out to a more private area or arrested without causing public panic.

Checking ever so slightly over his shoulder to judge they were out of range, Bastard pressed the button for his microphone once again. "This is Fireteam Two Niner, sighting of Yankee Romeo Tango Echo targets on Up Keiō line escalator, over."

"**We have them on CCTV, shadow as ordered, over."**

"Wilco out." _"Not like we could have another assault team to deal with them when they come out or anything – I can't see a sniper bloody arresting someone."_

Reaching the bottom of the escalator, they turned, quickly heading back up the two other escalators in the same pairings. This time they didn't stand, instead taking a fast pace up the left hand side, people standing, as per the various signs, on the right. He quickly regretted letting Trigger get in front as a number of suitcases were shoved against the side by the man's leg, grumbling resulting before being quickly silenced once the 'perpetrators' saw the face, or rather, the lack of it.

"_Nothing like public panic to make life difficult." _"Fire team Two Eight, do you copy over."

"**Roger, proceeding to assist in shadow…"**

Katashi, after a second or two, raised an eyebrow. "Newbie, have you forgotten everything about voice comms? Say over, over." New recruits were a pain in the backside – easier to leave with the other fireteam to deal with, and his second-most senior squad-mate.

"**New target sighted, suspected to be a Tamer, **_**over**_**."**

A Tamer? This made life more interesting, and distressing. "Direction over?"

"**Heading from Oedo Line, likely to intercept Yankee Romeo Tango Echo. Has one older female companion...oh…and a Digimon with a coat on it…over."**

"ID? over."

"**ID of companion is unknown, ID of Tamer is…"** Katashi could hear chatter on the line with the soldier's companions.** "Koushiro Izumi, Digimon is assumed as Tentomon, over."**

Another voice cut in on the line, a muttering of **"are you sure"** heard in the background before Katashi heard the reassuring voice of his second most senior, Master Sergeant Hotaka 'Baka' Akira. The pair of them had joined together from the same former barracks, and the other man was only a rank below Katashi with his Sergeant Major position. If it weren't for their similar age, he'd naturally be next in line for Katashi's job, but it seemed that he'd only be in for a few weeks after Bastard's inevitable forced retirement, unless, of course, Katashi were to die beforehand. Still, he couldn't help but be certain that the squad would have a good new leader in Hotaka. **"Keep your mouth shut, I'll talk…bloody newbies…Bastard, this is Baka, request intercept new target before reaches Yankee Romeo Tango Echo, over."**

It was a tough call: this Tamer was heading for the group they'd just passed. The larger group they had, the more difficult they'd be to take down. But the more likely they'd distress the public and break their orders too, particularly with the Digimon now involved (even it seemed that it was in disguise) and sure to cause problems. They still had to be flushed into somewhere more private, nonetheless.

"Denied, shadow and report movements, over."

"**Wilco, out."**

They reached the top of the escalators, quickly making a break for it and taking a marching pace along the tunnel with but a gesture of where the targets had been seen to go. No sighting yet, but regardless, as they pulled around the corner the group broke into view. And, sure enough, they had stopped upon encountering a redhead boy, Koushiro Izumi, accompanied by an older brunette woman and a short walking coat. _"His mother probably, and doesn't look like any of them want their Digimon to be seen," _he assessed; touching his semi-automatic to ensure he was ready should the worst happen. The attempts at subtlety could easily be a trick or thrown to the wind if the cover was thought to be blown.

The group of four soldiers stopped, keeping mostly back out of sight of their targets as there seemed to be surprise on their faces. Hints of gratitude too, along with worry, most particularly on the faces of the pair of brunettes, both old and young. The tall, blonde gentleman seemed to be most with the situation, gesturing (far more dramatically than anyone with proper military training in subtlety) along the passageway to a set of steps at the end, the light of one of the huge number of surface platforms here at Shinjuku Station beckoning. As he moved, Katashi noticed blood on his face and messily in his blonde hair and a number of rips in his black suit. An effort had been made to wipe it off – it wasn't too recent, but it was still noticeable by the cuts and bruises.

"_Someone's been through the wars," _he thought, pondering what could've happened between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and here. But, of course, he was just a fairly low-level soldier, even if he was in command of a squad – he wasn't privy to such details.

The group began to move towards the stairs, as ordered, and Katashi gestured for his squad to being pursuing slowly. As they drew up to where the Tamer and the Hypnos operatives had been, they quickly found themselves accompanied by the other fire team comprised of four equally anonymous figures, even if it was immediately apparent by their heights and postures who they were.

"Pursue and flush out," he said to Hotaka, the man nodding as the reunited squad caught a quick pace towards the stairs and the light. This was not good – if they were all in one place, they were tactically only able to attack from one position. The snipers were too busy guarding the exits – it was presumed that the group would head out towards Shinjuku Park, or, at least, that's what their orders were. Flushing them out seemed to only be helping them in that respect, although it also kept them away from civilians for neutralisation. But, if they took another train, god knows where they could end up. Bastard mentally prepared himself for taking out the overhead power line. _"Only problem is, it'll probably fall on someone and then we'll have an electrocution on our hands."_

Thankfully for that hypothetically unlucky victim, both platforms were bare of any trains, and were relatively sparse of people too. At the far end were the main exits – they were currently on the 'shortcut' exits from the subway at the end of each platform, canopies covering the walk down to the fairly recognisable main building at the far end. The platform wasn't too busy – the 'shortcut' came in most handy for commuters in the peaks who could avoid the throngs of passengers joining the subway at the far end, even if given the amount of passengers using these lines there would probably be a crowd of 'shortcut' users thus making the 'trick' a bit redundant.

Katashi paid a quick glance across the station to ensure there were no other factors needed to be accounted for. They were on the far left of the station, some separated commuter line platforms on the left. One of the so-called 'Romance car' express trains up to the springs at Hakone-Yumoto waited in one, something he remembered taking his wife on once back when they were engaged. Several dozen platforms headed out to the right, trains randomly dotted across the tracks, either stationary or moving. Even at this time of day, the station was far from empty – in short, Shinjuku Station never got a break.

He looked back to his targets, the albeit-sparse covering of people on their platform, combined with the distance they were keeping, seeming to keep his squad unnoticed for now even with the occasional glance back by the paranoid blonde. _"Paranoid but wise I'd say."_

Assessing the targets, he pondered how they would react to confrontation. Eiichi was pretty well known – he'd probably put up at least some kind of a fight, probably more verbal than physical. The blonde seemed to have a habit for fighting by the blood on his face, and short of the Digimon would probably be the most aggressive by that count. The Digimon was an unknown – Katashi had never faced one before, even if he had been involved partially in the D-Reaper affair. The military had quickly decided in that other, more technological tactics were required, and so he'd found himself rather bored during that confrontation as the geeks were left to do the work. Still, he was definitely glad they had dealt with it in the end, even if it seemed there had still been no end to the Digimon-related issues since then.

The younger two women were equally unknown but Katashi, as sexist as his wife would probably say the attitude was, knew they were unlikely to put up too much of a fight, particularly not physically (even if Nob would probably disagree – when he was intoxicated, women had a habit of putting up a good fight to his 'romantic' pick-up lines, usually involving a slap to the face and the call of "jerk"). The Tamer behind them, meanwhile, looked like he was at the end of his teens if not into his twenties, and was of unknown ability. He looked a bit short and scrawny but in combination with the Digimon he presented the most threat, so he wasn't one to be risked. Finally, the eldest woman was probably the least threat, although if she was the Tamer's mother the location of the father was still unknown. Katashi regretted not looking at the files in any more detail.

All-told, everything seemed to be going reasonably well so far in this task, apart from the larger group they now face.

It was, unfortunately, complicated when the Digimon stumbled forward, the coat flying straight off and revealing a large, reddish creature with a bug-like appearance.

Katashi hissed for his squad to stop, as rather predictably the Tamer and his companions started looking all around them to see if anyone had noticed as the apologetic bug was helped back to his feet. They began to put the coat on him again, before something else took their attention more.

"Shit," hissed the blonde, looking straight at the military squad as a similar sentiment rushed into Bastard's mind. In this job, the situation could truly flip just like that – sure enough, the group, the coat abandoned and the bug now flying, began to run as quickly as they could.

Katashi pressed the button for his microphone again. "Target has sighted us, over."

"**Intercept and neutralise, over."**

"Copy, out." Katashi turned to his colleagues, Trigger already on his way before he could even tell them to move. "Intercept and neutralise, now move it!"

The group began to run, the sight surely a worrying one to any civilians: eight balaclava-wearing soldiers pursuing a group of people and a Digimon along one of the surface platforms of the busiest station in the world, guns clearly visible.

"Do we open fire?" Trigger asked, sounding eager to the point of sadism. Bastard quickly silenced that idea with a sharp shake of the head – he didn't want any deaths unless they proved to be hostile, or if their superiors ordered for them. He wanted a promotion, not a scandal.

Thankfully, the years of military training and exercise paid off – their group of eight similarly-fit blokes were rapidly closing on their quickly-fearful targets, a ring of safeties clicking off sounding, starting inevitably with Trigger's one.

"Yeah, that's right, screw tactics then," Nob complained, the sudden move from a game of chess to a game of fifty-two card pickup no doubt annoying him no end.

Unfortunately, it seemed like their targets were trying to put some strategy back into their game, as the Tamer and his Digimon both stopped and turned to face the squad of soldiers rapidly bearing down on them. The Tamer's mother stopped too, making worried noises towards him as he said something to her before drawing a card and a device out.

Katashi grated his teeth. This couldn't be good.

And, as the boy swiped the card and made a call of "DIGI-MODIFY, Matrix Digivolution Activate", it became patently clear that it wasn't.

"**Tentomon, Matrix Digivolve to…"**

The vicinity of the Digimon filled with light all of a sudden, making even Trigger pause in surprise as the eight reassessed the situation, all but Baka looking to Bastard for advice. He glanced to his comrades, but wasn't sure what to say, as the wireframe form of the bug Digimon grew massively, crushing through the canopy above as Izzy sheltered his presumed mother from the falling concrete by pushing her to the ground. With a sharp bang and a following cackle, there was a further flash of blue light, the overhead power cables snapped by the growing form and collapsing down. The sounds of trains moving in the station stopped, and Katashi could tell that all eyes were upon them, the targets, and a rather large, horned and shelled brown insect Digimon ahead.

"…**MegaKabuterimon!"**

Whilst some badly-timed voice at the back of his mind noted that he was impressed by the sudden metamorphosis, logic and haste beaten into him from his first day of being a soldier made him raise his gun, clicking it to its new mode and praying to whatever God was up there that the geeks knew what they were doing when they'd almost doubled its weight.

"Open fire!" he ordered, pulling down on the trigger and predicting deafness in old age as from all around him there was the loud rattling of guns, bullets crashing into the Digimon. Bursts of blue electricity radiated over him from where the bullets embedded in his flesh, the Digimon screaming in horror and beginning to tumble backwards as his Tamer stared on in fear. _"Christ, the bullets actually work!"_

Of course, he couldn't be sure if it was the bullets themselves or just the sheer number of them that were making this into short work. He'd heard reports that these guns were pretty much useless because they were bulky, only able to neutralise very low-level Digimon and were the product of government fear rather than military logic. This all came as a pleasant surprise, although the screams of the Digimon made him think that perhaps it was rather less pleasant.

"Die bastards!" Trigger spat. He was far too into this – Bastard knew that this guy would need bringing into line someday, the sooner the better. But how you'd scare someone like that shitless was another question entirely.

With a tremulous crash, MegaKabuterimon thumped down onto the platform, the bullets lightening up from some but on the whole remaining steady. They were only hitting the Digimon, nonetheless – the humans had rapidly ducked behind, using their ally as a makeshift sandbag whilst his Tamer called to him.

For a moment, seeing the look in his eyes, Katashi felt some sympathy for the boy, particularly when the Digimon began warping before shrinking back to his smaller form from before. The Sergeant Major waved his hand.

"Cease fire."

What were these people, allying with creatures like this? The Tamer looked so worried, bullets formerly embedded in the Digimon now clinking down all around them, cackles of blue EMP still radiating across him. Koushiro picked up his partner, holding him in his arms as tears seemed to appear on his face.

For a moment, Katashi wasn't entirely sure of the orders he'd been given. Something seemed wrong. Did these people really work to kill the Prime Minister?

"STAR SHOWER!"

The man was caught by surprise as concrete and dust was thrown everywhere by a number of explosions, bits of light smashing into the platform and the canopy and blowing up along its full length. A golden shape flew past, but the dust cloud quickly spread in its wake, flooding their vision too much to be able to see their threat. Katashi appreciated the balaclava – at least he didn't have to cover his eyes. "Damn it!" Trigger spat. "Fire?"

Bastard looked back into the dust, not sure what to do as it swirled around, taking a while to settle and as it did so slowly revealing more of the platform. A number of hairline cracks ran through the canopy above, right over their heads.

Katashi took a glance into the dust cloud, now mostly cleared and making a winged horse, inevitably a Digimon, visible through it. On its back, helping the various humans and the other unconscious Digimon onto its already crowded form, were the blonde and redhead who had been their targets, joined by another younger blonde, a Tamer by the looks of it, and an older brown-haired man – perhaps the Tamer's father?

They were escaping. It was time to make their move, to stop them doing so. But…

Katashi looked up at the cracks over their heads, the concrete making uneasy noises. From that day on, he would never be too sure.

Did he do it to protect his Squad from the risks of being crushed?

To protect himself from the same threat?

Or maybe, just maybe, he felt some sympathy for the Tamer and his badly hurt Digimon.

For whatever reason, he made a sharp gesture back along the platform, away from the Tamers and back towards whence they came.

"Danger, clear the area, NOW!"

His shout made it clear he was not to be reasoned with – even getting through to Trigger who looked anxiously towards their rapidly escaping targets. They turned, rushing back and some clearing away from the platform onto the tracks as with a final crash the canopy gave way, smashing down where they had stood only a few moments ago and its debris scattering across the platform and the tracks. Whilst the rest of his squad looked on at the catastrophe that had just occurred and thanked him for his quick judgement, Sergeant Major Katashi Takuma could notice only one thing:

The winged horse, packed with shadows on its back, rapidly flying out of sight.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Heh, an unorthodox perspective this time, but one that makes things a lot more interesting and shows an otherwise completely unknown point of view. Apologies if it was a bit confusing in places with all the military lingo, I've read far too many thrillers clearly. By the way, in case it wasn't clear, Yankee, Romeo, Tango, Echo were Yamaki, Riley, Tally and Eiichi respectively. This was originally going to be Tally's chapter but I realised it'd be fairly bland, and it's far more interesting (and active) this way round. Oh, and as for Yamaki, all will be revealed about how exactly he survived.

Oh, and the 'Lefty' nickname is based on the British pronunciation of Lieutenant as 'Left-tenant', not 'Lew-tenant'.

Next time, it'll be the turn of Ryder. Expect a lot more questions and a few little answers from that one, hehe.

Until next time…

B.C.


	16. Phase One: Ryder Stevens I

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

For anyone still asking about how MegaKabuterimon was taken down by bullets, take a look at the anonymous review reply section on my profile for my detailed response. And now, on with what is likely to be a fairly long and interesting chapter, particularly considering what I have planned, hehe. This chapter's in three parts, all actually written as a single chapter but which would've been far too much for both beta reading and reading full stop. Oh, and plus, there were some moments that were (dramatically or flow-wise) better done with a chapter break. Anyhow, enjoy!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Ryder Stevens_

**Part One**

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Stevens and Flynn Residence, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**10:55 JST**_

"You know…" he finally spoke up, having spent a while musing over the point in order to work out the best wording. He didn't want to offend her, he didn't want to sound nervous, and he didn't want to sound perverted. Unfortunately, he in turn realised that he'd got the sentence off to a bad start, and that left him little chance for recovery without sounding offensive, nervous _and_ perverted in the process. "Uh, I mean…uh…you look really hot today in that top." _"Ah bugger."_

Bringing this array of verbal diarrhoea was one Ryder Stevens, a brown haired and overly tall chap who, rather unfortunately, had ended up in a universe so similar yet so different to his own. Worse still, he'd ended up in Japan, a culture-shock even if he hadn't transcended the Dimensional boundaries, a place with such intricate rules and learned traditions that anyone new to there couldn't hope to learn even a reasonable proportion of it within their lifetime. As a result, this universe seemed unbelievably distant to the teen.

Still, there were some nice bits to it, such as the brunette he was currently trying (and failing) to compliment. A slight smile curved its way across her mouth as she looked up from a magazine from where she half-sat, half lay at the end of the sofa, bare feet on the edge of the glass coffee table, two drinks glasses resting atop it. Ryder's pose was slightly less relaxed and more bored, the novelty of having a week off school long having subsided and just leaving behind a bizarre tedium, even when he knew he had a whole bunch of homework assignments he could be getting on with, a whole host of things he wanted to do on the computer, or even just a whole mind of reasons why to close the curtains a bit to get rid of the tiny bit of sun in his eye which he had worked himself up into receiving the greatest annoyance from.

How Mari could ever relax right now, he couldn't be sure – part of him just wanted someone to tell him to get on and do something. He held a book loosely in his hand where it sank down off the end of the sofa; his interest in _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time _had long subsided in spite of his decision to get it imported from his home country, or, at least, this world's version of it.

Instead, his attention had been kidnapped by glances towards his girlfriend, following from which was a nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him to compliment her on the top he'd noticed she'd bought lest he look like some child with a crush. God only knew when – he appreciated her style, but he hadn't the faintest clue where she got it from, in the same way that one could appreciate Concorde without having the faintest clue about how she flew.

The black top, complimented by some dark blue jeans, was sleeveless, slim and, although he wouldn't point it out for fear of making the exact mistake he had just made, slightly revealing. Across the top ran a number of white block-printed numbers, seemingly completely random, at least to those not 'in-the-know' about their meaning, and arranged into three rows. That was about the only pattern in there – the remainder of the numbers, and even the distribution between rows, were all odd. _"Not uncharacteristically," _he mused, his eyes nervously glancing down to it again, before his brain, catching up, kicked him for worsening yet another comment-caused situation.

**11-1-2-7-3**

**9-8-10-14-4**

**13-12-5-6**

The top shook and drew him from his thoughts, the girl adding to her smile with a chuckle of amusement about his comment. "Want to repeat that?" she asked, the boy simply glad she was taking it in good nature. He'd come to learn that Mari could be very unpredictable with her reactions to such things. Of course, that usually was because he had a stupid habit of linking them to either her deceased parents or a certain blonde who was evidently very much alive and knocking on the dimensional walls.

"Yeah…I meant to say that you look really…um…attractive in that."

She chucked the magazine down on the table, pouting towards him. "So I've stopped being hot now then?"

"Uh…um…no? Yes? 42?"

"Ha, God you're fun to screw with," she laughed, exhaling a sigh of disbelief and shaking her head as she fell back onto the sofa again in a relaxed posture, sitting up against the armrest and smiling. "Didn't we go over this before? I'm not going to blow your brains out if you think I'm hot or whatever else you think is risqué in that funny little head of yours," she said, the reminder about her ability to doing so prompting the boy to glance down to the bulge of the gun and its strap beneath her jean leg. It still made him oddly nervous for it to be there, as he remembered the rather harrowing events of the previous year.

At least she hadn't been the one who killed him on that day. That would've been far more difficult for them both to come to terms with. Even if it was in response to a risqué comment (at least to him).

"Yeah, but my mind would just explode on its own. And then, of course, I'd just pop back alive again."

This lessened the smile on her face somewhat. "I really wouldn't be so sure of that. I mean, you've survived, what, three times? I know it's impressive and all and you've got this God complex now because you think you can't die…"

"God complex? I'm bloody petrified."

"Well, anyway, I really don't want you testing it. I mean, how do we know it wasn't a lucky fluke? Maybe it'll just stop at the worst possible time? What if the conditions aren't right when it happens again and you end up…?"

"Mari, I won't," he quickly interrupted her worried array of ideas. "Not if I can help it. Honest. Promise."

"Sorry…I'm just…worried," she noted, her smile a distant memory now as she lost her relaxed pose. "I don't want to lose you – and it's been so close so many times."

And there it was, the biggest problem between them, out in the open once again. Ryder frowned, not sure entirely how to reply at first and so instead making lots of "aw" noises as he slipped along the sofa and put his arm round her, pulling her close as his mind tried to search for some words to make things right. His lips were, however, rather impatient. "Hey, think of it this way…being immortal…I mean, _if_ I'm immortal, I can die for you and it doesn't matter." He gave her a grin, one which either looked reassuring or like he wasn't confident on it himself, he really couldn't be sure, and either way it didn't seem to work all too well. _"Damn it Ryder, you know how mentioning the immortality crap always gets her like this – stop sticking your foot in it!"_

She sat up so that only his hand remained on her shoulders, and looked straight at him with a serious expression."You really think it doesn't matter? Ryder, I've seen you with seven bullets in you and with blood and…" she stopped talking, unable to continue as he gently stroked her side to comfort her. "…still makes me feel sick to even think of thinking about it…"

"Hey, how do you think I feel?" he replied, placing a hand to his chest and trying to put his case across "I was the one who got hit, and I…well…I…well…I…to be honest, I don't really have any scars or anything…at all…really."

"So you don't really know where the bullets went in, huh?"

"I'd rather not know."

"Hmm…that's really…odd…to think about," she noted, looking rather more curious and pondering than concerned now. Ryder pondered whether he had really been successful, or had just temporarily distracted her. Still, it was worth going for the whole nine yards.

"Yeah, because crap like that would give me nightmares, that sort of stuff always does," he said with a deep, saddened frown on his face as he recollected upon memories of another universe, another time and another space entirely. "Never liked horror films as a kid; I couldn't sleep a wink for weeks after even glimpsing a gory scene." _"Wow, that doesn't make me seem like the girl in our relationship at all." _"My parents must've been so afraid of me watching anything."

"Aw, diddums," she said condescendingly, messing up his hair more than it already was as she patted him on the head. It was a rather cruel way for her to come out of her concern, he had to note, but still, if anything cheered her up and took her mind off losing him, it'd have to do.

"Oh thanks." He grimaced, in turn placing his hands on her fringe. There was nothing stopping him distracting her further and still getting some amusement and comic revenge out of it for himself. "Can I mess up _your _hair now?"

She shrugged, ruining his plans in an instant. "Meh, it's screwed up enough already. I couldn't be bothered with it that much for a lazy morning like this – go nuts!" She shook a bit of her long hair to show its somewhat imperfect form. It wasn't really a mess even if she seemed to think so, it just didn't look as 'normal' as normal.

"_Perfectionist." _He sighed, rolling his eyes as he realised she'd simply flipped the situation, and avoided having her hair messed up further too. _"Damn reverse psychology." _"Fine, spoil my fun why don't you?"

"Of course. Now, what do you actually feel like doing today?" she asked, tilting her head and pointing to the table followed by the window. "Lazy day like now, stuck inside breathing stuffy air, eating and basically doing the same things we've done a thousand times, or shall we go out and see the world for all its splendour?"

"Hmm…tough one…well, it does look like a nice day, but there is food here that doesn't cost a small fortune…what if we just open a window and stick on a travel channel?"

She shrugged. "Fair enough."

Stifling a chuckle at how contented they both seemed to be with such predictability, Ryder glanced across the apartment, pondering if there was actually anything worth doing in the place. Away from where the pair were cuddling on the sofa (or at least, with arms around each other's backs), the room was otherwise rather bland and Spartan. In terms of personal points, there was a London Eye model on a kitchen shelf, a few photographs around a pair of cracked Goggles on top of cabinet, and a bullet hole in the frame around the large glass balcony doors. Much of which made the apartment personal was also rather negative, something which rather bugged the boy even if he knew that in the age of computers their laptop held most of their truly creative spark.

"_What do I normally end up doing here anyway? Just on the computer again? Doing homework? Thinking about tomorrow at school? Seems like everything revolves around that place so much that I never get anything else done. Great, dragged a universe away, and several thousand miles to boot, and my social life is still on hiatus. I'm seventeen, aren't I meant to go get drunk, dance all night and wake up dizzy and regretting every second of it? Then again, I've never even touched a drop of drink in my life – stinks like crap; god knows why people like it."_

Did every day have to be this boring? Maybe he'd just been spoiled by his various encounters with Digimon? Then again, lately, apart from the now-trivial bioemergences, every encounter with anything worth fighting as a team ended in tragedy and pain. Taiki, Chiyo – the Cult of Victory had been such a relief in comparison. Maybe it was better off quiet. Well, at least, it would be if they switched the telly on and opened up the balcony doors to the city outside.

"Ugh, I can't even be bothered to do that. Since when did we become so lethargic?"

"Hey, you have, I haven't," she replied, sitting up and pulling out of their embrace. She pulled on the bottom of her top, stretching it out to show it to him as the numbers became distorted across it. "Like you said, I got this 'hot' top the other day in some store."

**11-1-2-7-3**

**9-8-10-14-4**

**13-12-5-6**

"Yeah…you know I never knew you'd watched that show."

"Huh? What show?" she replied, looking genuinely confused and prompting Ryder to raise an eyebrow. Didn't she know before she bought the top? Wasn't that sort of why you bought a top with a theme like that?

"You don't know?"

"Well duh, that's why I'm asking."

"The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya."

"The Melon of what?"

"It's this show about a girl who…you know what, never mind…" he replied, looking over the top again and the collection of seemingly random numbers on it. "I thought you got it because you'd seen it."

"What? Why, what have the numbers got to do with it?"

"Well, they sort of broadcast it in a different order to chronologically, and the numbers are that order."

She looked a tad peeved, widening an eye and raising her eyebrows. "Wow, that's not oblique at all. Just how geeky are you?"

He didn't bother answering her question, his mind instead coming up with lines of enquiry left, right and centre. "Where'd you get it then? Didn't it have a tag or something saying what it was about?"

"Just a normal fashion store, it was amongst all the other tops." She was looking increasingly bewildered by his continued probing questions into a subject she clearly thought wasn't important.

"Oh…seems like the kind of thing you'd get in Akihabara or somewhere like that."

"Ryder, seriously – that place is good for gadgets but…come on, do you really think I'd ever step a foot into that place looking for fashion? I mean, I'm sorry, I'm sure there is an odd, geeky coolness to the whole cosplaying thing they're so into here, but I wouldn't go for it in a million years."

"_Damn, that's the Mari as Haruhi thing out the window." _"That's really weird…"

"What? None of our friends do…"

"No, I don't mean you not cosplaying," he replied, his tone suddenly taking on a highly serious edge. "What was a normal fashion store doing with a top like that, without it even having a label?"

"I don't know," she said, looking thoroughly annoyed by the endless questioning, a stressed tone to her voice. "Why does it even matter? It's probably a coincidence."

"Yeah, of a gazillion to one," he replied. There was something very odd here, very strange, very unnerving, and it left Ryder feeling very…

"Oh god, you've got that look in your eyes again like you think someone's messing with you."

Slightly irritated that he had become so easy to read but glad that he at least didn't have to suggest such a concept to her, Ryder watched as Mari's peeved expression rapidly dampened to a simple saddened frown as the implications slowly dawned on her.

"Ryder, it's not…I mean, it's probably not. I mean, if she was, then why? And why does it even matter?" she rambled, not sticking long enough on any one point for him to reply. "She hasn't appeared in ages."

"Yeah, exactly, which I don't like." Ryder knew that Ivy had seen the show, hell, he'd introduced her to it, perhaps a mistake because his interest in anime had rather 'weirded' her out quite promptly, but still, she definitely knew of it.

"Excuse me?" she said, Ryder quickly realising he'd said exactly the wrong thing to definitely the wrong person.

"I mean, 'cause it freaks me out. She's never normally this quiet, I saw her all the time a while back, we both did."

"Yeah, but now you just think every random blonde is her," Mari said, Ryder's mind harkening back to the incident when they had been lost on the way to the hospital. He wasn't sure why, but ever since she had stopped appearing after her little New Years stunt, he had been increasingly searching for her, and Mari had been increasingly annoyed with him for it.

A conflict between two girls a universe apart who had never even met. Well, at least not for a sizeable length of time.

But if it was her, why was she doing this of all things? What did making it so that Mari got a top imply? That she was in control? That she could do anything? Was she trying to remind Ryder of their time before, lest he forget? Everything about this was all so confusing and illogical, so much so that he rather wished he hadn't brought it up, or at least had the ability of Mari's to just dismiss it as being a coincidence. Then again, given the look in her eyes when she had suggested as such, and her stressed tone of voice, he highly doubted she believed her own claim. Regardless, she put a hand on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes, attempting (and failing) to force the consistent, strong, confident tone she usually seemed to carry.

"Listen, Ryder…I know that you'll think so much into this, and think it means something and all, but it's just…stuff, you know?" Evidently, she wasn't too sure how to dismiss it even now. "And so what if she did do it? So she's…jealous? That's life."

"Yeah, but…" He quickly averted his eyes from her gaze, despite knowing she looked just as worried as he did about their conversation. This was so hard, it was like playing a game of 'the floor is boiling lava' but with no platforms to stand on – everything he said was a problem somehow. _"Just like every one of these conversations we seem to always end up having." _"She's still…my friend, and…ugh…"

"Ugh – you're definitely spot-on there," Mari sighed, seeming only a tad more relaxed as she closed her eyes, falling back into the sofa with a groan and letting her hand fall from his shoulder. He frowned, looking over her, her eyes still closed as she seemed to contemplate.

"_Why do I have to keep feeling guiltier and guiltier with all this?"_

He gave a slight chuckle, somehow amused by everything, as annoying as it was. This all felt like a game, like an experiment perhaps. How much could you aggravate someone before they…well, perhaps the end result was the intention of it all? Of course, by taking away his ability to die, they seemed to be testing other things. But then again, so much stuff didn't ring true with the whole 'game' theory, just one of so many theories he had devised upon arriving here. Some were easy to dismiss, some had taken further evidence, and all would just as easily be brought back if only the right things happened. What was clear was that none of them seemed yet to be able to both explain everything _and_ have enough proof for them.

Then again, the characters in a video game could rarely see the mechanics of how the game worked. At least, unless, the same had a major glitch. Maybe that was what he was: perhaps their life was just one huge life simulation and he was a mistake in the programming? Maybe he was a virus, the product of one simulation cross-infecting another? Or maybe he was a test to see if the simulation could escape itself? Maybe he was the only one with true sentience in this world, maybe everyone around him, even the girl with her eyes closed by him, were just like droids, even if convincing ones. When she closed her eyes, he continued to exist…but…was the other way round true too? Maybe the anthropologic principle was true, or maybe it was Copenhagen's quantum physics and he was the only observer? Was that why he couldn't die? He had no true proof to the contrary about anything but himself – maybe everything was just nothing, maybe it was all just in his head, maybe…

Too many maybes. Nothing was ever clear any more.

He looked over her eyelids, once fastened shut but now left loose and unwrinkled over her face, a softened moment of thought rather than a stressed moment of aggravation like before. Her mouth was still a thin line, her skin its usual pasty white and her hair an unusually messy light brown. Because for all his thoughts, all his confusion, all his quantum theories and game theories and observers and anthropologic principles and even television series concepts, there was one thing that got to him. Her.

If she wasn't real, why did she seem it? If she was just the product of what he wanted, then why did he want this? If she wasn't, what had brought them together? And the same for the whole world, what was the cause behind every event? Were their lives truly random? Controlled by some godly force? Was Goddramon like the gods of all the religions? He and she didn't seem it nowadays. And what of free will? Did they have it? Really? Even with Rei's travels seemingly contradicting it. And had she changed anything? And…

It was at this moment that his lips and the practical side of his brain must have become enough detached from his philosophical thought to act independently, because they opened, his eyes staring on as he uttered one thing that he immediately thought was a mistake. "You look kinda cute when you're mad."

Whilst his mind struggled to pull itself back down to Earth, his brain simply left a nervous chuckle as its answering machine message.

The girl's eyes snapped open, brown pupils scrutinising him and his comment where he sat up, looking at where she was still rather embedded in the sofa back, clearly enjoying the relaxation it provided.

"That explains why you go to so much effort to make me so."

"Oops, ah, sorry…"

She rolled her eyes in disbelief, a strange cross between a grin and a frown on her face, and a huff to her voice. "Oh, stop apologising and just kiss me already."

"Huh?" He felt rather blindsided by her remark.

"Ryder, words don't solve every problem, you know?"

He nodded, she had a point, and a rather insightful one too. "True, true, I'll remember that." Then again, actions seemed to have a habit of simply causing more problems with him, and…

It was at that moment when, matching her earlier words, she simply huffed and pressed forward, pushing her lips on his and her arms round his back. He was oddly thankful, it both meant that his annoying thoughts and mind stopped trying to reason with everything in existence, and meant that he didn't have to try to remember the cue himself to do anything. Well, apart from enjoy it and join in, which he did, putting his hands on her hips.

Still, there was a part of his mind that said, if she really didn't exist when he closed his eyes, right now he couldn't possibly be kissing her, or feeling the curve of her hips under his hand and her top, or the gentle touch of hers on his back. It was the same part of his mind which, thankfully for his own sanity, he forced himself to quickly shut up, or, at least, put into a 'to do' list of things to contemplate.

A knock at the door unfortunately interrupted his moment of unthinking bliss with the immediate question of _"what was that?"_

Ryder felt Mari frown on his lips, and he did likewise, before she pulled back out of it, any chance for looking longingly into each other's eyes like in so many a romantic novel lost to a shout from her of "just a minute" towards the door, the tone forced. She looked back to him where they now both sat up on the edge of the couch, her hands still on his sides and hers on his, both evidently contemplating the idea of simply not answering. At least, Ryder assumed she was thinking the same as him. They were a couple – that was how it was meant to work, right? In sync and all. "Looks like we'll have to continue this later then."

"_So much for being in sync." _He nodded reluctantly, mentally sighing. She seemed to be able to guess every single one of his thoughts – was he really that bad at the reverse? Then again, this particular thought he hoped to share was rather cruel and it was probably a good indication of her personality (and a bad reflection on his) that she hadn't had it.

After giving him a further peck on the lips, she stood up, wandering towards the door as Ryder began to ponder the question of who it was. Mari looked back to him, a questioning look in her eyes.

"Beats me," he said back, shrugging. Who did she think it'd be? Then again, knowing how his life ran, he knew it was probably better not to ask that question. "Just our luck, eh?" he said, trying to lighten the mood despite the concern now coming from the girl.

"Yeah," she said loosely, turning back to face the door and passing the side of the kitchen towards it. He, meanwhile, gradually pushed his way to his feet, not feeling inclined to move too far from the couch until he knew who it was. He watched her back, her posture tense and unnerved as her cheeks moved up, pushing a smile onto her face as she opened the door.

Her shoulders pushed up further very quickly afterwards, her cheeks dropping again and her forehead lifting up. He picked up his pace towards her, as her head moved up and down, scanning the newcomer (or, perhaps, no-one, as the case could very well have been) and its form very carefully. Her head paused on the way down at two points – maybe there was someone there to look at?

It became clear that he was right when a female voice replied in an irritated tone from outside. "Excuse me?" The accent was Japanese, no doubt about that, and it was an unfamiliar voice too. Her voice was softened but wasn't the sort of light voice which someone like Jeri had, whilst not going to the opposite extremes of someone like Rika or Yolei – maybe more like Kari? Or perhaps Sora?

"You can't be…" he could hear Mari begin, his mind beginning to race as it tried to work out what on earth she could be so surprised at. The voice wasn't too familiar, so how did they know this person?

"I can't be what?"

Ryder, at this point, finally reached the doorway, deciding to make his appearance a normal one and ensure that the first impression he gave to this person wasn't like, well, like Mari looked at that moment. He looped his arm around her shoulder with a smile, and looked out to the newcomer.

The smile vanished.

Blonde hair? Blue eyes? "Ivy?" he stuttered, the girl looking unbelievably confused by all this.

"What?"

Ryder felt Mari's eyes gazing over at him, wanting an answer to whether this was Ivy or not. He felt like his eyes had glazed over, seeing the blonde hair and blue eyes and refusing to look beyond to confirm or reject his guess. Despite her having the hair and the eyes, he knew this wasn't right, even if his mind somehow didn't want it to be so. He wanted her to have made her way here, even if just so that they could finally all talk, all three of them, and resolve this mess. Whether there was a way to resolve it without hurting anyone was another question entirely.

He finally took that hope-breaking move of glancing over the girl's form. The hair, for starters, was slightly different – strands running down the front of her to just below her shoulder whilst the rest fell down the back, whilst more of Ivy's fell down her back in addition to shorter bits down the sides and a bit of a tuft of hair on the top of her head. The colour was slightly different too, getting rid of the idea that it was a haircut, whilst her figure was slim but not absurdly so. He looked up again, knowing the girl was probably sick and tired of being scrutinised by now, and also knowing that given where he was (for comparison's sake) giving most attention to was probably going to earn him a slap if he wasn't careful (although she did seem to be busy glancing over him too), and noted her bust was smaller than Ivy's, finally rejecting both his and Mari's ideas with a shake of his head. "Nothing."

The brunette glanced to him, raising an eyebrow. What did she think; that he didn't know who Ivy was? Or was she just unnerved? It did seem that both were unnerved by nothing, and so was their as-yet unnamed visitor, who now looked completely baffled by them.

Mari forced a warm smile, taking up the tricky gauntlet of being the first to talk after all that. "Sorry, I thought we knew you." She extended a hand in greeting. "Mari Flynn. And you are?"

The new girl paused, glancing down at the hand and looking even more bewildered at the sudden display of kindness. _"She must think we're completely insane. I don't blame her either; I can't imagine how confusing that must have just been for her. But it's not like we can explain either." _Mari's smiles also looked rather too out-of-place given their prior actions – this girl couldn't possibly have a clue what was going on any more.

Finally, nonetheless, her hand met that of the brunette, a smile from her lips looking rather forced before they opened and gave a reply, her lips sounding dry and her words nervous. "Natsuki Takara."

It was his turn. "Ryder Stevens," he said, trying to copy the warm smiles of the two girls, particularly of Mari who seemed to have a particular knack with such. And, of course, he rather failed, even if it seemed that none of them would now feel confident enough to raise the newfound elephant in the room in any case. "Pleased to meet you," he said politely, feeling awfully British for a moment before reality hit him. "…but…well…who are you?"

A nervous and guilty look swept across the girl's face. "Oh, right, sorry." She quickly reached into her satchel-bag, pulling forth a small piece of paper, headed by some very familiar words: **Digital Watch**. "I'm here from Digital Watch."

"_Oh wonderful!"_ he thought with a had not picked up the best image of that particular organisation since his arrival here – whilst at first they had appeared to be a well-meaning and noble organisation, their obsession with searching for private and completely-useless facts like Rika's bra size whilst also watching and trying to offer comment on battles they knew nothing about had drove him to see them as little more than a pain in the arse. "Ugh, prying into our lives _again_." However, saying that made him feel guilty – for all he knew, this girl was new, or didn't want to be involved in such things, a thought which ended up in him shaking his head at his own words. "Sorry, I'm not being fair, I know you're not all like that, but…I'd just like some peace at times _without_ being tracked."

He noticed Mari giving him an amused look, and he quickly appreciated the irony of the situation after she made her point. "As if Hypnos would ever let us have that anyway." It was true, of course. Hypnos seemed to pry into a lot of elements in their lives, from bringing a lot of them to the same school, to ensuring they stayed mostly out of the papers, to actually funding the very apartment they now stood in. Its budget had to be huge, and the boy rather hoped it would stay that way – he couldn't even begin to imagine what form such cutbacks would take. Of course, since cutting back Digital defences would be political suicide, such a move was unlikely even if the organisation was an official secret and 'off the records'.

"So…" Mari turned back to the blonde, finally getting down to business, if hesitantly. "What do you want?"

The girl looked rather stumped for a moment, before stuttering through her words. "Well…I was hoping we could maybe…talk?"

"Talk?" Ryder asked, raising an eyebrow. This was certainly an odd request – what did they want to talk about? And why come all this way when in all likelihood they weren't going to get much more out of them than they would have from a chat with their known personas on Digital Watch itself?

The girl looked as nervous about it as he was bewildered – evidently, they were putting a lot of pressure on her simply by being there. Were they really that much of a celebrity in this girl's world? Ryder didn't particularly like the idea, particularly given Digital Watch's history of being a stalker-like organisation. That was definitely the bad kind of celebrity.

"Well, you see," she began, looking rather guilty about her request already before they'd even heard a word of it. "Everyone just finds out stuff about you through other means, and I saw how stupid that was because…well…maybe you guys would just…talk." A frown came to her face as Ryder noticed her nervousness only deepening, to the point where he felt a fair bit of sympathy for her.

"_Wonder if she's normally like this."_

Mari continued to be the most outspoken and friendly of their pair, seeming to even brighten up with her smile as she stepped aside. "Please, come in."

"_Was she serious?" _Ryder wondered, giving his girlfriend an uneasy look whilst their guest uneasily nodded. _"We've only just met this girl – for all we know, she could be a Demon or a shape-shifter or like Arukenimon…god, my imagination is getting weirder and weirder every day." _After all, Arukenimon and Mummymon were clearly not human, well, at least, not enough to play it convincingly if they hadn't spent all their time in the shadows and with easily-trusting children. _"Come to think of it, are those kids still out there? Do they still have those Dark Spores in them? Or did the Cataclysm lay waste to all that? I really don't know how I'd find out."_

Whilst Ryder's mind ran amok, Natsuki mumbled "thanks" and passed by the pair of them into the apartment, her eyes gazing out at it like a caveman in Akihabara. Was it really that shocking? Or was it just simply strange for her to be here? Or maybe she was already figuring out what new private personal information to add to Mari and his profiles?

"_Great…it'd be Troy all over again." _He closed the door to the apartment with a clunk, not taking his eyes off the newcomer for fear he'd miss something interesting.

And, sure enough, once she had finished looking around, a bizarre and unexpected shake of her head caught Ryder off guard. What had she dismissed? Or was something the matter? Was something not here that she had expected? There was something so…odd about this girl that he couldn't put his finger on yet. Then again, he also knew he probably could've been just assuming she was still Ivy.

"_But even if she isn't…" _he mused, gazing over her once again. _"She could still have something to do with her." _After all, Ivy had tried to communicate with him by odd methods before – maybe this was just her 'method of the week'? Someone able to pass under Mari's radar (well, almost) but still pass a message onto him, or whatever. Would it be an actual message? She didn't look like she knew him at all. Was she acting? He knew he would have to keep a close eye on her. Maybe it was a good idea that they had let her in, at least this way he could either further his suspicions or dismiss them entirely.

The girl planted her hands on her hips, her pose slightly awkward as she looked out a bit more, still surveying the apartment for what it was. In all honesty, to Ryder, she simply looked lost, and her voice sounded rather dry as she posted her judgement. "This is a really nice place."

Mari looked pleased with the girl's assessment, even if it seemed that her opinion was irrelevant. "Thanks," she said, Natsuki turning back to face her and a silence falling for a moment, one that seemed not to faze Mari and her beaming smile. Ryder smiled too when he saw it. Whether her one was real or not, it was definitely convincing, and definitively attractive. It was rather odd how quickly she had been able to change her mood from their romantic encounter before, to her initial nervousness about who their guest was, to now when she simply looked happy to have new company who liked her apartment and the way she had arranged it. Still…Ryder couldn't help but feel they'd been interrupted in a nice moment, even if it was unintentional on Natsuki's part. "So, Natsuki, what did you want to talk about?"

"You can just call me Nat if you want," the girl replied, a (probably forced) smile manifesting on her face, one much needed and which was a great improvement to her appearance to Ryder. Then again, no-one looked good when they were down or worried.

"_Except when Mari's mad, of course," _he recalled their earlier encounter.

"Ah, okay, Nat then."

Ryder decided that he had to talk soon lest he seem like a silent-type. Still, in lieu of anything worth talking about, he feel for a bad joke, if it could even be called that. "I can't really shorten my name to anything." He gave a brief smile, brief because the moment he started it he felt it was too stupid to keep going. "Without it sounding stupid, at least."

"I shorten my name." Mari said, clearly jumping on the bandwagon of name shortenings. Ryder couldn't help but roll his eyes at this.

"By one letter, Mari_e_," he said, stressing the 'e' as much as he could to make his point. "You're as bad as Rei," he added, looking into her eyes as she shot him a playful glare, sticking her tongue out. _"Heh, it appears I've hit a sore spot here – I can't even see why she does shorten her name. I'll have to remember to probe more into it later."_

"And just like her, it doesn't sound any different either," spoke a voice from the blue, one which Ryder barely reacted to, instead looking in the direction of his girlfriend with a casual expression. Right on cue, with a flurry of tail and fur, DarkRenamon touched down next to Mari, prepared for another day of life as it was nowadays – even if that meant she was normally in the shadows, watching proceedings until she felt like intervening. This, of course, appeared to be one of those cases. There was no need to fill her in on it all – she would already have seen and heard everything. Short of reading their minds (something Mari and her still seemed to have little success with), she would know everything which was going on.

DarkRenamon barely looked back as Natsuki took in her form, eyes widened greatly as she froze up in surprise.

Mari's tone was apprehensive, as was a brief look on her face. "Oh, Nat, this is DarkRenamon, my partner," she explained cautiously. Was she expecting the girl to scream and run? Ryder wasn't too sure – it seemed unlikely she would, given how she seemed to be really interested and transfixed by the creatures, but then again, you never knew.

Thankfully, there was to be no quick evacuations of the vicinity for this very moment, Natsuki simply waving unsurely at the Digimon. "Hi." DarkRenamon gave a respectful bow of response, as Natsuki's gazing up and down continued. "Wow…sorry, I've just…never seen a real Digimon this close before. You're…amazing."

Ryder gave a half-smile as Natsuki gazed at the Digimon's face, looking for some form of obvious reaction to her comment. _"Good luck Nat – I still find it difficult myself."_

All she got in the end was a nod, and an utterance of "thank you".

As good as Mari getting a Digimon partner had been for her, and as much as their relationship seemed to make DarkRenamon be more casual in day-to-day life, she still seemed to rely on that age-old fallback of Renamon with people she didn't know – polite, reserved, respectful silence. It contrasted so dramatically with him and Donmon, and…

It was at that moment that something occurred to the boy, and an eyebrow rose on his face. "Uh…" he mumbled, casting a nervous glance about the room as he realised that something, or rather, someone, was conspicuously absent from all this. Was he sleeping? Was he even in the apartment? Whatever it was, the completely absence of one MiniDonmon left him rather disconcerted. "One second," he excused himself, echoing the gesture by raising a finger. He noticed Natsuki gazing at him with a bewildered look as he turned and began to walk away.

He took strides towards the kitchen, chewing his lip. Was he trapped somewhere? He was only a little guy, he could've been that unlucky. He began opening the various cupboards and drawers, the latter probably a long-shot but still maybe having the space for him. Then again, if he was anywhere there, wouldn't he have the power to push himself out?

Ryder heard Mari and Natsuki resume talking as his eyes befell the fridge freezer appliance. Maybe…

"_Then again, they're full of food and packed with shelves too – I really doubt he'd be stupid enough to go in there, or even could get in at all," _he dismissed them, shrugging and turning, looking towards his room. _"Maybe he's gone back to sleep again…I have seen him this morning though, I swear," _he pondered, wandering towards the door and pushing through, all the while aware of Natsuki's persistent gaze as he pulled the door to.

His room was fairly light and airy, unlike the mornings when the curtains were closed and it took a lot to get him out of bed. He briefly pondered, not for the first time, how Mari ever woke up, given her room was windowless. He wasn't really that sure – her room wasn't off-limits to him at all, and she'd never really complained but…he never really had any reason to go in there. Still, the girl had her own ways, and if she was happy, he was happy too.

Still, as he looked about the slightly messy room, a few books and papers on the nightstand, several school books bulging out of a set of shelves, and a wardrobe with a bit of a shirt caught in the door, along with a quilt left lying in the exact same place it had been that morning when he'd gotten out of it without any effort made to remake it, he began to ponder where the Digimon could possibly have ended up. His mind was slowly tending more towards the 'trapped' idea. Oddly, he knew there was an easy solution to this all, his D-Vice. Only problem was. It wasn't so easy after all – he had found the compass function on his to be irritatingly unreliable (more so than it seemed to be for his luckier friends), particularly with partners, and he somehow doubted that at such close range it would be any good, particularly with DarkRenamon there too. Still, if all else failed, he knew it would be worth a shot. _"Plus, I'm strangely warming to the idea of searching for him, if only because it'll be easier to rub it in his face if I don't 'cheat'."_

He kneeled down with his knees clicking slightly as he did so, peering underneath the bed and frowning as he saw no sight of anything other than fallen books, papers, a fair few crumbs on the floor and the least flattened bit of the carpet. He pondered, not for the first time, about having a spring clean, but decided that right now it simply wasn't worth bothering with. Of course, he knew himself well enough to know that it would probably _never_ be worth bothering with, well, at least until the dust rose up and attacked him like some massive monster.

"Ugh," he muttered as he stood up again, back to his normal fairly tall height but finding absolutely no benefit to it. "MiniDonmon?" he called, hoping that perhaps the Digimon would simply chirp a reply. With no result, he wandered to the size of his bed, lifting his quilt but frowning again as it slowly drifted down with no sight of the red bat-like Digimon. He sighed, turning and looking to the chest of drawers, hoping that the Digimon he had based on a red DemiVeemon with wings would be inside. _"He's probably ended up in the loft sleeping upside down…then again, I really can't see him doing that, he'd be too afraid of the real dark, and maybe even real bats."_

No such luck there, as he turned back again, looking to the shelving unit standing nearby, lined with books, DVDs, games and CDs, and easy to dismiss since it was all clearly in view. It stood alongside a wardrobe, which he promptly wandered towards, opening up and taking a look inside. This was getting silly already, and he felt he was rather being torn away from the ongoing conversation in the next room. What would they be talking about? His imagination pondered such amazing things like her revealing she was Ivy, or her link, but his pragmatic side knew that such was rather unlikely, particularly since he would've certainly heard Mari's gasp or exclamation of surprise if such were the case.

He sighed, the wardrobe heralding no results as he gazed around at his bedroom again, wondering if he'd missed anywhere or anything. This seemed…odd. But, from what he could see, there was nowhere left to hide, and certainly nowhere left to be trapped. With a frown, he wandered back to the door, pushing it open and looking out upon the pair of girls, still in their conversation.

"…not intentional," Mari finished, both girls gazing towards him once she'd finished and making him feel rather in-the-limelight for a few moments.

"_Hmm…where could he be? I guess I should check everywhere…she might mind me looking through her stuff though," _he thought, glancing to the door next to his. _"Still, she does tell me all the time that this is our home together, and that we really don't need to keep secrets. As if she couldn't be blunter about wanting to know…" _he thought, placing his hand on the door handle.

"Tell the pervert that if he's in my underwear drawer then I'll get DarkRenamon to eat him."

"I'll let him know," Ryder replied, rolling his eyes at the suggestion. _"I wouldn't be surprised; it's not above him to try something like that. Stupid over-curious moron, he's going to get me in major trouble someday I can tell." _Still, it did seem odd that Mari had not only not objected (or even given a hint about wanting for a request), but still mentioned her drawer, particularly in such company. Was she simply uncaring about putting across a nice front for guests (which seemed unlikely given her earlier smile), or was there something else? _"Or am I just over thinking." _Still, he already was deeply hoping he'd find MiniDonmon before he reached that particular area of her room; else it would be an 'interesting' experience for him for sure.

"That goes for you too Ryder," Mari added in the same, fairly nonchalant yet still authoritative voice, not even paying him a second glance as her attention went back to Natsuki. Ryder let loose an amused chuckle – she had read his mind all too well. That's what came from living with someone 24-7 it seemed. At least for her, he very rarely had such moments and only when it was obliquely obvious for anyone it seemed.

He opened the door and stepped in, pulling it to a close with a creak and flicking the lights on. How could she sleep in a room without windows? She never seemed to object, it was odd – on the day they had moved in he had asked her about it once they realised that only a single bedroom would have windows, and she had told him that she didn't mind. What had surprised him more was that she genuinely didn't mind, she didn't seem to fake it at all as if she was just trying to be polite by giving him the 'better' room, and had turned down any suggestions that they switched. _"I suppose she doesn't spend much time in here anyway," _he thought, gazing out at the fairly modern purple-sheeted wooden bed in the centre of the room, a nightstand either side made in some light timber Ryder couldn't name. One had an alarm clock, the other a lamp – nothing fancy, just an ordinary, white based and cone-topped lamp. In that respect, apart from the sheets, their rooms were similar. _"And it's not like at night I can see much out of my window with the lights on."_

There were differences though – there was a large mirror backing a chest of drawers on the right side, and another full length mirror nearby. Another set of drawers, additional to what had already been in the apartment, had been added on the opposite side of the room. Both chests had the edges of clothing poking out where they'd become trapped in the doors, as did the wardrobe and a small neat pile on the floor. Finally, once again open to easy view, there was a shelving unit, lined with books, DVDs, magazines and other bits and bobs, alongside a wall lined with various photographs of them and their friends over the past year, each held up by blu-tack. Seeing the lack of hiding places, he pondered how MiniDonmon could possibly have fitted in anywhere in the room. _"Then again, I guess I am assuming all the drawers are full. If she's even the slightest bit more sensible than me, she'll have a system." _Mari's parting words rather reassured the idea that, at least in her underwear drawer, there was enough space for the bat to be a pain in the arse. _"I bet when I do find him, he won't even care I've been looking – he's probably not even in the flat."_

Taking a breath in – delicates aside, there was always an uncomfortable feeling to looking around someone else's personal space – he set to work, first, as before, getting down on his knees and looking under the bed. Further piles of magazines and a few books and photo albums lined the edges, whilst there was a similar build-up of dust in the centre and the carpet looked fairly untouched. There was a small chest, not big enough for MiniDonmon of course but which Ryder knew the contents of without even bothering to look: the remaining Angel pendants. Ryder reached to his own around his neck, giving a light smile as he considered how it bound his currently-small group together. It fell to be even smaller once Ryder took into account Henry having done anything yet (and still having Angelhood doubts the last time Ryder checked), Kristy not having a clue about her Angelhood, and Rei being from the future, leaving just him and Mari as the only 'true' Angels, at least for now. It felt rather hollow to be the destined 'leader' of a group currently so pathetically small, even if it did give him and Mari something uniquely in common and close.

He stood up again, first looking at the isolated chest of drawers on the left hand side of the room and wandering towards it. _"Please don't be knickers, please don't be knickers," _he thought as he pulled open the top drawer, breathing a sigh of relief as he merely saw a series of assorted tops, some familiar, some not. It seemed almost like a 'spoiler' to know what she'd roll out in the future, particularly given her outfits seemed to cycle every day and the tops rarely make a reappearance (apart from when Ryder complimented one as being particularly nice). Seeing how packed it was, he both pondered whether she ever threw any older clothes out, and knew that MiniDonmon couldn't possibly be inside, after which he gently closed it up again with a clunk.

The routine of concern repeated for the second drawer down, containing a series of skirts and tights, along with a few pairs of jeans and a folded sweater. Shrugging again, knowing there was no way anything else could fit inside, he closed it back up again, reaching for the final handle and, once again, making the wish. And, it again seemed to be granted – this one was more like an overflow, a combination of the same clothes from the drawer above on one side mixed with some papers on another side, marked out as being from **Hypnos**, **SDCO**, and the far more mundane **Shinjuku Upper High School**. Most looked to be letters or documents, and her passport was tucked down one side, along with a few bank cards and other assorted private documents. _"See, now that's what I should do with my stuff." _Unlike the others, there was perhaps the space for him to be in this one, but the combination of it all being visible and probably not having been opened in a while meant that it was all pretty empty, and it slid back closed far more easily than the packed other two.

As he stood up, he turned, seeing the array of photos and letting a smile fill his face. Whenever he had come in here, this was what had drawn his attention the most each time – she'd picked the best of the bunch, and although it was currently a rather small collection owing to their only short time there, the photos had been placed so close she was obviously expecting a lot more.

"_Hmm…that's odd," _he mused as he gazed over the photos, glancing around the room and noticing the absence of a photograph of a certain pair of people. _"Didn't any photos of her parents survive?"_ he grimaced, a saddened tone in his thoughts as the evidence seemed to agree with him. All she had now was the memory of their faces – no wonder she cherished them so much. Maybe that explained why she held them in the same stead as he held Ivy – both of them rapidly faded from clear memory without a reminder of what they looked like.

He sighed, looking towards the other set of drawers - just as systemised as this one for sure. Beforehand, however, he wandered over, peering into the wardrobe curiously, but being greeted by only Mari's jeans, a few smarter clothes that would be wrecked by folding, and a jacket or two, all on coat hangers. If there was anywhere he could fit with ease, it was here, but, in spite of his (rather optimistic) reaching out into the middle to check if he was stuck behind something he couldn't see, there was still nothing.

"_This is just getting silly." _He glanced up as he wandered towards the other set of drawers, swearing that the mirror behind and the one on the wall had been set up to 'frame' him as he nervously opened the top one. A sigh of relief passed his lips as he found simply an array of cosmetics and toiletries, a hairdryer and a set of straighteners. It had some space, but not much, and without a sound he closed it back up again.

He gazed down, two drawers remaining. Fifty-fifty. He took a gamble, going for the bottom one first in the hope that Mari would have a system with the easiest things in the easiest place, and recalling how the other set of drawers had ended in a relatively empty one too. _"Or maybe it's socks, like top to bottom," _he thought, quickly shutting the lid on the mental image going with that thought as he in turn opened the drawer.

The fact that it only contained handbags, belts, and other various accessories only gave him relief for a moment, for, as he closed it up, he looked up to the final drawer and smiled nervously. This was the most likely place, mainly since, being a Digimon without much care for human ideas of politeness, secrets and taboo, as well as a curiosity about all such things, he would've leapt at any chance to have a look inside, not to mention because he was most often in her room.

"_He's probably suffocated if he is – haven't heard a peep out of anything while I've been in here. Serves him right really."_

Finally, knowing that Mari right now would be telling him to just get on with it and stop being so cautious if she had been there, he pulled the drawer open with a bit more force than in hindsight was needed.

Sure enough, there it all was – bras, knickers and swimwear, all plain to see, all in a variety of colours and all leaving him both bemused and amused, as if she had set him up all along for this and was about to pop out with a camera and capture the look on his face. _"Digital Watch would love this," _he thought, rather surprised that their (as they had thought at first) 'estimates' as to Mari's measurements were actually rather accurate, something which lowered his opinion of them still further, even if there was one of their ranks in the next room trying to argue that they weren't all like that. _"Probably the exception that proves the rule."_

He bit his lip, taking a closer look inside, before deciding that it would've been rather obvious if the bat-like Digimon was inside – the drawer was definitely not deep enough for him to be buried by it all. Breathing a sigh of relief both on his part and that of MiniDonmon's, well, survival in one piece, he put his hand back on the handle.

Something stopped him in his tracks, as he gazed down at the mix of clothing. Something didn't quite fit, something seemed…unusual, peering out from the bottom through the gaps in it all. It looked sort of wooden, but a darker wood than the one which the drawer itself was made out of, and, unlike in the other drawer, it hadn't just been neatly put down the side for easy access, it seemed to be placed pretty near the centre and probably would've been completely hidden were it not for the way he had yanked the drawer open to 'get it over with'.

"_Hmm…what is it though? Looks kind of like a…frame…" _he mused, chewing his lip and mulling the situation over in his head. Everything else was so much more organised, but this was so different.

"_**Tell the pervert that if he's in my underwear drawer then I'll get DarkRenamon to eat him."**_

The words crawled across his mind as he stared down at the wooden object, knowing that if either girl had walked in at that moment their opinion of him might very well as first have fallen dramatically and require a lot of explanation. Why had Mari said that? Was it just because of MiniDonmon?

"_**That goes for you too Ryder."**_

He shook his head of the previous idea. She knew he'd probably end up in this situation. Then again, she hadn't told him not to look at whatever it was, or given any reason why he would be breaking her trust. Something tore at the edge of his mind, imploring him to take a look.

Finally, he sighed deeply, deciding to just get it over with, take a quick look, and then bury it quickly again if it was really something private and never speak of it again. He reached out, his hand twitching upon contact with the clothes, but his mind pressing him past it, reaching down and pulling free the wooden object.

He turned it over, surprised with what he saw and yet immediately having regrets fill his mind as he saw the subjects of the small photo frame.

It was a family holiday evidently, and they were all posing, all with smiles on their faces. Only one was familiar though, and she looked younger than normal, maybe in her early or pre-teens. Nonetheless, she was undoubtedly Mari, which made the pair behind her…

"_Her parents," _he thought sadly, greeted for the first time by the image of a brunette and a black haired man, both with definitely more than a coincidental level of resemblance. Her family, indeed, her entire family – she was an only child, and so were her mother and father, both of whom had already lost their parents when they became parents themselves. This only made their tragedy all the more worse, two-thirds of a family wiped out in one shot, a shot which left painful reminders with burn marks on the sides of the image.

The question was, why was she hiding it here? Why wasn't it on display, so she could remember their faces, so she could never forget her roots? Ryder knew that if he'd had a photo of Ivy and his other friends on him, he would've cherished it extremely highly, but Mari…didn't she want the same?

He gazed over it, flipping it and looking at the frame. It was pretty solid and well-made – evidently, she had paid a lot of care into it. But…it just seemed so…sad, for it just to be left in there like that.

"_Then again…she must have her reasons…I guess…maybe she just doesn't want to see it? Should I ask her? Maybe she'd want to talk about it?" _he mused, chewing his lip again as he gently placed it back in the drawer, pushing it right down inside to where it was before with a frown, feeling that maybe he'd looked at too much.

As he did so, his hand brushed past another object, completely unlike the pile around it, and a surprised look quickly appeared on his face. Was this her hiding place or something?

"_If it is, she knows me too well – I wouldn't look in a place like this normally."_

He grasped the item, pulling it up and finding it was rather different, if still as solid as the frame. It finally broke free of the pile, an eyebrow raised as he saw what it was.

"_A diary?!"_

He glanced to the doorway, hearing their guest chatting with Mari outside, neither knowing at all about the discoveries he was making completely by chance. Gazing back down, he looked over the pale blue hardcover book, **Diary** printed across the top centre in simple gold serif print. His frown failed to leave, as he quickly decided this wasn't his to look at.

"_I already feel guilty enough about finding the frame," _he mused, part of him still yearning to open it and see what she had written about him, about their lives, about her feelings, all the inner thoughts of Mari Flynn. But…his pragmatic side forced him to put it back, pushing it right down, (with some hesitance) pushing the pile back over to cover it, and gently closing the door.

He paused, staring at the wood curiously and speechlessly. Guilt had been expected from his searching in Mari's room – he was nervous enough when she teased him about his defensive nature on such matters, let alone when he was actively rooting around in her underwear. But…this was a different guilt, not a guilt that he'd gone too far with searching but instead a guilt that he'd learnt something about her which left him…unsure of what to think. The diary was fair enough, but what about the photo? If she was trying to avoid memories, shouldn't he have noticed? Was he too focused on his own dramas to consider those of the one his life revolved around? Maybe this was why she tried to be close to him? Maybe this was why she talked so much about his problems, silently asking for help with hers? Had he…let her down?

His footsteps promptly resumed, heading for the door as he decided to quickly part from the frame of mind. He would ask, if he got an opportunity, but right now, he found himself not wanting to think about it too much. Worse than the guilt was the knowledge that he couldn't even be certain on that – what if he'd fabricated everything in his warped mind? What if that smile she wore the moment he walked back into the room was actually real, and not just forced as he'd assumed beforehand? Although…she looked more apologetic than anything, the pair staring down at an unfamiliar camera's screen.

"_Ugh, I still haven't found MiniDonmon either. God, this is not going well at all, aren't I meant to keep track of these things?"_

"…stranger in photos before," Natsuki finished, ironically linking into what he had been thinking about even if neither girl could possibly have known. Nonetheless, it seemed time to report his progress.

"Okay, he wasn't anywhere in there either," he called, drawing their attention before a nervous look crossed his visage. "Although I didn't look in your…um…knickers drawer for that long…"_ "Crap, too incriminating." _…I mean…" _"Um…" _"…uh…I'm not perverted." _"Smooth Ryder. Smooth."_

"Knickers?" Mari asked, sitting up on the sofa and turning to face him, looking rather bewildered as she did so and sending alarm bells ringing in the boy's mind.

"_Crap! She knows what I saw! Oh great, as if this can't get any…"_

"Oh, right, you mean panties," Mari realised, her bewilderment evaporating with a slight shake of her head in disbelief. Ryder held back a sigh of relief. Maybe she wasn't as psychic as he'd suspected…

"Uh, yeah, that's what I meant."

Mari frowned suddenly, making Ryder wonder if he was truly not a suspect. "I still don't like the idea of you searching through my personal stuff anyway."

"_That's weird...she didn't seem to mind earlier…maybe she just had the chance to think about it? Still, I know why now…but…come on Ryder, think! What would you say now if you didn't know what was in there?"_

He brought a teasing smile to his face, deciding to go for broke – attempting to confirm that before she had been trying to make him spend as little time as before in that drawer, and at the same time trying to hit her suspicions about him into the long grass, if they even existed.

"Why? What are you hiding?" Feelings of guilt, however, soon crept up his spine once again – was that really the best way to deal with this all, teasing her about it? _"Ugh, I'm an idiot."_

"Ugh, never you mind," she huffed, crossing her arms and sitting back down in her seat, making it clear she didn't want to raise the matter anymore. Guilt or no guilt, he'd at least managed his second aim. "Have you checked everywhere for him?" she asked, throwing the question over her shoulder. Natsuki, in the midst of it all, looked rather bewildered and embarrassed by the conversation she was privy to.

"Everywhere habitable. Uh, well, except the bathroom, and the fridge freezer…but you couldn't exactly…live…there…" _"…but…if I know MiniDonmon then…" _"…ah crap…" "_…oh god, all that time and embarrassment I wasted…"_

A feeling of alarm rushed through him as he spun on his feet, rushing quickly over to the refrigerator and pulling the door open sharply, worried that it'd fall clean off in the process.

He gazed around inside, a mix of relief and concern flooding through him as he reached in, grabbing a red foot, one so cold to the touch he had to pause and resist shivering as he did so. The bat began to move where he'd become stuck between two shelves – was he waking up? At least he was _able _to wake up.

Biting his lip, he grabbed the Digimon again, pulling him out by the foot once again and grimacing deeply as he glared at the stiff, ice-covered and shivering form of his Digimon partner, finding that three words perfectly sufficed in his opinion towards the Digimon right now.

"You bloody idiot."

"Me?! I left the door open so I could get out, and one of you two shut it!"

Ryder's brow furrowed, his head shaking in disbelief. "You left the door open, of course we shut it. It could've all melted! What were you doing in there anyway?"

The big grin, combined with what the brunette already knew about his Digimon partner, made the next word, said in a tone lacking any impression of guilt or regret whatsoever, completely redundant.

"Eating."

Ryder sweatdropped, before cradling the Digimon closer to him, whilst shivering at the feel of the cold skin. "Ugh. I've been searching all over for you," he groaned. "_This_ is why you should listen to me more."

Apparently, the scolding didn't sink in, and neither had a lesson been learnt from the cryogenic freezing. "Meh. I still ate a lot of stuff."

"_Oh no, that means…" _Ryder thought, gazing down to the fridge and gasping at the sight of the empty packets and shelves, ones he hadn't noticed before with his alarm about getting his partner out of his unfortunate (yet somewhat deserved in the light of it) trap. "But, we need that food!"

"And I needed to keep warm," MiniDonmon said, yet again lacking guilt and keeping that smile, as Ryder groaned. He wriggled himself free, his relatively wide wings flapping into the air and preparing to propel him straight towards the ground.

A ground which accepted him wholeheartedly with a loud thump, his Tamer quickly rolling his eyes in disbelief. _"Food and Digimon…ugh."_

Thankfully, this time it wasn't his job to come to the rescue, a dark yet familiar blur sweeping across and grasping him from the floor by his frost-covered wing, a sheepish laugh escaping his lips. "Oops." Finally, he was embarrassed about what had happened – finally, justice was done, at least in Ryder's mind.

"_And so at last the fridge freezer gets revenge."_

"Hey, who are you?" MiniDonmon asked, held upside down (and a tad sideways) by DarkRenamon, her hand holding his wing like one would hold someone else's used tissue. The bat pointed outwards at the blonde on the couch, before he made the same mistake as they had all done. "Wait…Ivy?!"

"Huh? Who?" Natsuki asked, looking thoroughly thrown by the name.

DarkRenamon righted the Digimon, the mistake quickly becoming apparent. "Oh, right…now that looks different, don't worry."

"_Still, if I'm not the only one thinking it…maybe I am onto something here?" _Ryder pondered, hand on chin. After all, MiniDonmon knew Ivy's appearance just as much as he did, and he had made the same mistake at first. Maybe that was intentional? Maybe that was what Ivy wanted them to think? Maybe this was a message?

What the message was, of course, was another question, other than the obvious "I'm still here", of course.

"_Well, looks like it's time to introduce myself and all of us properly, and find out what she knows, if she knows anything," _he thought, an enthusiastic step taken towards the sofa as, with a softer thump than before, MiniDonmon was dropped down onto the counter nearby. _"We sort of got off on the wrong foot anyway, and, after all, she does want to know about our group. Even if she isn't one of Ivy's games, at least she might help us get Digital Watch off our backs and all." _"Right, time to explain a few things," he said proudly, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Oddly, he'd considered the idea of public speaking to introduce their group before – after all, charisma was everything when it came to the masses. World leaders could have the mind of a chimpanzee, the understanding of a nit and the maths competence of a starfish, and yet still drum up support for whatever they wanted, given the right words, the right timing and the right delivery.

Both members of his audience, by the look on their faces, seemed to think he was just being weird.

"_Still, we Brits carry on even in the face of embarrassment." _His mind flagged up the irony of his nervousness about the knickers only a few minutes earlier, but he decided to ignore his own hypocrisy for now as he began his oft-pondered introduction. "My name is Ryder Mark Watson Stevens, and I'm a Digimon Tamer, although I'm sure you guys are already well aware of…"

The phone rung all of a sudden, catching him off guard as he stopped mid-sentence and turned in surprise to look across at the phone handset and its base station.

"_Ugh, fantastic timing," _he thought sarcastically, wandering over to it and picking it up, catching a glimpse of Mari and Natsuki's bewildered look as he pressed to answer it. "Hello?"

What was wrong with them? It was just a phone call – probably just one of the other Tamers asking if they wanted to meet up. It would end the tedium, but what would they do with Nat...?"

"**Ryder, you need to know the bad news."**

That voice. He knew all too well who it was.

"**I'm sorry but you have to make a choice."**

"Do what? Why?" he spluttered, surprised at the timing of the call, particularly since it came only a few short moments after he'd considered her involvement in Natsuki being here. What on earth was this bad news? What choice? Did anyone in existence have even the faintest clue what was going on?

"**Save yourself." **The line buzzed with distortion, as Ryder gave a confused look towards the handset, the words continuing. **"If you don't open your eyes, you'll be stuck there."**

"Uh…that doesn't answer my question." _"What does she mean? Does she mean this world? What's this all about? Why can't people talk in plain English these days?"_

"**I'm sorry but…y…h…"**

"Hello…hello? Are you okay? Hello?" he called, a click on the line making it clear to him that that was all he would be getting this time round. He grimaced, pondering what this all meant. _"Turn on the news? What does this mean? And why is she suddenly contacting me?" _His head turned, a look of concern and surprise sent across to Mari, who looked rather nervous at first.

Natsuki, seen out of the corner of his eye, simply stared on in complete bewilderment at both him and his girlfriend.

"Is it…?" she began, looking regretful of even asking the questions. Still in surprise, he gave the slightest of nods, before glancing up towards the television, an idea occurring to him as he did so, his eyes flitting down onto the glass coffee table between the sofas, the remote lying on it near the pair of drinks.

"_Maybe that's what she meant," _he wondered, his feet drifting him towards it before they took on true purpose, swiftly moving and stepping around the couch end, grabbing it up and flicking it on before Mari, now less than an arm reach from him, could even begin to ask what he was doing.

**BBC World News** flicked onto the screen, a warm reassuring breath of familiarity sweeping over to him as it reminded him of home, or, at least, Britain, regardless of which universe it was in. It was, unfortunately, unable to counter the hurricane of bad news which instead hit him very soon after, as she settled himself down onto the couch next to his girlfriend once again, only this time it didn't seem anywhere near as optimistic, or, indeed, peaceful.

Sure enough, as Ivy had (rather cryptically) suggested, **BREAKING NEWS** flashed up in a banner on the bottom of the screen. It wasn't **bad news** as she had said, but, in his experience with news channels, **BREAKING NEWS **always preceded ill.

The female news reporter looked professionally surprised as she had to switch to reading a piece of breaking news, the usual continual delivery broken up by slight pauses and autocue reading. **"We've now got hold of a press conference video released to the press by the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan and current Acting Prime Minister Rayleigh Thompson…this relates to the murder of the Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Keishiro yesterday evening…we can now show you the video," **she said, an impromptu image of Japan appearing on the screen before zooming in to Tokyo, the screen then switching to show the face of one Rayleigh Thompson, standing in front of a set of microphones.

"_Hmm, about the PM murder? Maybe they've worked out who did it? Ugh, I really don't know why anyone would do that – violence really doesn't solve things," _Ryder thought, grimacing at the news story before realising the irony in his mental words. _"I say, using huge great monsters to violently solve the problems of the city. Then again, one problem always causes another even when we think we've beaten it…ugh…we never get a clean break."_

"Um…" Natsuki began, Ryder and Mari both reflexively shushing her as he trained his ears to concentrate on every word the Chief Cabinet Secretary said, the man stood in front of a single microphone, a bizarre oddity considering the number of news networks who would fight over such a story at a press conference. Was he the only one there? Maybe he was – after all, the video was

"**Last night there was a horrific attack on our…" **he began, before the English voice suddenly overdubbed him and left Ryder hearing double thanks to the 'Babel' ability, something no doubt Mari was having trouble with to at that moment. **"Last night there was a horrific attack on our country, an attack which struck to the very heart of every Japanese man and woman. The Prime Minister, Inukai Keishiro, was murdered in his own home. It was an inhuman attack, and, unfortunately, I have to reveal that there is good cause for that."**

"What's going on? What's he saying?"

Neither Ryder nor Mari replied to the blonde's rather distant call for information, his mind concentrating on the lump quickly forming in the back of his throat, not liking this combination of events. Ivy had wanted, if cryptically, for him to watch this. The way the man spoke with that disturbingly determined look on his face. Indeed, the fact it was Rayleigh in any guise was worrying, and together they all simply made the lump grow larger and larger. A dark yet surprisingly clear CCTV shot came onto the screen, a pair of blurred shadows in its midst, one human, and one definitely _not_ human.

"**This footage, recorded and transmitted to the central security office from the sole remaining security camera in the PM's study, shows the moment the assassin confronted his prey. We have identified this Digimon as…**"

The lump in his throat finally exploded as a gasp of surprise, the all too familiar image of Sakuyamon bursting onto the screen, a stock photo yet one holding so much power thanks to two simple words in its caption: **CHIEF SUSPECT**.

Neither spoke, simply instead staring on at the sight. This…this couldn't be happening – even their partners were speechless!

"**Sakuyamon. She is the top or 'mega' form of Renamon, a Digimon, and Rika Nonaka, a Digimon Tamer, merged together into one very powerful Digimon. In this case, as can clearly be seen in the video, she was attempting to avoid recognition by not wearing any of her armour, but we were not fooled by something so simple. Sadly, despite this, using her abilities she was able to break in undetected, circumventing the state-of-the-art Japanese security systems and almost going without a single record of her ever being there. The fact a single Digimon can do such things is worrying enough, but I am afraid it is merely a drop in a scarily large ocean."**

Images of battles, of destruction, of them standing there with their Digimon – such a bad light cast on all of them. Ryder's eyebrows furrowed down, his fists clenched and his nails pushing into his palms.

"**Digimon are powerful, dangerous and difficult to control, and allowing them to exist, particularly with Tamers, has led to this tragedy, something which should **_**never**_** have happened."**

Mari and Ryder looked into each other's eyes for a brief moment, a brief flash, followed by an all-too-long realisation that this was really happening. The screen flipped back to Rayleigh, gesturing and emoting his sadness, his disgust, and yet, he retained the same underlying charisma and determination – the same oratory which so many speakers used to inspire millions to a point of view. A dangerous power and surprising from a 22 year old even if he was a 'prodigy'.

At the back of Ryder's mind, something itched about all that, but he wasn't sure exactly where to place it.

"**The Tamers' existence and our continued endorsing of the Digital World is clearly a grave error, which has led to this terrible event. I wholeheartedly apologise on behalf of the whole of the Japanese government for ever letting this happen, but we as a country are not to blame. We were merely showing kindness, being well-meaning, and demonstrating our collective Japanese tolerance, tolerance which was exploited in order to accomplish selfish, terrible, appalling goals. This terrorist organisation…"**

This word – a carrying so much weight, so much power, so many implications – this finally triggered the teen to speak.

"He can't…he can't!" he hissed, his eyes simply glaring, his face pressed up in a look with such shock, such horror, such...fear.

Terrorists?! They weren't terrorists by any means! They were trying to help people – they saved lives, not took them. And the kind of people this placed them on the same level as…what would this mean?

"**...has subversively been planning to target Japan and other countries of the world, imposing their status and placing the rights of Digimon above those of humans."**

"_Bullshit!"_

"**Well I am here to say that this ends now: I will not allow that to happen!"**

Ryder was suddenly caught off guard, a pair of beeping noises sung in the air alongside the slamming of Rayleigh's hand down on the desk in front of him. Glancing down, boy's ears kept on the sound from the television whilst his eyes focused on his D-Vice's screen. The email flicked open, carrying a very short message.

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

His eyes flitted across to see Mari doing the same, as Rayleigh's tirade continued.

"**I am here to stand up for every man, woman and child in Tokyo, in Japan, in the entire world! Digimon will **_**not**_** be allowed to terrorise our lives any longer! There is absolutely no need to panic, or worry, or hide, or indeed do anything but go safely about your day-to-day lives, for I have already dispatched forces to neutralise this threat, and we as a whole will be taking strong measures to prevent **_**any**_** recurrence."**

"_Forces?! I don't like the sound of that! Maybe that's what this email is about…"_

"What is it?" Natsuki asked, Ryder feeling rather sorry for her to be caught up in all this without even being given the time of day upon asking. But, time was of the essence it seemed, at least given Izzy's email.

"It's Izzy," Mari seemingly answered, although her voice seemed oddly distant and self-contemplating. Rayleigh took on a stoic posture as he closed his address.

"**As Shakespeare once said, "hell is empty and all the devils are here." We shall make sure they are nowhere. Thank you for your time."**

"At least he's telling everyone," Ryder tried to look on the bright side, although found it unsurprisingly hard to.

The news broadcast shot back to the studio and the unprepared anchor, the woman looking rather confused by the story as she received messages over her earpiece and autocue. But, no-one was watching anymore – the damage had already been done to the Tamers, and they just had to get the hell out of dodge.

"Yeah, but Ryder this is serious…" Mari began, a deep fear in her eyes as she turned to face him, and put the facts quite bluntly. "Shit, we're screwed."

"What's going on?" asked a panicked Natsuki.

"No time!" Ryder gave the girl her first proper response in ages, even if it wasn't an answer to any of her questions. In time, both Ryder and Mari found their feet, he rushing towards the doorway whilst out of the corner of his ears and eyes he saw Mari head for the window. He reached the front door quickly, opening it and taking a look outside.

It was barely a fraction of a second later that he pushed it shut again.

"_Everyone…everyone was looking this way…" _he thought, having seen a number of eyes of neighbours facing him. He gulped, securing the second bolt across the door and leaning with his back to it.

"They're coming," Mari said ominously, her hand pressed against the glass where she gazed out the pane, horror in her pose, tone, everything. Their eyes met again as she swung her head back, the room falling silent apart for the television.

"_Do we have a choice?" _Ryder wondered, knowing the same thought was going through Mari's mind. He glanced to the form of MiniDonmon, now frozen on the sofa back, a statue transfixed on the screen. DarkRenamon was nowhere to be seen – surveying the scene no doubt. The anchorwoman seemed to have grabbed back hold of the situation, but the words were no reassurance whatsoever as she repeated a lot of what Rayleigh had said. It appeared to be all the information they had.

"_If we're being framed and if they're after us…we're all in danger…" _he worried, glancing to Natsuki and her questioning blue eyes, total bewilderment held within. _"Even anyone with us."_

His mind drifted back to the phone, glancing to the handset and realising it was more than that.

"_If she _is_ here thanks to Ivy or if she is Ivy in disguise, or whatever – one thing I do know is that I'm not letting her go." _But could he really drag her with them?

Brown eyes met once again, and silently, plans were proposed, considered and agreed, before being broadcasted in the simplest possible fashion, albeit with a look of determination in Ryder's eyes as he said those heavy words.

"We have to run."

This, of course, brought an inevitable reaction from both Mari and Natsuki – the former nodding and grimacing, the latter looking horrified.

"Run?! Why?!" she spluttered, but Ryder and Mari simply turned, striding quickly towards their rooms and crossing each other's paths on the way, and so, once again, Ryder found himself in his overly messy room, racking his mind for what to take with him.

MiniDonmon flapped in behind him, saying something about how panicked he was, but it was already clear enough to the boy how frightened all of them were, even Natsuki in her ignorance.

His feet and hands rushed about, to drawers here, to cupboards there, a bag out and items thrown in as his mind was racked for what to take. Where were they going anyway? Were they going to the hideout? Were they going to the Digital World? Did they need spare clothes? Did they need passports and money?

In the end, he wasn't able to find most of what he was looking for in such a hurry, something he doubted would've been the case if his sorting system had even begun to rival Mari's. But, it was too late by now, something confirmed to him when the alarm clock on his bedside table made a popping noise from its sudden forced shutdown, the screen dying from lack of power and the lights and sound from the living room fading, leaving only the distant unnerving roar of engines to break the unexpected silence. Pushing a bundle of notes and a passport into his backpack, he was off again, rushing back towards the doorway and out into the living room again.

"There are so many of them."

That was DarkRenamon gazing out from where she stood by the window, making Ryder's attempts at a coherent strategy in his mind even more difficult, both through complications and panic. _"I hadn't even thought of them having vehicles…what the hell are we going to do?"_

Mari brushed past him, heading for the kitchen, and he followed, copying her as they placed anything not perishable (and not eaten by MiniDonmon) into their bags. It wouldn't last too long – there wasn't much room left in them now a change of clothes and all, but it would keep them going.

Lost footsteps approached, a flash of blonde out of the corner of his eye. "What…" began the scared voice, but Ryder knew that there simply wasn't time for explanations. Besides, he'd heard the television – if she was sane, she'd have looked it up already.

"_Then again, Digital Watch member or Ivy's trick, either way she could be mental. Still…I hate to do this…but…I really don't think I have a choice, not if I want to find out the truth about all this," _he decided, his tone forceful and uncompromising. "You're coming with us."

"Wait…what?! I'm not involved in any of this!" He quickly turned his eyes back down to his bag again to avoid the pain in hers, as she quickly progressed to yelling at them for ignoring her. "Hello! Listen to me!"

Ryder zipped up his bag, seeing Mari to his left, looking at him with concern, yet oddly not with disagreement. Maybe he wasn't being so stupid after all? Even if she wasn't a message from Ivy, she was in the middle of an apartment that was probably about to become a firing range, even if Ryder did feel he was going a bit overblown on his imagination on that one. They wanted to arrest them, not kill them.

"…_**we as a whole will be taking strong measures to prevent any recurrence."**_

Right?

He zipped up his bag, pressing the issue down as he decided that he didn't even want to consider Mari, MiniDonmon, DarkRenamon, indeed, any of his friends getting hurt, and certainly not an innocent civilian like the blonde behind him. He, for the first time he could remember in his entire life, used his height for good measure, biting his lip before determinedly staring down into her eyes.

"You're coming with us because those bastards want us dead." He hoped his words left no compromise or room for disagreement, as to further his point he sidestepped around her and lugged his bag onto his shoulders.

Alas, it wasn't as simple as he hoped, the words "hey, I'm not one of you guys!" coming from behind. He frowned, sighing lightly before turning, seeing Mari over her shoulder still looking indecisive on the matter.

"Do you think they care? As far as they know, we're all threatening Digimon Tamers, and we have to be eliminated!"

"Ryder, maybe we should let her stay," Mari suggested. Ryder grimaced deeply – he really didn't want this conflict right now, not when he knew that every second was so very important. The last thing they wanted was an argument.

He shook his head. "She's not safe here, and we can't let her die."

"But I won't! We live in a free state! They can't just kill me, they can't kill any of us, they have to arrest…"

Ryder was getting sick of this by now even if he knew that were things reversed he'd probably have been saying the same things as her. A guilty tick at the back of his mind repeatedly told him that he was doing this for the selfish reason of finding out more about what Ivy was doing, rather than the reason he gave regarding the girl's safety. Regardless, he interrupted her, making gestures to further his point. "We have weapons, we have Digimon, and they have Rayleigh Thompson. To them, we're just like any other terrorist with a gun or a bomb, but to him…he hates our guts."

"But he doesn't want me! He won't kill me! This isn't fair!" Natsuki screamed at him, the sound almost unbearable and worsened by how determined she was, her reddened face and clasped fists making that tick only grow stronger. He pushed it down again, reaching to his back pocket as he once again tried the strategy of 'giving her the facts'.

"You came here to visit us. You got yourself into this."

Footsteps pounded down a distant corridor, maybe on this floor, maybe a floor below. He tapped his D-Vice, it enlarging to its full form as he paid a gaze towards MiniDonmon, a card in one hand and the digivolution program whirring into life on the device. They had to buy themselves some time, even if it meant damaging the home they loved so much. It wasn't like soldiers weren't about to do the same.

He quickly tapped the screen again, launching a program he'd run oh so many times.

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**MiniDonmon digivolve to…**

…**Donmon!**

The plan had partly worked already – Natsuki had fallen silent as she stared on in amazement at the digivolution and the Digimon right in front of her. A card quickly followed the digivolution, a familiar routine and one he hoped his partner would already know what to do with.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Dokugumon's Poison Thread Activate!" Ryder called, his confidence not buoyed as a burst of webs covered the doorframe, even when something loudly thudded into the back of them and made it strain against its newfound holds. The soldiers were relentless, quickly firing bullets the same way as Ryder crossed his fingers hopefully.

He glanced over his shoulder, surprised to see Mari now by the balcony door and with her gun in hand, opening it and peeking her gun outside, bullets rapidly fired at the sound of a whirring helicopter.

"_Yeah, like that's not going to get them aiming at us! Please let it only catch them by surprise!" _he felt the eyes of Donmon on him, the boy frowning deeply as he turned to face him. "I don't think Donnermon will be fast enough."

The Digimon nodded and frowned, before both of them quickly turned towards DarkRenamon, standing near her Tamer and looking highly frightened for her safety as she pulled off a very risky move. The room rang with shots before Mari finally stepped back inside, stopping short in surprise when she saw DarkRenamon right next to her. They nodded – psychic or not, it was obvious what they needed to do.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**DarkRenamon digivolve to…**

**Youkomon!**

There was a remarkable contrast between the ringing of bullets and the newfound chiming of the bells hanging from ropes on the fox's neck, but they failed to calm Ryder's racing heart. Mari turned, pulling the balcony door wide open before deftly leaping onto her partner's back. They were too vulnerable now with the doors open – they had to go!

But Natsuki still stood there, looking shocked, bewildered, surprised, fearful, even just transfixed by the beautiful fox before her, her blue eyes as unmoving as her. Ryder glanced down to Donmon, the dragon awaiting orders and Ryder giving him a simple 'two seconds' gesture before gesturing towards Youkomon. He nodded, rushing over and, with a little help from Mari, climbing on.

Ryder turned to the blonde, amazed that she hadn't even attempted to do anything yet. Was this a case of shock? Would she even react if he tried to get her attention? She seemed almost…entranced.

"_What am I doing?"_

He was dragging an obviously innocent girl out of a situation where, at least if she put her hands in the air, she would hopefully survive (but that seemed like a pretty big 'hopefully' too), and taking her to a place where she would definitely be hunted down and could even…die.

Eyes clutched closed. _"No, not again! I don't want another person dying because of me…but…is it too late now? She'll be safer with us…and…will she even be able to cope after all this? Ugh, I really don't know what to do now."_

"_**I'm sorry but you have to make a choice."**_

The words of Ivy rang though his mind, as he heard the calamity around him slow to a crawl.

"_**Save yourself."**_

Did she really want him to save this girl? Or maybe this girl was the key to saving himself, at least, in the future? Was she his ticket out of there? Did he want a way out? Everything was so, so, confusing and…

"_**If you don't open your eyes, you'll be stuck there."**_

As that final memory sank in, his eyes snapped open, looking to the still frozen girl and hearing further bullets and shoulders smashing into their front door, it straining against the web and threatening to break at any time. There wasn't a choice anymore. He was too late for that, and now he had to pick up the pieces.

Guiltily, he held out a hand towards her, realising that his own stupidity, his own idiocy, hell, his own selfishness, now risked someone's life.

"_I hate myself." _His hand brushed the back of hers, finally drawing her from his trance as he simply uttered "Sorry."

But would that word be enough this time?

For once though, the girl didn't complain, instead fearfully gripping his hand for dear life. He looked back to Youkomon, seeing Mari and Donmon awaiting them and grabbing on tight already. Would they have to go without them? He didn't want to find out.

Panes of glass rumbled and smashed, even where they were closed, thanks to a helicopter coming far too close for the comfort of any of them, soldiers looking out from its wide central opening. Ryder held as hard as he could onto the girl's hand as he dragged her across, through the sharp gust of wind now ripping through the room.

He passed off her hand up to Mari, the girl grabbing on tight as Ryder gripped the blonde's sides and pushed her up, Natsuki thankfully taking the hint and ensuring she was not dead weight by gripping with her other hand onto the fur on Youkomon. The Digimon stifled a yelp in pain, whilst Ryder followed the girl, grabbing Mari's hand and far more rapidly getting on right at the back.

A glance was paid around at the apartment, the boy frowning as he considered that, even with all the destruction the sharp winds were causing as they swept through, blowing items off shelves and sending the London Eye model, a present from Jeri, crashing to the floor, it would no doubt be nothing compared to what the soldiers would wreak.

And then, it was gone, the apartment now but a memory as he felt nauseous very quickly, grabbing on tightly as Youkomon rocketed forward.

"_What the hell?" _he briefly wondered, before a flash of black burst past his vision, his mind forcing him to duck for a reason his consciousness still hadn't realised. He looked back as soon as he could as the Digimon lurched upwards again, surprised to see the helicopter just behind and shaking a fair bit from side to side all of a sudden.

Had…had they just jumped through the middle of it?

It seemed they had, if the looks on the soldier's faces through the opening on either side of the aircraft were any indication. Nonetheless, they quickly fell again, only for Youkomon to perfectly time her landing on a building on the opposite half of the street. She raced across it, far more on the level now, before leaping up again, the nausea returning as Ryder felt his head spin.

"_Ugh, normally I'd ask her to slow down…Natsuki looks petrified, and it's all my fault." _He caught a gaze of her face as she took a glance back towards him and where they had just come from. _"Crap, please don't be sick!"_ he wished, those fearful orbs quickly snapping back to look forwards again as they dashed across yet another rooftop…

**END OF PART ONE**


	17. Phase One: Ryder Stevens II

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

Thanks to Bsh41194 for being the 150th reviewer of this story.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Ryder Stevens_

**Part Two**

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Streets of Shinjuku, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:42 JST**_

The world had finally become visible again after being a blur for so long, both the stamina and the need quickly fading for Youkomon. Their pursuers, thanks in part to their risky move around the helicopter, had been caught off guard and were held off for the time being, but Ryder knew for sure such would only be a temporary state. _"Somehow I doubt they're the only ones out there…"_

His eyes traced the lines of the buildings in the far distance, on the other side of Shinjuku Park. They were close, but the place was packed, and Rayleigh would certainly have loaded it up with soldiers at least on the perimeter. Scrolling down the trees, his eyes met the road, the one adjacent to the rooftops their steed currently galloped and leapt across at a still-impressive rate, cars racing past a dozen or two storeys below. Indeed, life, in all honesty, seemed to completely ignore them above – people seemed to be heeding Rayleigh's advice.

Whether that would make things easier or harder was another question.

"_Maybe they just think we're a trick of the eye up here? I'd definitely think twice."_

He looked back up to the large purple-black creature ridden by him, Mari, Donmon and, of course, Natsuki, the girl completely frozen, her hands locked around some locks of fur she used as reins. This end was almost completely silent compared to the front of the creature, where Mari, bereft of the gift Rika had for non-verbal communication, chatted almost continually to her partner, whilst Donmon made his own comments from time to time too.

Ryder grimaced, looking over the blonde's tensed shoulders and back – she was definitely not enjoying this, heck, she looked downright ill. He put up a hand, placing it on her shoulder once they reached a nice long rooftop without the risk of him falling off, he not trusting himself with his balance enough for a one-handed leap right now.

"You okay?"

He felt her back shake up as soon as he touched her, and her posture tensed even further when he spoke.

"_This girl's on edge…hell, she's pretty much already tumbling off!" _He quickly dismissed the mental image upon glancing down quickly, knowing that right now that was a very real possibility.

She turned back to him, her blue eyes still full of worry, fear and confusion. Reaching up, she placed a hand on her forehead, making a groaning noise. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

Surprise dashed across her features as he quickly took his hand off her shoulder, sharply pushing her hand back down onto the fur again. "Don't do that, you'll fall off!"

"Hey, you took your hand off too!" she complained, the sickened tone mixed with irritation in her voice.

"Yeah, 'cause I know what I'm doing." _"And I somehow doubt even _that_ fall could kill me."_

"Ugh, go screw yourself – I never asked for this!" she said, anger and frustration clashing in her cheeks. Ryder's frown only deepened, anger appearing in his eyes too.

"Hey, I saved your life!" _"Ingrate."_ His impression of the blonde kept falling further and further, she'd gone from being a bit shy when she'd arrived at their place, to downright rude now. Given how much she clung on for dear life normally, it was pretty obvious, however, that this had nothing to do with what had falling off, and instead had everything to do with what she would probably see as pretty much 'being kidnapped'.

"Yeah, well, I would've been fine without this." Her voice quietened as she spoke, her eyes flitting downwards to the fur she once again held firmly onto below. Both his hands were back on the Digimon again too, and their speech paused as Youkomon vaulted over a gap before returning to a jogging pace, giving her riders a chance to recover.

"I told you I was sorry…what more do you want?" He bit his lip and averted his gaze from those blue eyes. This was getting annoying now. Why wasn't she responding to anything he said? Was she just being stubborn? He was trying to sort things out, and he _had_ just saved her life, even if it was his own mistake in the first place. He regretted ever letting her enter their apartment – Digital Watch were nothing but trouble. Hell, they caused trouble, and didn't realise how much they aggravated already bad situations without knowing any of the facts.

Her tone became exasperated and frustrated, a touch of disbelief to it. "I just want all this to be over – I want to be back home, back in my bed, safe from being killed or all of this bad stuff happening – is that too much to ask?"

Ryder snorted, his own tone and expression simply darkening as he found it rather hard to feel remorse for her, yet he still found himself unable to look her straight in the eyes.

"I've faced so much worse than this…and I've lost far more in the process," he said under his breath, still looking for some sign of what to do far below. He didn't want to look in those eyes again, not when they clearly loathed him so much right now. "Honestly, by my book, you got off lucky," he added, finally looking back up into her eyes. She looked fit to respond, before hesitating once she saw his expression. Ryder could only feel the tension in his eyes about his glare, and how his forehead pressed down – evidently, however, coupled with the deep and scathing pitch of his voice it was enough to make her think twice. "So be grateful."

Her next words were dramatically different, all that anger gone, or at least confused for the time being, and replaced with a strange curiosity, perhaps even care although Ryder couldn't be too sure which was which. Such seemed typical for people from her particular organisation, one known for mixing curiosity for care and defence of their group.

"…why? What happened?"

His head dipped, a sigh taken before he looked back up to her again, feeling the words on his lips and the shake to his head as he dismissed her. "Stuff which I don't _tell_ random strangers I've only just met an hour ago."

"But…"

To her surprise, his rant continued, in the same low, oddly quiet tone as before, perhaps even a dark one. "Digital Watch doesn't know anything. You guys completely miss everything that's important, and I couldn't be more grateful – if there's one thing I don't need, it's thousands upon thousands of idiots reminding me every day of what hurts the most."

He glanced up to Mari, the conversation at the front of Youkomon long since finished and eyes now looking back onto him. There was concern in her brown eyes and frowning mouth, but whether it was entirely in pity or partly because of him saying that the loss of Ivy hurt him the most went unknown.

"…sorry."

The anger and pain now permeating through Ryder's veins and arms stopped him from granting Natsuki the relief of the acceptance of her apologies, his darker side telling him not to, to take satisfaction from this, something his better-natured side knew would only make him feel even more guilty and self-hate for later on.

Sighing, he looked away to the ground, whilst an uncomfortable Natsuki, sure enough, turned round, agitated and guilty. It had worked.

"_And now there's the guilt," _he thought, staring on down at the ground far below as he revelled in the emotion periodically, his mind fighting over whether to quickly and uncomfortably accept her apology or to just leave it.

Thankfully, the world intervened for him to take his mind off that choice, as, far below, the sight of something all-too-familiar made his eyes widen in surprise, a quick glance taken up and down the road to see if there was anything he could check it against.

"I think…" He paused as he began to err on his idea still further, looking down closely at the fairly subtle sight quickly approaching on their left far below, hidden amongst the bushes and street furniture. "Is that the tunnel?"

"Huh…what…" Mari started, before the idea struck a chord in Donmon's mind, the Digimon nodding across to his Tamer whilst Natsuki's expression took on an all-too-familiar confusion.

"Yeah, that's perfect – we can come up in the middle of the park!" The dragon pointed a claw down below, before looking to their steed. "Youkomon, take us down there!"

"Right," she replied, immediately beginning to leap down, step by step, building by building, to the ground in as many gradual increments as she could. Natsuki held on with shock and for dear life, whilst an only slightly more prepared Mari quickly panicked.

"But…we'll stick out like a sore thumb!"

"Not if we're quick…this tunnel will get us past anything military that Rayleigh's set up…uh…except if he's prepared for the tunnel."

"You know you're not exactly instilling me with confidence!" Mari exclaimed, as Youkomon's hind legs hit the road surface, beating a quick pace across to the tunnel entrance, leaping over the barrier before coming to a stop rapidly, turning to keep her eyes on the road.

Her passengers, all confused either from the quick motions or from how they were suddenly about to go through a tunnel, looked around worriedly, before Ryder leapt off, pointing quickly to the door as he stumbled on his feet. _"I need more practice with getting off her." _"She won't fit through there."

Mari, after a glance at the door, quickly (and far more agilely) turned from her seat and dropped herself onto the ground, looking across to the door before back to Ryder with a grimace. "Fine, fine," she sighed, looking back up to Donmon and Natsuki, putting out a hand. "Alright guys, everybody o…"

"Mari! Mari! Mari! Mari! Mari! Mari!" squealed a voice suddenly; a white blob flying in from above the roof of the tunnel entrance and attaching itself to her head before she could even begin to understand what was going on. Whilst she struggled to pull the thing off, the others stared on, their expressions ranging from bemusement by Natsuki to amusement from Donmon.

"Calumon," she groaned, finally prising the fairly-like creature from her head and holding him in her arms. Her expression faltered, making Ryder's slight smile at the sight do so too, it becoming clear that something was definitely not right. "Are you okay?"

"There were loads of people and they shouted at me and told me I did something but I don't know what I did and I got really scared and there were all these people in weird clothes , and, and, and…"

"Okay, calm down," soothed Mari, a slight frown now on her face. "You're okay now with us."

"Really?"

"Of course Calumon, we wouldn't let anything bad happen to you."

"Aw…Eskimo kisses!"

Ryder peered over at the scene, the nice moment rather breaking up the long string of bad ones prior to it. Natsuki looked even more bemused by the display although seemed to also have a slight smile – Calumon's legendary cuteness. Although, it didn't seem quite legendary enough to overcome the topical hatred of Digimon right now by the sounds of things. _"I don't think he could fight in a million years anyway."_

After Mari had once again prised Calumon from her face, this time due to a round of Eskimo kisses rather than fright, she gave a look towards her partner, who nodded. "Everybody off."

Of the remaining two, Donmon had a bit of success in flapping his way up into the air slightly before moving over only a moment too soon, catching his leg on Youkomon's back and as a result tumbling gracelessly to the ground, too much chuckling from the fox-like Digimon. Ryder could see from but a glance that the other passenger would need assistance, even if only a few moments ago she had been rather harsh to him and not exactly endeared herself enough to be needing of such. Still, it seemed to be his job. _"Being the good guy sucks…not that my guilt would let me do anything else."_

He wandered over, putting out both hands to Natsuki above. "Come on, fall off already so I can catch you," he called, the girl looking down with irritation at what he'd suggested.

"I can do it myself," she insisted, pushing herself up and putting her knee onto Youkomon, before placing a hand on her back to match and ending up with one knee up, one leg down, and both arms perilously too far apart on the centre of the Digimon's back. Ryder's eyes widening as he knew what was coming and silently cursed, preparing himself.

And, sure enough, she slipped, falling over suddenly and causing much pain in Ryder's arms as she landed in them. "Ugh…" he groaned, bending his knees slightly as he felt the pain of the completely unprepared landing. "Heavy," he complained, as she quickly righted herself and stumbled back to her feet, turning back to him.

"Oops, sorry…hey, wait…heavy? Are you calling me fat?"

Ryder glanced over her, knowing that it was probably a mistake as from experience that just meant the next words may as well have been anything. "Not at all really, but, Christ, people in general are heavy when you're forced to catch them like that!"

She sighed deeply. "Fine…I did say sorry though."

"I know but…ugh…" he groaned, glancing towards the road, being glad for how secluded they were just this little way behind the bushes. "Listen, we're about to move out, but, look, right now, it's your chance to get away from all this." He gestured towards the street, the cars going by not noticing their presence at all it seemed.

She looked oddly surprised when he looked back to her, something which caught him greatly off guard. "Uh…are you sure?" She glanced to the roadway herself.

"Trust me, if I was sure anywhere was safe, I'd be there right now, but…let's be honest here, you're safer away from us two, we'll just attract trouble like magnets," he said, gesturing to him and Mari with a sweep of his hand. Mari nodded in agreement, although something hung on Ryder's mind. _"So much for finding out about how this girl is linked to Ivy. If she is, at least. Maybe it is just me being like Mari said again, looking for things which just aren't there. Ugh..."_

"Uh…" Natsuki erred again, once again looking to the road with a frown, before her decision-making was rather interrupted by a sudden shaking to the ground. A repeated beat, the magnitude increasing more and more, but this definitely wasn't an earthquake.

"Wha…Mari, stop shaking!" Calumon complained, Mari's arms gripping even more tightly around him as she held him to her chest.

"I can't, it's the ground."

"_But what is it?" _Ryder wondered, noticing Mari, Donmon, Calumon and a newly de-digivolved DarkRenamon looked almost as confused as Natsuki did at this point. He looked back to the road, taking a careful wander towards it and peeking out around the corner, his eyes widening in shock. "Well…that's something you don't see every day…"

For right there, bounding towards them at a reasonable pace was the rather large form of Antylamon, a number of silhouettes clinging to her head for dear life. The Digimon sighted them, looking down before a point of the finger from a figure on top proved she had to stop.

Ryder couldn't see Natsuki right now, but he was certain she was completely gobsmacked as the huge bunny rabbit bent over, depositing the three humans on her abruptly on the ground before shrinking rapidly back to the small, familiar form of Lopmon.

"Mari, Ryder!" Suzie exclaimed, running towards them whilst behind her mother and older sister looked rather more disorientated. Ryder, still nearer the road than Mari, quickly wandered to them and gestured for them to move into hiding a bit more.

"_Ugh, we should really get moving already."_

"What are you all doing here?" Suzie asked curiously, Lopmon soon after leaping onto her head in a manner all-too-reminiscent of a certain 'twin' of hers and his Tamer.

"Same thing as you I think," Mari sighed in reply, looking across to DarkRenamon and Donmon. "Running."

"Aw, yeah, it's the same – what are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure…" Mari's eyes danced across to Ryder, who looked just as confused as she did. "Did you get the email?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to the hideout too but Antylamon said she saw some military guys down outside the park."

"Did they see you?" Ryder stepped in, his pace of voice quickening with worry.

"I don't think so," Lopmon shook her head, although there was a certain unsettling uncertainty to her voice which left Ryder feeling rather uneasy. After all, Antylamon wasn't exactly the most subtle of Digimon to escape on, even if it seemed to be their only option. Gargomon and Rapidmon just couldn't carry enough, and MegaGargomon was just far too big and obvious and would've probably had missiles launched against him to…

"_Hold on…" _Ryder looked around the group, seeing Suzie's mother and sister, Mayumi and Jaarin Wong, now looking recuperated from their trip, and no-one else. "Where's Henry?"

"He went to find Dad," said Jaarin, stepping closer to them to explain. Mayumi nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Henry got a call from Janyuu about the news, but it cut out before they could finish," the eldest woman there said sadly, looking to Jaarin and Suzie quickly, as if to check they were still alright. "Terriermon and he went out to try and find him."

"Do you think Rayleigh…?" Donmon said, raising the question everyone thought but no-one dared to say.

"I hope not," Jaarin replied, looking sadly towards her mother and younger sister. "But…Henry's smart and Terriermon's thick-headed and persistent – I'm sure they'll find him." Her voice had an odd enthusiasm to it, even if it was tinged with the same uncertainty as everything right now.

"Yeah, they wouldn't give up!" her younger sister added. Their mother continued to look uncertain, although pointing out that fact turned out to be just as big of an elephant in the room as whether Rayleigh had taken Janyuu or not.

"Suzie, are we safe out here?" Lopmon interrupted after glancing behind, the girl looking rather surprised before a concerned gaze was thrown to Ryder. "Are we?"

"_Why would I know? Is this how every Gogglehead feels?"_

DarkRenamon replied in his stead. "We're not certain, but…"

"Let's get into the tunnel then," Ryder now interrupted, prompting a few confused gazes from their newfound companions. Suzie, meanwhile, nodded, putting her finger in the air and explaining the situation to her family.

"Yeah…they told us in class once because some kids kept messing around in it – there's a drainage tunnel with an exit right in the centre of the park."

"It'll take us right past whatever Rayleigh's got set up for us," Mari added, Ryder nodding in agreement before paying a slightly amused gaze towards Suzie, now eleven and clearly having gone past the childish phase he recalled from the television show many a time.

"_If anything, she's a bit _too_ mature for her age. Christ, being a Tamer always seems to screw you up…"_

"So long as he hasn't set up in the tunnel, you mean?" Jaarin was pointing out something that one didn't need a university education to think of, yet which, like so many other 'elephants' right now, no-one wanted to mention.

Ryder noticed an increasingly worried gaze from Mayumi, as he felt an amazing amount of pressure on his shoulders. "Well, yeah, but…at least this way we only face them head on: up on the surface, they can come from anywhere and ambush us." She didn't look happy with the answer at all, and in addition seemed far more worn out than the rest of them, except possibly Natsuki. She didn't seem that old – all the Tamers had fairly young parents it seemed – but she did look like the kind that wouldn't engage in this kind of thing. Ryder had rarely seen her on the show, although in real life they had met a few times, but the fairly short, glasses-wearing woman who was so fearful for her children's safety was normally overshadowed by her husband, or either of her Tamer-children. She'd always stayed back from the Digimon matter whenever she could, arguing with her husband on the show a number of times about how their children kept disappearing, and how he put them all in danger simply for his Digital Monsters project.

"_Hmm…I'd never even considered that either – Janyuu's not just Henry's dad, he's a Monster Maker too – he'll be one of the biggest targets going!"_

"Well, that's justification enough for me," Jaarin nodded to Ryder, seeming rather less concerned than her mother. Then again, it could've just been an act to reassure the rest. Ryder felt a deep relief and gratefulness at this, although tinges of worry continued to nag him– if they died, it would all be his fault. And, in all likelihood, like he always feared, he would be the one left to deal with the consequences.

"Let's go then!" Suzie ordered, gesturing towards the doorway. Her sister and mother nodded, the latter far more warily, whilst Ryder gave a similarly cautious nod, glancing to Mari and…Natsuki?

"_Why is she still here? She can get out of here – is she really that afraid of the military still coming after her?"_

The roar of engines upon the distance, unfortunately timed, told him that perhaps her fear was rather more rational than he thought. Eyes widened in alarm, Mari quickly turning and ushering the trio of the Wong family into the doors.

"Go ahead and get down into the tunnel," she ordered, nods in reply and Calumon giving a worried and reciprocated gaze towards Lopmon as she and her Tamer, along with her older sister and mother, all vanished beyond the large metal door.

Ryder looked towards the roadway, knowing he needed to get back in there but his curiosity pulling otherwise. He wandered towards it, the stone wall to his side keeping him hidden from their loudly-approaching foe.

"Ryder, what are you doing?" Mari called from behind. "We have to get down there too."

"I'm just…curious." He knew himself that he was being an idiot – what did he expect? Of course there'd be an array of military vehicles, of police cars and perhaps even something heavier, all racing towards them.

What caught him by surprise upon the slightest of peaks behind the wall was, in fact, something that probably was rather heavy, but not entirely what he had been expecting.

"Reppamon?!"

Mari's calls stopped, as he heard footsteps rush up to him from behind, followed by another few sets, one slower and more nervous than the rest. He felt Mari's hand on his back as she peered around him, making shocked noises of her own.

"Crap!"

For, right there, rushing towards them at a rapid pace, and pursued by, sure enough, an array of military and police vehicles, was a larger-than-normal fox-like creature, somewhat similar to a Kyubimon but sporting a white face and a menacingly sharp metal blade for a tail. And he was definitely big – big enough to fit two humans and another Digimon on his back at least. A megaphone indistinctly barked orders to them, but evidently they were not being heeded.

"Ryder, what do we do?"

Reppamon's course averted quickly once they saw their allies peering around a wall, making a bee-line for them and picking up his pace, yet there was clear fatigue in his eyes. He pulled ahead of the trucks, whilst Ryder felt Mari move behind him, a ruffle of clothing being followed by a prompt push backwards as she replaced him at the edge of the wall, gun now brandished in hand and a frantic look on her face, a bead of sweat dripping off it. Calumon entrusted into Ryder's hands, also to his surprise, but not so much as what came next.

With a loud noise, Reppamon broke into clear vision, turning into the secluded area before an even louder sound hailed upon the air, the bullets rocketing from Mari's gun, the presence of Calumon forcing Ryder to hear them for all that they were rather than being able to cover his ears. The white fairly-like Digimon in his arms, meanwhile, merely shrunk his down and pulled them right in, quivering in fear.

The determined Mari continued to fire shots towards the oncoming vehicles, for the second time that day presenting a warning to their oncoming threat that they wouldn't be doing down so easily. Once Ryder would've been afraid of her killing someone, at least until he learnt that she'd never been taught to use anything more than simple covering fire except in the most dire of emergencies. Ironically, it was he who had actually had to take the latter case.

"Are you guys alright?" Mari called to the figures on the newcomer's back, now revealed to be Kristy, DarkBiyomon and Seiko, as she put her gun back down under her pant leg, it clicking into place.

"No time for that – de-digivolve and get through the door into the tunnel!" Ryder interrupted, knowing that there simply wasn't the time for this all once again. The newcomers looked rather surprised, a similar expression on their faces to that of Natsuki, once again gobsmacked by the sight of a Digimon and the drama of the situation. Mari looked slightly offended at first, fading as the gravitas of the situation reissued itself.

"Right," Kristy replied, clambering off before helping her grandmother with the same, whilst DarkBiyomon simply took to the air, dealing with disembarking by flight far better than Donmon had. Of course that could've been due to her relative size or rather, lack of it.

A blur of light filled the air as Reppamon was replaced with the small and fairly tired-looking form of Kudamon, quickly picked up by a fearful Kristy who then looked up to her grandmother. "Let's go," Seiko replied, the trivialities of conversation when the Wong family had arrived now a complete impossibility.

And so, the pair of humans and of Digimon vanished into the tunnels, leaving only Ryder, Mari, their partners, Calumon, and, of course, Natsuki. Why was she still here?

"Come on, it's our turn," Ryder said, putting a hand on Mari's shoulder before looking to Natsuki. "Looks like you have to come with now." _"Seriously…she had every chance. Ugh, if she tells me that it's all my fault now…"_

With a saddened frown, she nodded, yet there was something in her expression that the boy couldn't quite place yet. This was all so odd – she really could've escaped. Was she too scared?

The trio and two Digimon quickly made a bee-line towards the doorway, Ryder going last and paying one glance over his shoulder, the din of engines now unmistakable. Had Reppamon drawn them here? Had it been Antylamon? He doubted it really mattered – what was done was done, and now they just had to get the hell out of there.

Calumon making worried moans from where he was held with one arm across Ryder's chest, the boy reached for the door handle with the other, pulling it sharply closed with a loud clatter. The world went dim, only brightening up once his eyes adjusted, now seeing the familiar insides of the tunnel.

It wasn't _too_ dark. Emergency lighting graced the walls, fairly bright white LEDs, but it was definitely a lot of shades greyer than the world outside in any case. The tunnel came to an abrupt circular end to his left, and to his right it stretched off as far as the eye could see, taking a curve en route.

"_It's all so…familiar." _This wasn't the first time he'd had such déjà-vu of course, but one of the few times he'd done so in a place so rarely featured in the television show. They'd come here to find Guilmon, to keep their Digimon safe whilst they dedigivolved, and to head over to fight the D-Reaper. So many memories, and whether swimming in a Digital Zone or telling Rika that her heart shirt looked nice, Takato of all of them had led with the most remarkable bravery. _"Then again, whether that's bravery or idiocy is another question entirely…"_

He gazed down the staircase, seeing Mari awaiting him a few steps below with a concerned gaze, and Natsuki only a few steps further on with a far more worried expression, DarkRenamon and Guilmon near her. At the bottom, in the centre of the tunnel, the rest of their enlarged group stood, all eyes on him as he cautiously continued down the thankfully-dry staircase. The last thing he needed right now was to trip up and fall onto Mari and Natsuki – they couldn't afford injuries right now.

Reaching the bottom, Mari suddenly rushed over to Seiko, her face full of surprise. Ryder raised an eyebrow. What had she seen? What was so unexpected? And why hadn't they noticed it before? He followed his girlfriend, the object in Seiko's arms quickly coming into the view.

It was a small baby, looking completely out of place in the tunnel and the chaos erupting all around their lives. A baby so innocent, so vulnerable, so…familiar…

"Rey!"

His mind burned with thoughts, ones that hadn't even been considered beforehand. She was only a few months old right now, and yet she was already caught up in this dangerous game. If she died…what happened to Rei? Where was Rei anyhow? Was she running too? Of all of them, Ryder knew he would wager the most on her survival, thanks to the time device she had to hand.

"_Plus, Rika's so protective of her – she rarely lets her out of her…sight…" _"Hold on…why do you have her? Where's Rika?"

"We didn't have a choice," Kristy quickly explained, a deep frown quickly arising on her face as Ryder quickly feared the worst. Was she dead? Was she missing? Was she captured? "Rika had to run to find Takato."

"_Or Takato had to run to find her no doubt. Either way, she's Chief Suspect – she's in deeper than any of us!"_

Would she be coming to the hideout? Would she have more military after them? Heck, even if she wasn't Chief Suspect, her godly powers made her a big enough target, and that meant problems for Takato too.

"_If they're together…are they safer? Or are they just in more danger?"_

"I know she'll be okay." A frown still on Seiko's face revealed that she wasn't as confident as she said. "And she'll be safer with Takato."

"Right now, as bad as it sounds, I think we need to keep ourselves safe first before thinking of anyone else," Mari said sadly, looking down the tunnel with a deep grimace, as DarkRenamon spoke an ominous thought.

"Let's just hope that we've done that. Do you want me to check the way?"

Ryder watched as Mari glanced towards the doorway, a worried look on her face, before a nod made DarkRenamon vanish from sight. A haunting echo soon after bounced from the tunnel portal, the sound of DarkRenamon's cloaked form being exaggerated by its shape.

He gazed back to his group, Kristy now looking up to Natsuki with a confused gaze. "Hey…who are you?"

Nods passed up amongst the others – they must've been too distracted by everything to ask so far. The blonde simply looked bewildered – it was probably something she had actually been grateful for. She put her hand on her chest.

"Sorry…my name is Natsuki Takara." There was a rather nervous tinge in her voice. "Uh…I'm from Digital Watch, and I went to interview Mari and Ryder, only, I got a bit swept up in this all."

"Hi, I'm Kristy Nonaka, and this is Kudamon."

"Hello."

Natsuki gazed down at the girl, eyes flitting across to her ferret-like partner. "Yeah, I know who you are. Sorry, I really don't want to sound evil or anything, but I know who all of you guys are."

"Good, that saves time," Ryder clapped his hands together and drew the attention of the group. "Which we really don't have," he added, turning to face the tunnel stretching off into, well, infinity, or at least it seemed so right now. The black pit at the far end was just thanks to the weakness of the lighting, and was rather haunting even if DarkRenamon hadn't yet returned to tell them that something lurked within.

"But they're coming after us…what happens if they catch up?" Lopmon asked, the First Angel once again feeling like all eyes were on him, all sharing the same thought, the same worry.

"We'll…we'll just have to stay ahead." Ryder pointed sharply down the tunnel and the darkness in the distance. "We don't have time to dawdle, so move it already!" _"Ugh, making orders doesn't seem right at all from me…I sound too mean…"_

Mari nodded in agreement, looking to Suzie and Kristy and furthering her boyfriend's orders. "Right, you two lead – DarkRenamon hasn't found anything in there yet, so I think we're safe that way." She turned to face Ryder, who nodded, before she gestured to the pair of them. "We'll bring up the rear and watch our backs."

"Everyone else stay between, okay?" Ryder finished, before a relieving round of nods crossed the group, worried looks remaining on the faces of the four 'normals'. Well, Seiko wasn't technically normal – she had DarkBiyomon, of course, but she couldn't digivolve, which meant she was a defence of last resort. _"Not that we'd have the spat to digivolve in here."_

The group finally began to move, Suzie and Kristy rushing forward with a mix of enthusiasm and apprehension on their faces. Mayumi and Jaarin hung close behind them, whilst, with a nodded look to DarkBiyomon, perhaps acknowledging their uselessness, Seiko followed promptly afterwards.

Natsuki paused momentarily, staring at him, Mari and Donmon with a slightly distant expression. Speechlessly, the two Angels began to walk, Natsuki making a move, only changing what she did once she was sternly told by Ryder to "stay in front".

The echo of footsteps bounced down the tunnel, and Ryder took a look back, another, a further one, every one more apprehensive than the last. The tinge of lights danced thanks to the passing figures, whilst every distant sound from behind preyed on his mind.

Time passed. Every minute racked up another notch of fear in his mind. No-one spoke, almost as if knowing that a single word would lead to an army of soldiers springing upon them. Maybe such wasn't the case though, maybe they were already fast approaching?

He glanced at those in front – they looked more apprehensive than him, maybe because they didn't have the experience (although Ryder doubted that his experience was really relevant to something like this), powerful dragon by their side, or the immortality that he benefited from no end in a situation like this. Well, at least, Ryder still hoped on the latter, and Mari's earlier request, nay, his earlier _promise_, hung on his mind.

* * *

"Well, anyway, I really don't want you testing it. I mean, how do we know it wasn't a lucky fluke? Maybe it'll just stop at the worst possible time? What if the conditions aren't right when it happens again and you end up…?"

"Mari, I won't," he quickly interrupted her worried array of ideas. "Not if I can help it. Honest. Promise."

* * *

Grimacing, he knew he couldn't test such a thing. Not just because of Mari, but his fears too. What if it really had been a lucky fluke? Albeit not in such a morbid category, more unlikely things had happened completely by chance in a row before failing entirely. Throwing three sixes didn't mean the fourth would be one too. _"And being dead, I don't think Retcon will do much good."_

A clatter rang down the hallway, a glance over his shoulder showing him nothing but the darkness now obscuring both where they had come from and where they headed. Feeling Calumon shiver in his arms, and mutter "I don't like this", he merely gripped on more tightly.

"_This is insane – Calumon couldn't hurt a fly, even if he could murder a...uh…packet? Bag? Container? Ugh, whatever, a something of Cream Puffs…now is not the time for semantics!"_

"Do you think that's them?" Mari's tone held such worry, and yet was whispered, attempting not to unnerve the others.

"_Hmm…it can't just be them entering, can it? A door opening doesn't make a sound, and I swear they entered at least a minute or two ago…but…that means…they're closing the door? Are they gone? I doubt it, they're not stupid enough to give up on something _this_ obvious. But…where are they then? Are they all in here?" _Ryder frowned, unable to think of any other reason why they would close the door other than behind them, which made it a very bad omen indeed. They had to be pursuing by now.

"I…" Ryder began, before an eerie clatter began to cry down the tunnel, a haunting rumble from behind interrupting him by answering his question for him.

"Mom, I'm scared." Given the situation though, Suzie's call to her mother was rather futile, the woman looking just as terrified as the rest of them.

"We have to do something," Ryder muttered, calling the attention of his girlfriend, their Digimon, Calumon in his arms and, inevitably, Natsuki from what he tried to make a quiet whisper. His hand went on his chin, looking back.

"Like what?" his partner asked.

What did they have?

Well, for starters, they obviously had Digimon, a great fighting asset. But…then again…Ryder was completely certain that Rayleigh wouldn't have forgotten such a thing in his calculations – the soldiers had to have some way of fighting back, and he had a nagging feeling that it was a large quantity of EMP guns.

What else? He and Mari were Angels, but both due to their inexperience and the sheer number of soldiers likely to now be barrelling down the tunnel towards them, he doubted they would help either – even if it worked, they would inevitably be wiped out completely by the measure and unable to move, or perhaps even unconscious.

Looking at the walls, he grimaced. _"Guessing a convenient alcove was a hope too far. This thing isn't even big enough to use any more powerful Digimon in even if we wanted to, and then there's the risk of killing someone. I really don't want to do that, or, you know, cause a cave-in right when we're the last people on this country's 'priority rescue' list right now I'm sure."_

Maybe simply trying to reason with them would work?

"_Peh, fat chance, and even if it did, I'm not going to risk everyone's lives by stopping."_

So what was there? Did they have anything they could do?

The next idea which hit him came with a bucket load of dread attached to it, the grim realisation that they really did only have one option occurring to him. One, very painful option, both emotionally and physically, especially if it went wrong. _"With my luck, this'll be that worst possible time that Mari worried about."_

"Ryder?" Mari asked, drawing him from his deep thoughts and forcing him to look directly into her eyes. He had no choice.

He stopped.

Normally, this wouldn't have surprised anyone, but right now, Mari looked ready to have a heart attack when she found herself a good few feet ahead of him all of a sudden. She spun round on her heels, looking to him incredulously.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Donmon and DarkRenamon quickly stopped too, whilst Ryder avoided their gaze by looking down. Only thing was, he quickly met the curious look of the creature in his arms, forcing him to look back up once again and face the music.

The group ahead of them had slowed too, almost to a stop as curious gazes were paid. He pointed sharply at them, barking an order. "Keep moving! We'll catch up!"

"But…" Kristy began.

"Go!"

Confused, the clatter of soldiers growing ever louder made them move again, Natsuki paying a worried gaze towards them before following after, leaving the pair of humans and trio of Digimon alone in their section of the tunnel.

"Okay, can you answer my…"

Ryder promptly interrupted her – time was pressing, at least for them. "These guys train day and night for crap like this, we're kidding ourselves to think that we can outrun them, let alone us, two kids and a woman with a baby. I'm sorry, but there's only one way out of this situation for you guys."

"Huh? What?" Mari looked bewildered again, before suspicion filled her eyes. "Wait…what do you mean by 'you guys'?"

Ryder swallowed, hard. This was it, and there was only one way she could respond. "I'm staying behind to hold them up."

"What?! No, you can't!" she cried, eyes widening in sheer alarm."Ryder, are you insane? They'll kill you!"

"I have to do it Mari." He tried to push back a tide of emotions and concentrate on his task, but all-too-soon failed miserably.

"But what if it doesn't work this time?!" Donmon shouted, Ryder quickly shushing him to keep the noise down (and hopefully silence some objections). The last thing he needed, given his current idea, was for them to know that he wasn't alone in this tunnel.

"Then we just have to really hope that my luck holds out," he said far more softly, knowing how stupid his words must've sounded. He was never one to go on luck usually, apart from when he was cursing a particularly bad run of it.

"Ryder! You promised!" Mari exclaimed, keeping quiet now completely out of the picture.

"I promised to not _test_ it – I'm going to use it to save all your lives."

"Great Ryder, kill yourself on a technicality," she spat harshly, glaring at him with those teary brown eyes, ones he had seen so many looks in thus far that day.

A chilling feeling ran down his spine as his own eyes widened, even if only slightly, all thanks to a lovely thought which had just dumped itself on his conscious, on his guilt, on him.

This could be the last time he saw her.

This could be his last day.

He could die.

As much as his own reasoning from so many times told him not to, he knew that death was still a possibility for him. It had to be. It was a long way from the dead cert it was for most, but it couldn't possibly be impossible? Right? There had to be a way. _"I just have to hope I don't have the luck of that."_

Exhaling, he gently let Calumon down to the ground and stepped forward, heading right up to her and looking down into her eyes. He wore a grimace on his face, she once again worse anger fighting fear on hers. A watery eye sprouted, and Ryder prayed that he wouldn't do the same. This wasn't how he wanted it to end.

If it ended.

"Please," she whimpered, as he placed his hands on her shoulders, partly for reassurance and partly to make it clear how much he needed her to pay attention before the soldiers arrived. He couldn't say anything twice.

"I'm sorry…I don't have a choice."

"We can fight!" DarkRenamon interrupted, stepping so close to Ryder that he could hear the incensed breath flowing from her maw, see how her green eyes prayed for another way, for Mari's sake if not all of theirs.

"Rayleigh's not an idiot…I'd bet everything I've ever had on him having an EMP gun on every soldier."

DarkRenamon's anger suddenly flipped, a fear washing through her eyes and a shudder racking through her posture as she relived such horrid memories, her eyes bolting shut as she bit through them, whilst Ryder was left with only more to add to his mountain of guilt. She fell speechless.

They'll be so much more powerful now – he doesn't trust us enough to risk the whole city solely on our backs. Last time, they were painful, but now…they could be fatal for you guys. So I'm not risking it all like that."

"But you _are _risking it all like that!" Donmon interrupted, his eyes making pleas for him to stop. How could he leave his partner? What would Donmon do if he did die? Would it be like…Chiyo?

Ryder pushed aside the thought that this somehow was penance for all that, instead shaking his head. "If I come back to life, then good, if I don't, then it's still better than all of us dying!"

"But…I couldn't live without you…" Mari cried, a stream trickling down her cheeks.

There it was. The crux of the matter. Mari relied on him – depended on him, for every emotion, for all that support, heck, even as just a best friend. Even without all of that – losing him meant losing yet another person she was so close to. What would she do if he died?

He shuddered a worse shudder than that on DarkRenamon as he considered the worst case scenario, before wishing that he'd never considered it. He dearly prayed that she wouldn't…

Pushing the idea down further than anything he had ever thought before, he pulled her close, her head resting on his shoulder and his arms right around her back. "Please don't cry," he said, hearing his own voice threatening tears too. His logical mind screamed for him to move already, but his heart didn't want to move an inch.

Finally, when he knew he could wait no longer, his lifted her head from him, looking down into her eyes as he made it clear what he planned to do.

"I'm going to tell them that you guys have gone over ground and that I was just a diversion – you all have to run the other way and get out of here, and then go to the hideout. Please, don't wait up for me. If I live, I'll find you, wherever you are."

"But…"

She was interrupted as he pushed his lips against her, this kiss being so different to that one less than an hour ago. How things had changed so rapidly, how he'd ended up, well, heading for his fate. She clung to him tight, putting her arms around him too like he had done to her, Ryder hoping desperately that he wouldn't have to fight to get her off him.

He resisted the need to frown as he began to bend downwards, her mind at first clearly thinking he was trying to break away and only gripping tighter. He fought against her, catching her completely off-guard when he clasped the end of her jeans leg, breaking from the kiss quickly and taking the gun from its holster underneath. He stood up again as she stared on in shock.

"Sorry."

The next thing he knew, he had turned, running away as fast as he could and not daring to look back, holding that last image of her bewilderment in his mind for as long as he could, a rising tide of guilt breaking over into his mind more and more with every time he thought of it.

The gun, now promptly being shoved into his pocket? His insurance, although he wasn't sure what for. The soldiers were only more likely to kill him now.

He told himself that it wasn't to prevent Mari trying anything if he did die.

Nonetheless, all his thinking aside, he could still hear her squirming behind him. He paid the quickest of glances back, seeing in the dim light as she was held back by DarkRenamon's arm around her waist. Immediately, he cursed himself for not saying a proper goodbye to her, let alone his own partner, and even Calumon, a figure who, like all of them, was now becoming more and more consumed by the darkness behind.

He worried he'd trip, not looking where he was going, but he didn't want to turn, he didn't want to miss those final few moments of seeing his friends, his partner, her.

Eventually, when absolutely nothing remained of them, he turned his head.

And was immediately blinded by an array of lights attached to an array of guns, all pointed straight at him by an array of soldiers, only the slightest hint of surprise on the faces of the unmasked ones about how he had for some reason been running straight towards them (and not watching where he was going either).

"Stop!"

Unlike normal, the tinge of humour in his mind about him having done so well before they had ordered him to did absolutely nothing to cheer him up, to push away the wave of fear and depression currently inundating his mind.

"I…"

"Put your hands out and do not move! You are under arrest on the emergency orders of the Chief Cabinet Secretary, any hostile intent will lead to execution," barked who Ryder presumed was the chief of this particular group of soldiers, the blinding light making it impossible to really see the silhouetted soldiers deciding his fate. "What is your name?"

Ryder found it hard to talk, his throat running dry as he regardless did what they instructed him to do other than that, finding himself in a position so familiar to so many thriller novels and shows.

"You will answer all questions presented to…"

"Ryder Stevens," He found his voice slightly raspy. "I didn't do anything."

"Your group is under suspicion of conspiring to murder the Prime Minister with confirmed proof."

"From who? And what happened to a fair t…?"

"These orders come from the highest authority."

"_God's involved? Well, that would be my luck."_

"Why were you running towards us?"

Ryder gave the darkest chuckle he could, bringing a smile to his face. "I'm a diversion…one which you guys were stupid enough to follow – everyone else went over ground.

The soldiers, annoyingly, weren't buying it. "Why would you split up from the remainder of your group to risk death then?"

"It's what we do," he said grimly, still unable to see who he was talking to at all. He wasn't even going to learn his executioner, or rather, as it seemed, executioners, given he could see at least a dozen male silhouettes through it all. It didn't matter who they were anyway – they all followed the same orders, exactly to the letter. It was how they were trained.

To some extent, Ryder felt it wasn't their fault – they really didn't have a choice as soldiers. But as humans…they clearly did.

"You are a fool to underestimate us then."

Ryder chuckled, before he stood, arms braced, held outwards as he awaited his fate, the lights illuminating his face as he closed his eyes.

"Trust me, it's not the stupidest thing I've ever done – you guys don't know the half of it."

"Another squad of soldiers is currently heading over ground to intercept at the other end of the tunnel – there will be no escape."

Ryder's terrified eyes widened as the thought hit him like a truck. _"Shit, I didn't think of that!"_

Quickly, he span on his feet and broke into a run back towards where he had come from as thoughts raced through his mind rapidly. His friends, Donmon, Mari, everyone! They were all about to run headfirst into the other soldiers with no escape!

He stumbled, half from his jump-start and half thanks to the sound of shouting and guns from behind. Struggling to reclaim his balance and come to a standstill, he watched in horror as the gun flew from his pocket, clattering to the concrete and prompting an even more alarmed round of shots from behind.

"He's armed – shoot to kill!"

He only saw the blinding light of his foes for one second after turning before pain ripped through him and a deafening round of echoed bangs filled the air.

All his senses overwhelmed by pain, death came as a welcome relief.

**END OF PART TWO**


	18. Phase One: Ryder Stevens III

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Ryder Stevens_

**Part Three**

* * *

**UNKNOWN DATE**

* * *

**Unknown Place**

**Unknown Time**

White. All white. For a second, it seemed like he was in front of those guns again, trying to look his enemies straight in the eye but failing miserably in the process.

It was similar, but not identical. He still found himself unable to see anything, even as sounds began to swirl in his mind from around him. He still found himself with an unbelievably heavy feeling of dread and fear. And yet…somehow, he felt more optimistic – he was not being blinded, he simply couldn't see. He was not being shouted at; he was just hearing blobby noises. And he didn't seem any more to be in a dark, dingy tunnel, alone and…dying.

This thought made him shudder.

Or, at least, he wanted to.

"_Huh?" _he wondered, trying to move a muscle, any muscle.

Only, it seemed that neither his forehead nor his arm nor his leg wanted to respond or anything else for that matter. He wasn't even able to widen his eyes in shock as this newfound discovery, all he could do simply being staring up as the white light slowly died away, revealing a grid of…ceiling tiles?

"_What is this place?"_

The odd thing, other than being unable to move and having ended up god-knows where, was that these tiles were not perfect at all. Wear and tear had had its turn, a crack here, a hole there, and one was slightly dislodged, leaving a gap up between it and the mesh which held them all in place.

Even stranger still was that this is all he found he could see – he was stuck with tunnel vision, literally this time round. His vision was clearing still but wasn't completely perfect, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't all…wherever he was yet. Then again, he couldn't shake at all full stop. It was pleasant nonetheless to no longer have lights straight in his eyes, although there was a yellowy tinge to this current light that made him presume it was artificial of some kind.

Smells wafted past his nose, each more clinical and unpleasant than the last, a mixture of bleaches and cleaning products and yet an all-pervading odour prevailed, a sickly one dominating all. Where on earth was he?

A nicer fragrance finally reached him – maybe some kind of flower? It definitely wasn't his area of specialty, but the scent was indeed a lot sweeter and nicer than most. It reached his tongue, a rather strong aroma from it thankfully replacing the rather unpleasant and strong taste he found on it at first, the result of the previous most powerful smell's influence perhaps?

He began to notice that his senses were returning one by one now, as he found his sense of touch the next to reawaken. The main sensation he found upon it doing so was a lovely, soft feeling from below, but without being able to move his hands to manipulate what he was on he found himself rather limited.

Suddenly, came sound.

A random cacophony of bleeps, echoes and murmurs quietly filled the air, background noise probably for most in…wherever he was, but for him sounding like a roar. He paused, getting over the sudden return of his hearing and being pleased that all of his senses had returned fine in the end.

And then, he heard it.

"No…"

A voice, a female voice in fact, coming from nearby, very nearby. He heard a whimper, wondering if its creator was crying. An image of Mari in the tunnel flashed through his mind, those tears streaming down her face thanks to the overwhelming emotion of losing him.

Had she? Was he gone? Was he dead? Was this his world, or another? Maybe it was her who was crying? He couldn't yet make out the voice.

"I know you can hear me."

Ryder found himself surprised, but he still found himself unable to express such in any way. Had he been completely paralysed by being shot? And, either way, how did this girl know he could hear her? Was she near him? She didn't sound all that near, which just made things even odder. Whatever it was, he was beginning to rue this light feeling in his mind, a feeling he increasingly felt had something t do with why he couldn't move even if he couldn't quite place it yet.

But, he could still listen, and touch, and smell, and taste and hear, even if few of them seemed to be much use and others seemed to be more of a hindrance right now.

And so he did, only to discover that he didn't like what he heard.

"Please Ryder. Don't die."

Ryder sat up, the paralysis vanishing completely as if it were simply waiting on those words to rid itself from him. His eyes swung round, both surprised that the voice knew his name, and surprised because he knew exactly who it was who was saying it, in soft, dulcet tones with a tearfulness behind them, all-too-familiar to Mari once again even if she wouldn't have liked the comparison with…

"Ivy!"

Mumbling his words was a fair bit of restraint on his part, he wanted to go ahead and shout them in shock, but the risk of someone hearing held him back.

In any case, there she was, the same Ivy he ever knew. Blonde hair, flowing down her back, framing her blue eyes where it ran around her face, her features angelic to Ryder's already amazed mind. Her clothes were like ever, a plain white dress, only now they were fastened with a black belt rather than cummerbund, and that was not the only difference he could notice. Little bits here and there had changed, his catalogue of observations from many an infatuated stare shaken up somewhat. Her hair was shorter, her face seemed slightly more mature, and whilst the D-Vice remained on her arm, currently in its camouflage 'watch' form, it sat next to an array of cuts and bruises running up to where the limb vanished into her dress. What had happened? How did she get so injured? What had he missed?

What hit him the hardest were the tears. They streamed easily down her face and being replenished even faster each time, plops of them landing on the speckled floor below, he shifted forward slightly, ready to comfort her, before he stopped short, a burst of reality hitting him.

"_What's going on? Where am I? Why is Ivy here?"_

The questions crashed through, as his head shook about, looking to every plug on the wall, to every crack in the ceiling titles, to the door with the glass pane in the centre of it. The harsh artificial lights shone down, seeming rather bizarre to have for what he quickly realised to be…

"_A hospital. No, wait, let's put that right – _my_ local NHS hospital, or, at least, my _former _hospital. But why am I here? And how? And…just…what the bloody hell is going on?!"_

He shifted forward slightly, leaping to his feet and turning his head back to see where he had been sitting, a medical trolley in the corner of the hospital room, covered in sheets, all disturbed.

Blood had dried into one of the sheets, and despite the evident best efforts to clean it, it was still a stain on there. Maybe that was why it had been left aside. Maybe it was there so that it could be attended to later? Either way…why was he on it?

And furthermore, if it had brought someone in, who was it?

He looked up and towards the hospital bed which Ivy sat on a chair near, looking past the small puddle of tears, past the blue sheets over the form and past all the equipment hooked up to whoever the poor guy was, and finally laid eyes on their face.

Or rather, _his_ face.

His eyes widened greatly, his jaw-dropping more than he thought possible, as he found himself staring at…well…himself, only this version of himself didn't seem to be able to stare back.

What the hell was going on?

Why was he in a hospital bed?

Why was he asleep?

Why was Ivy crying?

If that was him, who was he?

Who was the real him?

He put his hand to his forehead, his mind swimming with questions, with worries, with theories, with absolutely everything, his eyes locked on his own motionless form in the bed, every single bleep of the heart monitor echoing around his skull until…

"Can you hear me?"

He blinked in surprise at Ivy's voice, looking out once again only to see she'd moved to be leaning over his form in the bed, an apprehensive look on her face as she gently reached out and stroked his, or, at least, the other Ryder's.

"They said…they said you might be able to hear things in there…unless they were just trying to cheer me up." She shook her head forcefully. "No, no, I'm sure you can. If you can hear me, maybe you'll wake up sooner." She stared at his face for a moment, still stroking his skin longingly. "Ryder…please…I don't know what it's like for you…maybe it's a dream or something…but…you've got to come back to me, you have to make a choice, you have to make _that_ choice…please. If you don't open your eyes, you'll be stuck there…and…I'll…miss you. We all will."

An even deeper and more nervous frown crept onto her face, as she looked down towards the sheets, a hand clutching at them and stretching them up into her palm before releasing them again.

"You always were a bit of a dreamer, always stuck outside the real world. Maybe you don't even realise you're asleep? Maybe you prefer that? Do I want to save you if you don't want to save yourself?" She anxiously shook her head in denial. "No…I'm being stupid again…of course you'd want to wake up…ugh…I'm as bad as you with dreaming…even if my dreams aren't as weird as yours always were. YI (YI?) sometimes thought you preferred all that to reality. I hope that all changed as we got to know each other more…I…I hope…but…Ryder…" she fought with herself, groaning mentally. "Even if you are enjoying this, I'm sorry but…you have to wake up…I really can't live without you...none of us can – our lives just won't be the same. Ryder, if you can hear me…you need to know the bad news…you have to wake up."

Ryder suddenly felt a swarm of déjà-vu sweep through him, his mind flashing back to certain words, certain phrases, certain things she had said which sounded oh-so familiar, even in tone.

* * *

"**Ryder, you need to know the bad news."**

"**I'm sorry but you have to make a choice."**

"**Save yourself."**

"**If you don't open your eyes, you'll be stuck there."**

"**I'm sorry but…y…h…"**

* * *

And before…before when she had called him on the phone…

* * *

"**I'm here."**

"**Ryder, can you hear me?"**

"**Ryder, please…can you hear me…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't die."**

"**I'm here Ryder. I'm going to be here until you get better. I promise, I'm not leaving you there."**

"**The others have given up hope, but not me. I know you'll pull through. You can't give up now, you have to fight Ryder. Please, fight, do it for m…"**

* * *

And New Years…

* * *

"**Happy New Year Ryder."**

* * *

Was that what he was hearing? Was he just hearing bits and pieces of what Ivy said to him which ended up pressed into his…well…coma, appearing here and there and seeming like she was the one invading his world when in reality it was the other way around? Then maybe that guy in the bed was the real him, maybe the 'him' he 'was' wasn't really him? Was he having an out-of-body experience? Was he…just asleep, with everything he knew being nothing but his overactive imagination?

"_Ugh, this makes me Sam Tyler then…in which case…how do I get home? And why on earth am I even having these dreams? And why are they so elaborate? And why am I doing this to myself? Do I just want to torture myself?_

He shuddered, considering the evidence. He couldn't die. Ivy kept sending messages through to him. Things kept happening which didn't make sense. His 'dream girl', as imprecise as those thoughts had been once upon a time, seemed to be walking around, fully fleshed out and now his girlfriend. He'd biomerged, he was an Angel. He was able to mess with probability and time and even knew a time traveller. And…the Digidestined and the Tamers, all from the series…were…were they just…fake? Imaginary people filling an imaginary world of imaginary happenings with no rules, no logic and, in the end, no point.

An image of Mari's tearful eyes only a few minutes ago (or at least it seemed) crossed his conscious, making him shudder again. It all seemed so real…_she_ seemed so real. How could it be so fake? Why would it be so fake? Was he really trying to torture himself, and why? Why would he want that when his real life prospects were so optimistic – being a Digimon Tamer, getting closer and closer to Ivy, maturing along the way and learning a lot of lessons? Wasn't that enough?

The annoying thing was a little voice at the back of his head nagged that it wasn't. Sure, he was a Tamer, but his battles and life weren't much like the show at all – they were real, and they had had some bad luck too. Plus, there were never any conveniences – no catalyst to suddenly cause evolution, no additional Tamer once on the dark side or beyond joining their group to rally their forces later on, and simply an enemy, Arkadimon, who just kept getting stronger. Anyone else was just a diversion, not a competing bad guy. And, thanks to his own stupidity, he somehow felt he was never going to truly get anywhere with the blonde he adored so much, fear of wrecking a relationship always standing in the way. Heck, the only reason why he'd ended up dating Mari was because she'd fallen for him first, his ideal situation compared to what he'd faced before.

And there it was. The truth was life 'in reality' was just…disappointing. Everything impressive came with a mountain of letdowns towering over it. Everything he tried failed. He was just a bog standard human with the luck to gain a Digimon, and he had ended up being simply one who cared for a potentially violent pet, rather like the Tamer name suggested. Even his group didn't listen to him always – he was hardly the inspiring leader like Tai, and later on in their Gogglehead careers Takato, Davis and Takuya had turned out to be.

He found himself unable to breathe thanks to the crushing pain of it all, but it didn't seem to matter. If this was an out-of-body experience, it wasn't like he could die. Well, unless it translated across to the Ryder in the bed on the other side of the room, that was.

All he'd done was run from reality. All he was doing was fooling himself. And all he felt like doing was escaping still further from it all.

"_I have to wake myself up," _he decided, wandering across towards Ivy, not the slightest hint on her face making it seem like she knew he was there. Maybe this would be like last time; maybe she would see him, if only in that final moment.

He came to a stop, taking a glance down at the Ryder in the bed alongside him with yet more frowns. This seemed so…surreal, but what was happening told him that such was definitely possible in…well, whatever world he was in.

"Can you hear me?"

No answer.

"Can you see me?"

No answer.

Ryder reached out for her, going to place his arm on her shoulder. "Can you feel…?"

No contact.

His eyebrows shot up as his hand went right through her shoulder, a grisly sight which made him pull it back with a start. Was this just like last time? Would he have any control at all? Could he touch anything? Before, he seemed to become more and more physical as things went on, if only to Ivy.

Despite the confusing and off-putting nature of the sight, he reached out again, his hand once again making no contact with her unknowing form's shoulder. It went through perfectly, vanishing into her without the sort of halo, special effect or anything one would expect from such a move. Glancing behind and reaching through further, he found his hand came out the other side, just as perfectly.

"This is…so weird…" he wondered, reaching for her face, finding no contact once again. He couldn't feel her soft skin, her long blonde hair, her blue eyes, even when he got close enough to smell the perfume she wore. Looking down, he moved his foot towards her leg – nothing. Trying further, her stomach, her arms, her hands, her breasts, even her groin – nothing! "I…I just don't…exist."

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he took a step forward, standing right where she stood and turning to exactly where she stood before reopening them, crouching down slightly to make sure their eye lines matched.

But all he did was see straight through her, like she was a glitch in a video game, like there were no collisions enabled. He stayed where he was, wondering if somehow being 'inside' her meant he could communicate with her. _"Ivy." _"Ivy," he began, both thinking and saying everything. "Can you hear me?" _"Can you read my mind? Can I read yours?"_

Finding it increasingly weird, he decided to try a different tactic.

"Look to your right."

Nothing.

"Frown."

No difference – she was already doing plenty of that, and if he'd done anything at all the only effect it had was her tears increasing, something he doubted was directly his doing. An equally deep grimace worked its way onto his face.

"Please don't cry," he pleaded, to no avail. He finally stepped 'out' of her, turning back to face her as he tried to come to terms with what he had just done, where he had just been.

He had literally stood in the exact same position as another person, looking out from behind their own eyes – in a weird way, he had _been_ another person, Ivy no less, and even if it didn't work it still let so many questions prey on his mind, not least how glad he was that he didn't simply see her insides. Was he protecting himself from such things within his coma? How was he doing this anyway? How did he know what was going on outside his coma state?

Then again, he'd been in a coma before, back in the 'fake' world, and he knew that he'd both heard things from their side and that they'd heard him talking too. Not being conscious didn't mean that one wouldn't still be aware of their surroundings, and if he'd been in this room long enough perhaps he really could have worked it all out. Maybe the room didn't really look like this?

Another question came to him: what had actually happened to put him in a coma? Had he been hit by a car? A bit cliché but maybe that was why his universe increasingly seemed like _Life on Mars_? He knew how his own mind worked – relationships between this and that, things seeming like something else, always curious and always trying to work out how things all worked together.

He stood back, trying to pull his head together and think things through, as he stared over Ivy, still standing by the side of his unconscious form. Frowning, he wandered across, reaching for the nearby seat to move it for her to sit on again but finding his hand, sure enough, went straight through. He looked to the corner of the bed, walking directly towards it and, once again, going straight through without even the slightest resemblance of feeling. Finally, he reached for the bed he knew he had been lying on earlier, yet now…now he couldn't feel it at all.

Worried about what was quickly becoming beyond comprehension, he looked down at the ground, right now the one thing that seemed to recognise him being there. He went to test it, maybe by jumping or kicking it, but then decided it would be stupid. Right now, it was the only thing keeping him up – without it, he'd probably just fall straight through to the centre of the Earth. Well, that was, if gravity worked on him at all, and if it didn't maybe he wasn't actually touching the ground at all – maybe he just assumed he should've been? But then why couldn't he touch anything else like he expected to, and why…

"Ugh, what the hell is up with this world?!" he finally exploded, screaming out for all he could. "WAKE UP ALREADY!"

No one answered. No on even noticed. He just didn't exist, full stop.

Teeth now seething, he stormed back across, straight through the corner of the bed once again and going straight to Ivy. It was time to be impulsive, time to be risky, time to be random and do things which had worked before, which had even made him rather well noticed.

Leaning forward and out of habit putting his arms around to where he thought her shoulders would've been (if he could touch them, of course), he went to push his lips against hers.

Anger was replaced by hopelessness as he found even that didn't work, the only change he found was being able to look closer than ever before into those wide blue eyes. He felt fit to cry, to let tears fall just like the ones right now so close he wanted to wipe them from her visage. He could still hear her, smell her, see her, but not being able to make contact he couldn't feel her, and he knew naturally he couldn't taste her, not being able to kiss her and all. Were his senses, ones which had taken painfully long to return, all fading again? Or had they only worked for that short while?

He leaned back again, looking down at her once again and wondering how real she was. Perhaps…perhaps it was the other way around, perhaps this universe was fake?

Yet…it seemed so real, heck, it seemed just as real as the other one, if not more because here at least he could directly compare more than just the fairly simple and uniform shapes of Donmon and the D-Vices. Digimon tended to be fairly uniform, but Ivy…Ivy had small freckles on her face, she had moles, she had little imperfections in her hair which drove her nuts but made him stare on in adoration as always. And they were all there, right down to the smallest detail, as close as he could push his eyes to each of them. He rethought his plan, instead looking for what had changed, and frowning.

Cuts and bruises, here and there, all making him think she'd been through the wars, or at least in a difficult battle of some kind. What had happened? Was that what put him in a coma? Had they won?

Sighing, he began to realise that, with all of these new discoveries, he knew even less than he thought, and before he'd thought that he in reality knew pretty much zilch. This was all becoming so absurd.

He continued to look for what had changed, bending down and looking closely at the idling D-Vice on her wrist. It, however, looked just like always, but all the while, his eyes looked past it, at her seemingly slimmer stomach behind. _"Has she lost weight?" _he pondered, something he would normally have passed off as his mind playing tricks and not knowing her real size but which seemed right now to be all the more important. His mind danced back to earlier, when he'd noted that she seemed older too. How long had passed? How long had he been in a coma for? If it was anything like how much time seemed to have passed for him, it must've been a while.

Did she intentionally lose weight? Was it out of worry? What was going on?

He looked up at her face, knowing that his current position, bending over and staring straight at her belly, or, at least, where the dress flowed over it, would normally have earned him at least a bewildered gaze if not a nervous escape. For the first time so far, however, a slim smile came to his face as he decided to see if his little slip-up in terms worked just as well on the blonde as it had on a certain brunette.

"You look hot," he said nervously, standing up straight and looking her up and down, an odd sincerity to his voice.

And yet, as he had become used to by now, she simply didn't reply, or, indeed, do…anything. Everything suddenly felt so useless. Everything here was so bizarre and confusing, so familiar yet so different, so...devastating. He had to get out.

Turning, he looked back to himself, in the bed. Maybe he was barking up the wrong alley here, maybe the solution was Ryder – that was, the _other_ Ryder. He took a step closer, reaching out and holding his breath in anticipation as he found the strange sensation of looking right at himself so close up to be rather troubling.

No contact.

"_No…" _he mentally whimpered, but there was little point to not saying anything out loud here it seemed. "What do I do?" he cried, before being interrupted by a knock at the door, or rather, an odd clatter of something against the class.

Ivy's head shot round, her frozen, thought-struck self drawn rapidly from its trance and instead looking rather nervous about being walked in on. "Come in," she said, her voice timid with sadness.

In wandered a pair of Digimon, an all-too familiar pair at that – Donmon and Lunamon, both looking pretty tired and off put themselves as the latter held a pair of cola cans in her ears, Donmon holding another open one in his claw. "Are you okay?" the bunny asked, eyes conveying such care for her Tamer as she leapt up onto the bed, the shakes doing little to disturb the boy underneath the sheets.

"No…" the blonde said softly, whilst Donmon wandered around, looking up to the other Ryder in the bed with a sad melancholic look.

"We should've gotten him a can too."

"He can't drink it though," Lunamon rained on his parade.

"Yeah but…if he wakes up, he might be thirsty," Donmon hoped, all that jokey and light-hearted banter Ryder was used to hearing from the 'mon now completely evaporated. Lunamon simply gave a saddened smile at him, evidently not wanting to denounce his ideas any further.

"Not sure I have enough money on me for that right now," Ivy noted, sighing deeply.

"Maybe you should go see the others? I'm sure they miss you, and they'll be able to support you too."

Ivy shook her head quickly, frowning deeply. "No…I want to be here when he wakes up…I want to tell him how much I love him, and I want him to know that he's got me…he can't just wake up alone in a hospital bed...

"But he might still...you have to go to school and home to sleep," Donmon noted, but Ivy shook her head.

"The school understands…we're all still so shocked…and the others…the others rely on me for this, they know I'm closest to him…I'm not letting him down when he needs me the most."

Ryder grimaced. Was he holding her back? Was it his fault if her grades suffered? He was harming her so much, emotionally, academically, maybe even physically if not being there to protect her in whatever battle had caused those injuries counted as such.

He gazed over Donmon and Lunamon, wandering over to the latter first and, sure enough, going straight through her rabbit-like frame. He grimaced, even Digimon didn't seem to make much difference. Looking up, he found Donmon going around the end of the bed so as to be closer to the other two, and was left even more confused and saddened as his closest friend, someone he had even become one with, literally just walked straight through him like he didn't exist.

This was the final straw, a scream once again trying to escape his lungs before he simply ran, ran in a perfectly straight line through every wall he came to. He passed patient after patient, doctor after doctor, store cupboard after store cupboard – no one noticed him at all, and nothing presented any resistance to him. Finally, and, to his surprise, he reached the edge, eyes widening in horror as he began to plummet six storeys down, worries manifesting on his mind that the fall would kill him.

He landed.

That was all that he could really say about what happened. He didn't bounce, and he definitely didn't become a large splat on the ground, even though he did end up on his hands and knees. Looking around from where he lay, he saw a white line a few feet from him, raising an eyebrow in surprise right before a roaring car rushed straight through him.

And yet…nothing, nothing at all. He couldn't die. It was something he felt used to by now, but, here, it meant an all-together different thing. At least back in the 'fake world', there was some point to living without death – he could protect his friends like he had done, even if he knew that there were soldiers laying in wait, ready to capture his friends. His 'fake friends', at least.

He leapt back to his feet with a start, knowing why he needed to wake up, to at least get out of this bizarre land of non-existence, regardless of where he ended up afterwards. Gazing straight upwards, he did something he had never done in a while, a sharp finger pointed to the heavens above.

"HEY!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, pain coming from how hoarse it made his throat but his mind forcing him to press on. "WHY AM I HERE?! WHY ME?! WHY CAN'T I WAKE UP?! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!"

Nothing, not a cloud, not a burning bush, not Morgan Freeman walking up to him and explaining all. Taking a deep breath, he went for one last call.

"ANSWER ME!!!"

Breathing deeply, he hunched over, feeling increasingly sick from everything that happened. His head swam with a headache, more and more cars running straight through him. He lurched over, ready to propel vomit onto the ground but finding nothing left his mouth but the feeling of nausea, a slight relief but one that gave him an unfortunate revelation.

He could take no mark, he could leave no mark – he could do nothing to this world. Ever.

Falling to his knees and ignoring any cars which continued to drive through him, he began to cry, even if his tears vanished the second they left his face. He was the man forever doomed to nonexistence, unless he could find a way out of here, unless he could do something.

But what? He couldn't see very many options. But…if he couldn't escape…what could he do? What possible point would there be to him in a world like this, doomed to forever watch his unconscious self and hope he'd awake? But would he? If he was watching himself, could he awake? Even if that version of him did awake, who was to say it would have any impact on the real, real, real world?

He wanted to find the best in things. In spite of the sadness it brought, he'd tried to make the most of his immortality. Of being taken away from his home world. Even just of having to live in such 'interesting times'. But this…this…gift? Curse? Whatever it was, how on earth could he use it?

Blindly, he began to walk, wandering back towards the hospital thanks to having no idea where else to go. At least this way he could check up on Ivy, at least this way he could maybe be like…her guardian angel. But angels were meant to intervene, and he couldn't do anything at all. He would just have to live his entire life, following her every move. There might have been perks, of course, but anything like watching her change would only come at the expense of his guilt and respect for her. And what if she did move on? Would he be forced to watch her fall in love? Would he have to find someone else to follow? Would he, in the end, be simply…forgotten?

Reaching the automatic doors, he paused, the pair closing shut in front of him as he watched. He knew he could simply walk straight through of course, but he felt like he had to test every opportunity, and so, raising his hands, he said, in a defeated voice "Retcon."

Nothing. No doors suddenly being given the right probability to be open perfectly for his entry, no other random occurrences around him which seemed unlikely, and, although it was in all honesty a good thing, no crippling tiredness as a result.

Exhaling, he simply walked through, continuing through the entrance area without even paying much attention to all those people around him. What did they matter? They couldn't see him.

Laziness drew him to the lift, but he stopped in front of it, wondering if it would even work. Begrudgingly, he turned, instead heading along the hallway and up the first set of escape stairs, passing door after door until he finally reached the fifth floor, or, as he had become used to knowing it in Japan and from Mari, the sixth floor. A melancholic sigh came from his lips as he thought of her again, considering that even living in that world he now knew had to be fake was better than this.

He walked out into the hallway, feeling suddenly disheartened by the sheer number of rooms on either side of it, and knowing that it wasn't the only one here. He turned to the nearest wall, taking a simple step through and dearly hoping that it wasn't being used for anyone with some horrifying disfigurement or illness. Thanking the heavens which he had just rued, he turned, looking to the next wall, and knowing beyond was another room. He ran towards it, breaking out once again at full pace through the rooms.

Turning at the end, he worked his way back up the next side, and then did so once again, systematically going through the whole building until finally, just finally, his eyes caught a flash of blonde, a burst of red and a smidgen of pink and purple, all out of pattern with the rest of the rooms. He couldn't stop fast enough, finding himself instead a few doors down and a bit lost as to where to go. Stepping to one side, he moved back into the corridor, looking down it and beginning to pace back along, gazing through every window in turn in the hope of seeing his friends and her.

It didn't take long – three doors away, he came to a patient room, the number **29 **above the doorframe. Stepping forth and not bothering to try and open it (not least because he knew he physically couldn't), he found himself back in there again, Ivy now sitting on the edge of his bed whilst Donmon and Lunamon watched her, all in silence. The room seemed deadened by now…both due to the lack of any smell from the cleaning products or the nice flowers (inevitably either from his parents or from the blonde) on the side, and due to the fact that everyone had become so…glum. Unmoving. Not wanting to move. Not wanting to do…anything.

It was all so…sad.

Ryder grimaced still further, amazed that he could even feel this depressed without a physical body or mind. He wandered towards himself, walking straight through the middle of the bed before looking over to Ivy once again. Her own depression…it was all his fault, all his fault for doing whatever he did.

He could hear Mari's inevitable laugh upon hearing such a thing, and he knew that she'd tell him how silly he was.

So there he was. That was the real crux of the matter.

"So…that's it. Somehow, I ended up in a different world far from my old life, a world where my dreams are becoming a reality," he mused, before peering at his hand, and then looking down to 'his' hand below, laying on the bed loosely and with no intention to ever move. "And where my life is never simple, and is always interesting."

Flitted glances were taken at Lunamon, Donmon and Ivy, skirting the edges of the bed where he stood, poking out of his own stomach as he stared down at his sleeping face below.

"Ugh…the worst thing is that I know that if my two worlds collide, I'm going to have to make a sacrifice," he continued, glancing back and forth between Donmon and Ivy. A decision would be needed, just like that which Ivy had seemingly suggested at in the phone call earlier, even if its words turned out to simply be randomly sliced out of her talking to his unconscious self.

The decision was simple,

"Dreams or Reality."

No, wait…that wasn't the choice. Neither world really seemed all that real anyway, and he found himself preferring the idea of happiness and contentment, even if it wasn't in reality.

"Friends or Family."

It was getting closer to his true feelings on the matter, but he still knew it was all a façade to cover up his real question, the question deep down he'd held and mused so many times before.

"Mari or Ivy."

A harsh groan came from his lips, his head feeling fit to explode as he wished for some clarification, some logic, someone to just come out and tell him the truth already.

"If I just knew the truth, maybe I could decide."

Why couldn't he just find the truth? What was stopping him? Who was stopping him? How could he test it? What could he do?

He turned his head about, seeing Ivy, Donmon and Lunamon…talking. At least, their lips were moving, even if he could hear no sound. Heck, he found he couldn't hear anything at all. And he couldn't smell anything either, or taste the air, or even feel anything – his clothes didn't register in his mind. He felt completely numb, the only sense still working being his eyes, and he had the feeling that it wouldn't be long before they themselves failed too.

Was he…fading?

Was he…dying?

Was he…going home?

Fear struck his mind like lightning, as he told himself that he had to do…something. Anything. Anything that gave him the chance of averting his death, anything!

Looking back down at himself, he gritted his teeth and pulled his fingers into a fist. He shot one last look towards Ivy, Donmon and Lunamon, one last look at this bizarre world, one last look before he took a definitive step to waking up, or, at least, escaping to another place where he would be more physical and…well…real.

"Because if I know one thing…it's that my luck always fails right at the worst times…"

And with that, he threw his fist forward, straight at his unconscious face, knuckles drawing closer and closer and…

Darkness.

* * *

Taking a desperate breath, Ryder sat up, a cold sweat running down his face as he came face to face with someone he half didn't expect to see, and yet oddly, half did.

He felt…alive again. He could see things, he could hear echoes, he could smell deodorant and sweat, he could feel breath and water on his face, and he could taste the stale air in what quickly became the tunnel around him, his world rebuilt as his senses rebooted and became aware again.

But his eyes were focused on one thing, one thing which stared straight back at him, a pair of brown eyes matching an agape mouth in their surprise at him.

Eyes belonging to none other than Mari. The 'fake' Mari.

Ryder fell into her arms, the sheer exhaustion of what had just happened wracking through his body so much that the only cure right now was that magical thing known as an embrace. He gripped her tightly, and she gripped back too, never wanting to let go from this world that now seemed so amazing in its existence yet also so…meaningless, and temporary. That worried him the most, and dominated his mind as much as he tried to be pleased to see her and comfort her.

His palms pressed onto her back, feeling the fabric of her top and the flow of her soft skin underneath, the bones of her spine running under that. He felt her hands on him – reciprocal contact, something he'd begged for so much when back in that godforsaken purgatory.

The thing was, from her fingers gently caressing his back to the smooth curve of her back under his…she felt so…real. She was real. She had to be. Didn't she?

His eyes opened from where his head leant on her shoulder, finding they were both low to the ground, the slightly blurry (thanks to tears now manifesting in his eyes) white, red and black forms nearby being a reassuring sight nonetheless as they watched over him.

"You're alive!" he heard Donmon fall, but he closed his eyes again, trying to hold back the tears he felt coming from Mari too, every sob bringing with it a shake in her form.

"I was so worried you'd left me," she cried, Ryder pulling back before, still not speaking, pressing his lips against hers and holding her tight as she fell likewise into line, the moment becoming even better and, compared to what to him seemed only a minute or two ago, the best moment in the history of his existence, ever. Even if it was 'fake'. But…it felt so real, the way their tongues met, the way she seemed to have her own mind in everything, even the slight imperfections on her skin, all so random. All so…exact. Was this really a coma world? But…but…he had seen himself in a coma – he knew that right now he was lying in a hospital bed and all this was fake, right down to every sense he felt, from touch to taste, all thankfully returned and as vibrant as ever, if not more so thanks to the adrenaline in his veins.

An uncountable time for the pair passed, but, everything still clashing so much in his mind, he was eventually forced to pull back, only to see the tears in her eyes again. A fear remained, even now that the reason behind it turned out to not be a problem at all. Well, at least, not in her eyes right now, even if his eyes seemed to see the world in a whole new way.

"I'm sorry," he simply muttered, only to find her shaking her head dismissively and pressing forth into a kiss again. Despite the urge to go back to that fantastic feeling, he pushed her back slightly and prompted a rather bewildered and concerned gaze in her eyes. He shook his head, finally thinking objectively rather than with what his heart begged for him to do, as much as it seemed to hurt her too at first. "Where is everyone? Are they okay?"

The bewilderment fading, she instead frowned deeply, looking rather guilty. "I had to leave them…I had to find you."

"What happened?"

"We escaped the tunnel but ran into soldiers on the other end," Donmon explained, Ryder recalling the guilt he had felt just before his death for not thinking ahead about such a threat when they were all so clearly relying on him to protect them. How could he have been so stupid? Or was he just being blindly optimistic?

"I know…I found out just before they shot me," he added, for the first time so far since being revived feeling glad for not feeling any pain from that occurrence – a sure sign that he had been fully healed up by however the process worked.

"Thanks to DarkRenamon going ahead, we managed to hide just in time in the bushes…I decided to come and find you once the soldiers left to explore the park," Mari continued, DarkRenamon nodding once she had been referred to. Ryder gave her a thankful gaze, nodding back.

"I wanted to come with to make sure you were okay too…I was so worried," Calumon said, an oddly optimistic smile on his face. For him, things were simple – once it turned out he was alive, everything was all well and good again. Ryder envied that, even more so with all of these discoveries. But…maybe this literally was the 'simple' side of him? Maybe everyone here was just a manifestation of him? Mari was his 'perfect girlfriend' ideal, Rika was his angrier side, Chaos was his warped side, and Jeri was his kind side. But…on the other hand, how would that work with so many people? And most of these people were from the show – how could he have had that form of influence on them? And what about Chiyo, and the Demons? What were they for? Why had he imagined them? Was he just trying to keep himself occupied whilst in his coma?

As possible as the idea was, it did make everything he'd done since he'd arrived completely meaningless. Defeating Yggdrasil made no difference to reality. Neither was managing a relationship with Mari – after all, if she _was_ just part of his psyche, maybe she was just the mental equivalent of his mind humouring him, inventing someone to fit? Someone who would tolerate him, someone fitting his previous ideals. But…that seemed…so scary a prospect, he didn't want it to be true. Maybe he really was useless and Mari was just telling him what he wanted to hear? Everyone could've been the same.

"_This makes my head hurt so much…ugh." _Frustrated, Ryder nodded to Calumon and uttered his thanks. "Are the others okay though?" _"If they matter at all. Maybe they don't even exist until I see them?"_

"I think…I hope they're heading towards the hideout now…they should be."

"_Ugh…as much as they don't seem real…they are my friends…and…maybe it doesn't matter…" _"We have to make sure they reach it okay," he said, his hands still on Mari's waist and hers still on his, a nod from her head before a curious gaze filled her eyes.

"Yeah, but…where did you go? Was it like…before? Did you…dream?"

Ryder frowned deeply and nodded, knowing how hard this one would be to explain. How hard it would be to say that he thought everything she lived for, everything she loved, even herself, was just imaginary, just a non-sentient made-up creation, one of many surrounding him all thanks to his comatose state and overactive mind.

He knew he couldn't tell her now, not yet, not in the midst of it all. She'd be heartbroken. That was, if telling her wouldn't simply 'break' the coma, a good thing if he woke up but a terrible thing if it made his mind shut down and die. Would this be like _Life on Mars_? Was it all about fighting to stay alive? If it was…maybe he could never tell her? _"Once again, I can't tell her something."_

"Yeah, but first we have to find the others," he changed the subject, slipping his hands up her sides, past the shirt he was certain now he was instrumental in generating, and helping her to her feet alongside him. She gave a bewildered look, evidently wanting some answers to all the questions now left hanging in her mind. He saw her physically hold herself back from asking, instead seeing her nod and frown.

Was this her real mind thinking? Or was she just making it seem as if she was?

He frowned, looking down slightly. He still had his hand on her, not wanting to let go and risk losing his hold on this world again, at least not until he had decided where he really wanted to be. If it just took his mind to make him be in one place or the other, then he just had to be sure of his actions before he tried anything drastic to change things.

"Okay," she said, nodding and frowning deeply. They turned, Ryder's hand slipping down her arm until it simply gripped hers, and he felt her grip just as tightly back as they began to walk.

He paused on the way, picking up the discarded pistol with a slight clatter of metal on concrete, and handing it to her, his words, "we'll need this," leaving little room for argument. It could be the thing which allowed them to save their friends, after all.

She nodded, frowning as she took it and strapped it back underneath her jean leg, the fabric dropping down with a light ripple afterwards, another example of the startling level of detail. His mind was quickly drawn away though, and Ryder soon looked apologetic as he recalled how he had got the gun from her in the first place only what was probably just minutes before. How he had taken it without asking, and then run off without, in retrospect, giving a proper goodbye right before he had to go. No wonder she was so worried. Then again, she probably would've been regardless.

"Sorry again about taking that…I really thought it would help, but in the end all it did was end up getting me…"

She interrupted before he could say the word, perhaps not wanting to be reminded of what had happened again, by placing a finger on his lips. "I forgive you…don't worry." Her brown eyes gazed up into his with nothing but relief for the time being. God only knew how his looked to her. If she could even consciously know they existed.

This was going to drive him nuts, he knew that for sure, whether he was barking up the wrong alley or not. Sighing, he nodded.

"Thanks…now…I think we should get moving again."

She nodded, the group picking up a pace and heading through the tunnel faster than before, still hand in hand, without the others to slow them down, like with Seiko having to be careful with Rey. Gazing about and remembering all those all-too-recent events, he found it strange to yet again be back in the tunnel, the lights still small and dim as always, and that all-pervading darkness remaining in the distance. Yet another detail he knew he wouldn't ever consciously have considered. _"Then again, dreams can be like that, all random things happening with no sense. Maybe a coma just puts your mind into enough of a dream to make something more realistic? Ugh…but then again, maybe I'm making this up. So much for answers…I think I'm just going to go mad now…meh, unless that's how I already am. It would explain a lot."_

Trying to ignore the thoughts which bugged him and drew him from reality, he concentrated on it and its 'real' problems instead. About the tunnel, his footsteps echoed, but there was less of a hurry now. If the others had reached the hideout, they would be safe with everyone else (hopefully). If they hadn't, there was probably little they could do. Even if increasingly it had become clear that he himself could do pretty much anything risking his own death without an actual fatality.

Looking across to the Digimon, he mused on each one. Such intricate personalities he had devised for each – if he had devised them, at least. Well, to be fair, Calumon had been based off the show, although he found his ability to accurately work out how they would react remarkable. And unbelievable too.

His curious musings took a turn for the darker once his eyes settled on Donmon, a deep frown growing on his face which he tried not to let the Digimon, or, indeed, anyone, see. If what he'd realised was right, then this Digimon, this Digimon he thought he knew, who he thought knew him, was nothing more than an invention, a fake, an imposter, designed to look exactly like the real one from back home. This was someone he thought had travelled all that distance with him, was his companion in all this, but who, if he was right, was just…nothing. The real Donmon wouldn't know a thing about all of this or of the 'other' him, from all the battles they had faced together over the past year to his feelings for a certain dark-furred Kitsune.

He clutched onto Mari tighter, not liking at all where his thoughts and reasoning were leading him. He loathed how they drew him up a dark, bitter path where nothing would ever be for certain again, hated how they left him completely unsure of any footing he once was at least mostly certain of, despised how everything had changed so suddenly. Before, not many minutes ago, he'd merely contemplated these theories of how he had ended up in this world, and they always seemed so distant and unreal, to the extent where whatever he decided on didn't affect him too much usually. Apart from one of Ivy's visits, of course.

But now…now he just wished he could go back to that simplicity. The good old times. Even if they were fairly recent.

The worst thing was knowing that, if he was being led wrong on all this, all of his worrying would be for naught. But if it was all right, then it still proved not to reassure him – everything he lived for, loved for and hoped for in this universe would simply have been a shambles. Did he really want the truth? Was there any way of really finding out the truth? And what were the alternatives anyway?

And so, as they continued their trek through the tunnel, one question quickly came to resonate in his mind more strongly than any other, isolating the three possible choices – from most to least likely, at least by how the evidence seemed right now.

"_Am I mad, in a coma, or is this real?"_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

And there you go, after a lovely long chapter, a nice ending with a huge dose of extra questions added throughout. This is going to be one of the key themes of this book, as I'm sure you can no doubt tell, and it will go beyond the end of this book too naturally.

Anyhow, apologies for the delay to this overall chapter but I hope that the result more than made up for my lateness.

Oh, and when I say _Life on Mars_, I mean the UK version with its ending, not the differing US version ending.

Until next time…

B.C.


	19. Phase One: Kohaku Souta

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

I added some extra bits to the last scene of the Part Three in the previous chapter, since there were a few things that my original tiredness-inflicted work hadn't covered. They're not must-see reading but they might be worth a look.

Apologies for the wait – it's been an odd and busy week. Still, on with the chapter.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Kohaku Souta_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Streets of Shinjuku, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:42 JST**_

This was not good.

Not good at all.

"Geez Kuhako, calm down – you don't want to lose your balance."

As much as the black-haired Tamer wanted to berate his partner for the obvious remark, right now it seemed like a pretty good bit of advice. The sight was working him up a lot, but the pain that would result from even the slightest trip forward was enough to make him concentrate on kneeling carefully on the edge of the second-storey rooftop, the access stairs a few metres behind. Dracmon, red and green gem eyes gleaming in the sunlight and the usual mocking nickname out in full force, simply stood nearby, knowing he was less likely to be seen.

Still, he felt that it would've been a better move to just keep running like he had been doing only a few minutes prior, but having stumbled across this rabble (having poked his head out of a nearby alleyway, being forced to rush up onto the roof via the stairs when Dracmon had taken a quick jump up there) he couldn't help but be curious.

What were they staring at?

A dozen or so people, mostly male, had gathered around a small group, a notable group because it included a brown-haired female Tamer who Kohaku had guessed was called Jeri or similar. His knowledge of the group was not first rate by any means, even if the 'official' Tamers shared a number of traits with him, not least having a Digimon partner and a digivice of some sort. Still, he hadn't associated himself with them like others in the past. Part of him was wary of their unknown group and its many secrets, part of him simply didn't want to be caught up in everything, and a final part simply told him a stern "no".

Right now, he was appreciating that choice, even if it potentially would make no difference to the end result for him. The Tamers were now suspects in the murder of the PM with video evidence, and, if what he saw from his raised point was any indication, were now all on the run. He was too, of course – he didn't want to risk that the government was going after all Tamers, not just those who were part of the large group.

With the girl was a Digimon perched on her shoulder, a red creature looking like the Elecmon of the card game except for the yellow stripes instead of green down its side. Its tail stood on end, as it shot an evil glare at a man in a suit, currently acting aggressively towards them, rather surprising given how plain and white-collar he looked.

"…the police in here so they can arrest you all!" echoed across the area, a dual carriageway road, shops running down each side like the one that Kohaku and Dracmon currently perched on, trying to be as subtle as possible as they observed it all. One carriageway was blocked by the scuffle, cars having stopped and its owners, surprisingly, not honking their horns but instead coming out to join the mob.

"Don't you _dare_ speak to my family like that!" snapped a fairly-muscular man, short black hair atop a roughened face as a finger angrily shot out at the man in the suit. As much as he wanted to appear tougher, however, it seemed rather meaningless given how outnumbered they were. Still, Kohaku wouldn't have wanted to contend with the man, who, by the sounds of his comment, was Jeri's father.

"Your daughter was involved in murder – I don't think you have any right to respect," spat another man, this one looking like he was off on his work break, or perhaps having left his post nearby, an apron still tied around him with a butcher's logo on it. Kohaku felt glad that the uniform didn't include the typical set of knives.

"She did nothing!"

"She didn't but her group did!" interjected a fairly loud woman nearby, a loud voice accompanied by a sharp point towards Jeri. "The Tamers took us all for fools!"

"Yeah, pretending you all were defending the city – you just wanted to take it over and make it yours!" added a man closer to Jeri, this one a builder by the looks of his hard hat, and his size making the girl look increasingly uneasy as sparks threateningly coiled through the air from Elecmon's upraised tail.

"Leave her alone!" he barked, only for his actions to be taken wrongly.

"Hey, he's going to attack us!"

"They're all so violent."

"Yeah, I'm not standing for it!" the suited man continued, rolling up his sleeves and stepping forward, perhaps wanting to apprehend the girl and her partner for the police. Sure enough, another in the rabble was already on her mobile, inevitably calling for the authorities. Whether a brawl would break out before then was another question.

Her father stepped in the way, an imposing sight for anyone, not least because of his clutched fists and seething jaw. "Hey, pick on someone your own size!"

"Tadashi, don't!" interrupted a brunette behind him, putting her free hand on his shoulder as he looked into her eyes with an insistent gaze. In her other hand, she clutched the hand of a smaller child, looking petrified and afraid as he wasn't sure where to look, the shadows of adults towering over him.

"Shizue, if we don't fight back then they'll hurt our children."

"Yeah, 'cause violence solves everything!" blurted out the shouty woman again, glaring.

"Why don't you do the decent thing turn yourselves in, murderers?!" the butcher called, Tadashi's brow furrowed in disbelief.

"Yeah, murderers!" called the builder, the true horrors of mob and vigilante justice soon breaking out as their anonymity as part of a large group made them act in ways they wouldn't dream of normally, a loud chant starting as Kohaku felt torn between intervening or not.

"Murderers, murderers, murderers!" the crowd called, as Jeri took a scared step towards her mother. Tadashi hissed, looking ready to knock the suited man's lights out but evidently restraining himself for his children's sake. Kohaku could tell the group was just waiting for a spark like that. Dracmon seemed insistent, however, on giving them it.

"Even I think this is ganging up!" The demon looked ready to leap from the rooftop right into the middle of it all.

"No, wait!" Kohaku shouted, or, at least, spoke in such a tone at the level of a whisper, not wanting to draw attention to them right now.

"Ugh, why? Come on, there's some arses to be kicked!"

This was at least some sign of progress. Once, Kohaku's call to wait would've had absolutely no impact on his partner. Still, whether an explanation would have an impact was rather more hit and miss.

"We'll just make ourselves targets too."

"Not if they're all unconscious."

"But then they'll actually have something to use against us!"

"Well…then…I'll…ugh…I hate you humans and your stupid laws, always stopping my fun!"

A loud horn interrupted their 'friendly discussion', the crowd looking around to see a black Mercedes rushing towards them on their side of the road, shocked eyes either stepping back in horror or sticking feet to the ground in disbelief.

"See, that's what I mean! Right on them for resurrecting the ancient art of bad driving!"

Tires screeched as the car came to a stop on the right hand side of the mob, even those like rabbits caught in headlights finally taking a step back away from the large and fairly new car. The front door flew open, a girl leaping out, her pink hair curled slightly and reaching her shoulders.

"Geez, I've seen Digimon with more natural hair colours. Nice tits though."

Kohaku groaned, slamming a hand into his forehead and cursing the day that Dracmon stumbled across, well, television as a whole, particularly the more risqué side of television. A mature mind, of course, could handle such humour and topics without issue. Dracmon definitely didn't have a mature mind, and instead took his typical slant on affairs, rather oddly too since he seemed to have absolutely no understanding of sexuality full stop, having asked Kohaku on many an occasion why he was so obsessed with this weird lip-touching thing called kissing.

Still, there was little Kohaku could do other than just hoping that Dracmon would grow bored with such matters and find a new way of annoying him beyond belief.

Tailing the girl and making it evident that she was a Tamer was a green Digimon, a set of pink petals on the top of its humanoid form. Kohaku could see someone else in the car, but not distinctly enough to even begin to work out who it was, particularly not with how this newcomer moved to stand in the way whilst she opened the other door. "Get in!"

"Mimi!" Jeri exclaimed, a mix of relief and surprise laden in her voice. The crowd looked confused, but quickly were turning to anger. The brunette Tamer flashed a look over her shoulder to who were presumably her mother, father and brother, and Kohaku ducked low, not wanting to be seen. The girl nodded, her father doing likewise and hustling them forward. Elecmon looked incensed still, but regardless followed Jeri into the car, clambering across the seats, whilst Shizue and the young boy followed soon after. Tadashi took a step forward, but his arm was grabbed by the suited man.

"Where do you all think you're going?!"

A sharp hiss and a smack upon the air followed, as Jeri's father's fist slammed into the man's cheek, his balance thrown off as he tumbled back to the ground. The crowd were rather shocked, Tadashi rushing forward into the car, the disapproving gaze of his wife awaiting as he climbed in. Mimi, looking rather shocked at what had just happened, shook it off and slammed the door, getting into the car through the front door before Palmon leapt onto her lap.

The frames of door and car met with a clunk, before there was a screeching of tires, the car roaring away and leaving the mob looking both confused and angered, some taking a step forward in vain as if somehow they believed they would be able to keep pace with the car. _"Even more so since I doubt they'll be doing the speed limit."_

"Come on; let's get chasing 'em Kuhako!"

"What?!" Kohaku stuttered, surprised at his partner now facing him with a clutched fist and eager feet.

"Like this'll be the end of it all…I wanna see what happens!"

"Yeah, but…if we chase them, it could be the end of us."

"Hey, it's the choice between risk and fun and safety and boredom, what do ya think I'm going to choose?"

"Ugh…is there anything I can say to change your mind?"

"Is there ever?"

Kohaku sighed, looking over at the crowd of people again, dispersing slightly with a few getting into their cars, some even looking ready to pursue them, at least until the reality of trying to keep up with the other car legally caused them to hesitate. Muttering filled the air nonetheless, angered statements about "killing the bastards" made freely even with kids around.

It would only be a matter of time until one of them spotted Dracmon and him. Heck, the same was true for wherever they went it seemed, and he somehow doubted the public would listen to his explanations about "not being one of them."

Which left him only one option. Dracmon's option.

"_God help us," _he thought, drawing forth a Digimon card and preparing to swipe it through his quickly-expanded grey D-Vice on his wrist. "DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

"**Dracmon, Digivolve to…"**

A rusty-orange egg descended about Dracmon's quickly-revealed green wireframe, reconfiguring his form and increasing it in size dramatically. The form of a wolf grey outwards, pale blue fur complimented by bursts of red flame shapes all the way up to the tail, and a mane about his neck. About it all, there was a distinct repetition of sharp points, from the teeth in his vicious-looking mouth to the purple blades that flanked it and also his mane, looking a tad like bat wings in places. Adding to it, a pair of sharp horns atop his head and a large collection of both big and small blades attached to his metal-covered feet completed the menace, complimented by the fact that the only way one could see his reddish eyes was looking them straight on as he charged towards one. At which point, it was probably too late.

"…**Sangloupmon!"**

Kohaku sprung from his feet and over the back of his newly-digivolved partner, thankful for the soft fur which made a rather sharp contrast, no pun intended, with the hellish blades he also had on his form. He was amazed that, with his bad luck, he hadn't yet landed on one of them and disabled himself for life.

"Hold on tight, 'cause the crowd's looking angry!"

And, sure enough, when Kohaku looked, there they were, all staring up in disbelief at him on the rooftop, giving him just as much revulsion as they had the other group. "Yep, they hate us."

"Hate you, you mean. No-one could possibly hate me."

"I can't believe you just said that."

"It's 'cause I'm worth it."

"Ugh…" _"…television again…" _"…just go already!"

Making a mocking neighing sound, Sangloupmon raised his front legs to match before kicking off and breaking forth into a run, Kohaku clutching on for dear life as they barrelled along the roofs of the row of shops. At the other end, a worryingly-large gap awaited them, the next building another storey up. The wolf didn't seem too fazed though, instead just getting faster and faster.

"If I die, tell Sakura she can have my stuff."

"What was that? I can have your stuff?"

"No I…"

Dracmon, insistent on continuing his teasing, simply interrupted. "How generous of ya. Now hold on!"

Kohaku was almost reunited with his lunch as they lurched upwards, just clearing the gap and landing on the other side. Of course, for Dracmon, this constituted a perfect and flawless landing, even if for most of the time they seemed to be dicing with death. The black-haired boy couldn't help but feel that he didn't volunteer for this.

"You want to be more careful next time?"

"Ugh, you're heavier than I thought. If I were on my own, this'd be easy – you humans are always holding me back."

"Yeah, I'm sure that having free food is such a ball and chain for you," Kohaku replied, rolling his eyes at the creature who somehow he'd become partnered to. This was just his luck, wasn't it? Sakura got a nice, simple, run of the mill Floramon, a Digimon who was kind, courteous and always went out of her way to help her Tamer, and he got Dracmon. Enough said.

His thoughts were quickly drawn to the blue haired girl, or rather, his blue haired girl, for since they had had their first date to see a movie nearly seven months ago now. He still found it pretty surprising how it had all happened – sure, he'd had girlfriends before, but never in such…fatal circumstances, or at least, in circumstances where fatalities were always a possibility. Still, their relationship had started fantastically.

Fantastically badly, that was. On their first date, a trip down the movies to see whatever they found was on, they not only were unable to decide on a film, but once they had, it had been sold out, as had pretty much any option they chose. In the end, they had given up and just headed down the park, a rather damp squib of an evening. Alone, it could've just been put down to a bit of bad luck and their own procrastination. Nothing major, just a bit of bad luck.

Kohaku couldn't help but inwardly chuckle at the idea that it was just a 'bit', and in retrospect how naïve he had been at the time. For date two, they'd avoided the catastrophe of the cinema and went out for a bite to eat, only for the cook to be arrested and the restaurant to be closed. And so they ended up down the park, putting it all down to sod's law.

And so came date three: A simple game of bowling, booked in advance and without much risk of the whole of its staff being arrested right when they arrived. The only problem was that Dracmon had come. Suffice to say, he had come of his own accord, and definitely not of theirs. Naturally, when his arrival surprised Kohaku enough to drop a bowling ball on his foot, the new venue ended up being the hospital.

A simple but unfortunate run of bad luck, surely?

Date four, over a month and a plaster cast later: a shopping trip, only for there to be a fire alarm and an evacuation in the mall.

Date five: a visit to Shinjuku Park (setting their attempts low in the hope that nothing could happen) only for a bioemergence to interrupt it.

Date six: visiting the countryside to the north of Tokyo, only for Kohaku to fall in a river and it to pour with rain. Sure, the latter could've helped the mood, but, as Sakura had put it, it was rain so heavy that kissing during it wouldn't have been romantic in a billion years. The fact he was still soaked to the skin didn't help either, of course.

And so came date seven: Kohaku's house, the lowest they could possibly go in expectations and the place where the least could go wrong. Surely?

"_Power cut just before we kissed," _he grimaced, running his hand through his hair as he remembered the date a whopping four months after Sakura had first popped the question. It seemed that every single thing they tried to do date-wise was a complete disaster, the proverbial hand of fate being a complete bitch to them in every way it possibly could.

Date seven had been the last. Not that they had broken up, just that they had gotten the message that it wasn't worth trying for 'official' dates anymore. And so, they had taken to simply meeting up when they could, spending most of their time at each other's houses, and never really aiming for much more, other than of course teaming up for bioemergences. They always fought outside the view and awareness of their potential allies the Tamers, people they were still highly wary of, a wariness enforced by what Kohaku knew from the news broadcast he had seen scant minutes ago. The Tamers didn't seem to notice either, although Sakura had noted once or twice that some of her Tamer classmates had made a comment on a disappearing signal on their digivices. Naturally, she hadn't explained their involvement.

Still, despite his better reason and understanding that things simply couldn't work that way, he couldn't shake the irritating feeling that someone really didn't like the idea of them being together. Sakura had noted on more than one occasion her envy towards those who had such luck in their relationships, with everything going absolutely swimmingly for them, or, at least, almost. Kohaku couldn't help but feel that somehow it was his fault, even if she insisted it was hers whenever he came even close to raising the point. But, instead of anything changing, they had oddly settled into a dry, glum, pessimistic relationship, neither wanting to raise the bar, the foibles of the past holding them tight.

Even kissing hadn't really happened. After the near-kiss in the dark, and the endless failures of dates, Sakura had seemed to lose that initial giddiness thanks to exasperation. They had kissed, of course, but never did they have the long, endless marathons of every other couple they saw, both online and on television, and any attempts to spice things up didn't seem to work, either thanks to neither of them feeling that eager or both of them being struck by the usual bouts of bad luck when they were.

"_Still…it doesn't help that she's always nervous about that kind of thing." _Sakura's confidence normally (well, at least compared to some people) vanished completely when it came to romance, more so than most people. Public kissing or even holding hands always seemed out of the question due to her feeling that every eye in the universe was on them. In private meanwhile, she obsessed over the 'perfect moment' and making sure that she didn't make a fool of herself if he didn't like it. Kohaku couldn't help but feel she made a huge deal out of something that should've been so simple, but telling her so never helped.

Then again, he couldn't help but forget that this was her first time in a relationship, whilst he'd been through it all before.

And so, the elephant in the room for the 'couple' stayed.

"_Maybe…maybe we both need to change things…but…I don't want to talk to her about it…if I'm screwing everything up, I don't want her to realise. Peh, who am I kidding? I _am_ screwing everything up. God only knows how, but look at my luck. I met her when she ran into me, I've got a partner who never listens to me and seems ready to leave every time the prospect of food comes up, and worse still, I've got a permanent scar to remind me of how crap a Tamer I am."_

His hand brushed across his face as he said that, the other's digits holding tightly onto the Digimon below as it rushed onwards. When his nails reached the side of his face, he felt them far more. The work of Devidramon had left an ever-sensitive scar: a darkened patch of skin running from perilously close to his blue eye down to the base of his cheek on the left hand side of his face, paralleled by two lighter lines which had healed up far more nicely to be nearly invisible. Nearly.

"_This thing doesn't help either," _Kohaku sighed, recalling that Sakura had a habit of wincing when she saw it, the reminder of a battle which had gone so badly wrong. And, given that she had to pull in that close to his face every time they kissed, it didn't exactly do wonders for their relationship as a result.

"Kuhako."

"_Not like I could really mention it. She knows anyway – what difference would it make? This sort of thing works itself out in the end on its own anyway – messing about with things is why I broke up last time round after all."_

"Dumbass, wake the hell up before I throw you off!"

Kohaku was quickly and violently shaken back to reality. Rather literally in fact, Sangloupmon showing little care for what would've happened were it not for the boy's quick fingers, the perilous drop down from mid-jump all-too apparent. He grabbed on with his other hand as paws slammed down, the jolt rushing through his arms and drawing his attention to the pain now in them thanks to the strain of keeping his grip for so long. There was probably some other, less harmful and safer way of holding on, but he wasn't about to risk it right now at this speed and on the back of Sangloupmon to boot. He wasn't entirely sure which made it the biggest risk either.

"Where are they?"

"Down there still…but they're in the shit now by the looks of it."

"Huh?" Kohaku mumbled, finally hearing the siren as he looked out towards them from the side of Sangloupmon. The Mercedes raced along, engine roaring and revving, speeding up and slowing down whilst it swerved a tad from left to right, and sometimes a fair bit more. Behind, making an oddly stark contrast, was a single police car, the typical sort driven by PC Plod. The bottom line of the force – definitely not special operations by any means.

As typical as it was, it still made quick pace with the Merc, not least thanks to the bad driving comparatively. It was impossible for the boy to see inside, but he doubted highly they were relaxed right now about the situation.

"So much for 'strong measures' – geez, we were scared over nothing."

Something didn't seem right here, as much as Sangloupmon seemed certain that it was thanks to budget cuts, laziness, or, perhaps most likely, the Acting Prime Minister talking a load of balls when he had made all of his threats. The police car hurried, but not so much as the boy expected.

The wolf suddenly scowled, his eyes turning and his snout snorting horridly. "There's a Digimon approaching…another wolf."

"Eh?"

Kohaku was forced to grab on tight as Sangloupmon came to an abrupt halt, the threat of being thrown straight over his partner's head (or worse, into those blades or horns) kicking his survival instincts into gear, coupled with a nice extra dose of adrenaline in his veins. His legs, nonetheless, swung forward, Sangloupmon swinging his head round and giving him a glare as he was kicked in the side.

"Hey – no more free rides for you!"

"HOWLING BLASTER!"

Swinging his head around and looking downwards, Kohaku saw a burst of blue flame rocket across the fairly wide road, coming in at an angle from above as its source landed with thump of white paws against road below. The fire was blue, nothing too unusual from what Kohaku's short-lived attempts at research into their group via Digital Watch had yielded but definitely odd right now. _"A modify card maybe?"_ he pondered, recalling his own use of such material to help in his battles. Whatever was causing it, in addition to the 'normal' attack, ice crystals ran parallel to it, coating its outside, and going right for the cars, now not much more than half a dozen metres apart. Upon impact, the blast froze its surroundings, the thick ice looking more suited to Greenland than Shinjuku.

Sparkling in the sunlight, it barely shifted against the forces of the hurtling Mercedes and patrol car which it held at the back and front respectively. Airbags were already inflated, and the door on the former opened, the pink haired girl from before the first to stumble out and look about. The engine continued to rev for a short while against the frozen water without success before the noise finally died out.

"Garurumon!" she yelled, loud enough for Kohaku to easily hear on his own from where they stood about three storeys above the action. He felt Sangloupmon shift back a few steps. At least he wasn't being stupid and trying to get involved and fighting – that would've required effort and Dracmon had made it plainly clear how little of that he wanted to expend in his life, however long it was.

Kohaku climbed off of his partner's back, trainers landing on the hard roof. He wandered carefully forward, not wanting to tumble over, and kneeled down before lying on his stomach, peering over below. A rather large, white and purple wolf now stood by the pink haired girl, three humans on its back, another one, blonde, just leaping down alongside, and an orange dinosaur, a white and purple sea mammal and a pink bird following soon after. They turned to watch as the two youngest humans, a brunette guy with messy hair and clothes and a slightly-ginger haired girl with rather more neat attire, climbed down, helping the older woman also on there to do the same. All of their actions were alarmed yet still strangely controlled – well, apart from the older woman who looked very frightened by the whole experience as she found concrete again.

A metre or two away, the occupants of the car clambered out, the woman driving finally revealing herself. She looked oddly familiar to the boy, but he wasn't sure where from. She did look fairly attractively built with her blonde hair, and in many ways she seemed to share her style of dress with the pink haired girl – models perhaps? There was a gap in age of at least ten or so years by the looks of it. If one was a Tamer, who was the older woman? What did she have to do with things?

"_Right, first thing I do when this is all over is learn who all of these people are."_

"The car won't move – the ice is too solid!" she called to the rest.

As for the others climbing out of the car who he had seen before, they all looked little more than a bit worse for wear, although whether it was their rapid stop or the events only a few minutes prior was rather unclear. Either way, they certainly did not need the policeman, his car stuck thanks to the ice only a few metres away, to finally come to his senses from the shock and climb out.

He stormed towards the large gang of people, evidently wanting to put up a serious pose and stature despite his rather lacking in height compared to most of the men in the group. His short black hair was all that Kohaku could really see of him from a distance, but he looked like your run-of-the-mill copper. This guy definitely wasn't here under the orders of the Acting Prime Minister – that much was painfully clear as he pulled out a small booklet of white sheets, and made even clearer by his bewildered gazes at the ice sculpture that had now appeared, one he stayed well away from.

He heard Sangloupmon suppress a hearty laugh, before he listened carefully to figure out what was so amusing.

"Speeding?!" exclaimed the blonde driver, storming towards the man and oddly being taller. "I was doing the limit."

"Speeding and driving recklessly, and involving that…thing in attempting to avoid capture," he continued, his eyes now down in his little book as he began to write. "What is your name?" he asked, looking rather annoyed when he didn't get a quick response. "I said, what is your name?!"

"_Someone's suffering from short man syndrome."_

It was at this moment, seeing the rather bewildered gazes of those he was arresting about the reason of arrest, that something finally must have 'clicked' in the man's mind, for he quickly took a step back, gazing over the group. "Wait…you're the Tamers…I got a radio call on you," he said, his tone suddenly unprofessional thanks to his surprise. "Hey…I'm meant to arrest you guys!"

"Unless he has a machine gun hidden under his shirt, I'd say he's definitely out of his league," Kohaku noted, seeing Sangloupmon nodding out of the corner of his eye.

"Still, if he does, this'll be fun to watch."

"_Ugh."_

Sangloupmon laughed again out of the blue, muttering "what a dumbass."

Kohaku raised an eyebrow in irritation and snorted. "So because I don't like seeing people get killed I'm dumb?"

"No, not that…didn't you hear what he just said?"

"I can barely hear anything at all – they've stopped shouting."

"Peh, humans and your hearing. Don't expect me to relay everything."

"But how will I…wait, hold on…" Kohaku looked to his arm, pressing the button to expand the rusty ringed grey D-Vice watch to its full form, screen presenting him with a whole host of options and things to press, only about a half dozen of which he'd ever used. "This thing must be able to do something…" he continued, before his random tapping caused a hologram to burst into life above it.

It was Sangloupmon's turn to snort now as he glanced over at the screen, the view of his vision going into infinite regression as a result. "I feel used."

"Still no sound," Kohaku ignored his partner for now.

"Do you have my express written permission?"

"You can't write…ah…there we go." And, sure enough, the sound from Sangloupmon's ears began to repeat through the speakers (although where on earth on the smooth-surfaced device they were was completely beyond Kohaku).

"I'm suing you," Sangloupmon uttered, only for the D-Vice to burst with sound, the voice amplified by itself as far as it could and creating a cacophony of words and screeching that forced Kohaku to hold his ears and fall to the ground. He pressed the button again as soon as he could, breathing a deep sigh of relief.

"Thank…god."

Looking up, he found a fair few of the group on the ground below to be staring at the rooftop in confusion, the black-haired boy gulping and pulling himself back along the rooftop slightly, hoping dearly they had only heard him, not seen him. Either way, Sangloupmon, now with a highly irritated expression (more so than before) decided to insult him for it.

"You…Kuhako!"

"_So my nickname's a swear word now?" _"Ugh, just get away from me and find a place where you can hear them better, okay?"

"An invitation to avoid you? I'm gone! BLACK MIND!"

Kohaku's eyes widened as, sure enough to his attack name, Sangloupmon leapt forward, sinking down into the shadow of a roof exit nearby before he could even consider how to reply. Looking down, he found his D-Vice to be a blur of light and sound as the Digimon traced through shadow after shadow, finally coming to a stand in the shadow of the police car. The view seemed to peer up from the concrete itself, the trickle of quickly-melting ice all part of the background.

Thankfully for one and apathetically for the other, the boy and his wolf could now see and hear individuals clearly, eyes dismissing the noise for now as the policeman spoke up once again. "I'm taking you all down to the station now." There was a distinctly wavering edge to his voice – even from his view from behind, Kohaku could tell he was putting on a façade.

"_I don't blame him either." _After all, he was facing up to a growling wolf, an orange dinosaur, an oddly-shaped rabbit, a strange sea creature and a plant monster, all way out of their normal dimensions, and that was of course forgetting the fact that there were three fairly tough blokes too, all taller than him to boot. Of all of them, the eldest, Jeri's father, looked most imposing right now, putting up an unwavering glare at the threat to his daughter.

"How do you plan on that?" the messy brunette asked, taking a step forward with his hands swept aside dismissively at the claim and a bemused expression on his face.

"Yeah, your car's an ice lolly right now," added the sea mammal in a jokey voice.

"I'm calling for backup, don't you dear move an inch," the policeman insisted after a brief pause, reaching for his radio, taking a step back towards the car (still not seeing the rather large wolf within its shadow) and beginning to bark orders, only about half of which Kohaku could even understand. Behind him, the various Tamers and their associates seemed to be debating the best course of action.

"Mummy…what's going on?" the small child asked, reaching up to the eldest woman with worried eyes. She looked down to him, frowning.

"Just…keep close to me, okay?"

"Okay…" he replied, not seeming too reassured by the lack of a response. Just across from them, in words but a whisper to them but loud and clear to Sangloupmon's ears, Elecmon spoke in his partner's ear.

"Jeri…if we can break that ice, we can all get away before his backup arrives."

Jeri glanced across to each car, inadvertently almost looking directly into Kohaku's 'eyes' at one point, and nodded. She drew out a card, raising it high before sweeping it down through her D-Arc with a determined gaze.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Elecmon, Digivolve to…**

Encased quickly in an egg of dirty yellow cables, the red and yellow rabbit was stripped back to a wireframe before being reconstituted with an explosion, flesh riding out all over the tall, bipedal wireframe. A muscled chest, yellow mane and unmistakably lion-like face took their places, a sharp blade finishing off the Digimon as he proclaimed his new title.

…**Leomon!**

"Don't hurt him," Jeri cried out, worry in her voice as she looked towards the policeman, now standing and leaning on the bonnet of his car as he talked to his superiors. Some more surprise filled his face as Kohaku retuned his attentions to the man's words, hearing comments on the importance of these targets and on what he was to do.

"_**Detain them for as long as possible."**_

"Understood," he mumbled, turning back to face the group just as Leomon drew his fist back.

"FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" It shot forward, burning with fire and the image of a lion, smashing into the nearby ice with a bang and sending cracks splintering through it. Both cars shook, the car alarm on the locked police car ringing out as the copper himself gritted his teeth.

"Hey, stop that!" the policeman, taking those same heavy steps forward as before. Kohaku cocked an eyebrow from where he watched on his screen – this guy was either extremely brave or extremely foolish. Either way, it gave him some reassurance to know that these people were keeping their streets safe.

"_Now if only they'd stop chasing people trying to help. What are the Tamers thinking anyhow? They should've run ages ago, even if on foot…surely they can't be thinking they can reason with this guy? Then again…right now, do they have anywhere _to_ go? Maybe that's their only real option? If the police were on their side…hmm…maybe I should help if I can…"_

"I have orders to detain you all for my backup," he said, the sound of sirens already approaching, and fast. Their time was running out.

The blonde young man gave a bewildered expression, cocking an eyebrow in disbelief. "Seriously?! Listen, I don't know what rubbish you've been fed, but honestly we didn't do anything."

"If you don't let us go, someone might get hurt!" said the third of the Tamers. Or at least, that's what he presumed, based on her youth and proximity to the pink bird he had a feeling was called something like Piyomon. She cast a gaze across to the older woman, concern laden onto her face heavily – her mother, perhaps?

Leomon glanced up, before slamming yet another fist down, this time not flaming and therefore causing less damage, although it still caused the cracks to spread further. The ice seemed tougher than expected, however. Regardless, the policeman looked even more annoyed. "I said stop!"

"Listen jobsworth," Jeri's father stormed, tapping the man on his shoulder. He turned back, each tooth pressed firmly to its partner in his mouth. "I'm not going to let you arrest my family or let them get hurt, and if that means going through you, then so be it."

"Are you threatening a police officer?"

A hiss of anger later, the copper staggered back slightly, a gasp coming from Jeri's mother behind as the policeman pressed a hand to his quickly-reddening jaw. "Tadashi! Don't!" she cried, the smaller boy and Jeri both looking very surprised by it all. They weren't alone: Mimi, the other model and the slightly-ginger girl all stared on in disbelief, whilst the two young men let out the least surprise – perhaps sympathising with the dad's anger? _"So much for reasoning with them."_

"You hit me! That's it, I'm arresting you on charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest," he called, ripping his handcuffs from his belt and grabbing Tadashi whilst he still looked concerned over his own actions, not making any moves yet to fight back. His wife's condemning of his actions had clearly struck home.

"Leave my dad alone!" Jeri called, taking a step forward but being held back by the swift movement of Leomon's arm.

"Let him go!" called out the blonde model, storming over towards the officer with an angered glare. Palmon quickly stepped in front of the hot-headed woman, putting her plant-like hands out.

"I'll sort this…POISON IVY!" she cried, throwing vines forward at the police officer. His eyes widened when the handcuffs were grabbed from his hand all of a sudden, yanked far from his reach as the action also made him stagger back. He landed on the bonnet of his car, looking up at the people around with a glare as the song of police sirens grew louder.

Leomon clearly heard them too, pummelling a few more fists into the ice. "Come on!" he roared, a few more "FIST OF THE BEAST KING" calls singing upon the air.

"I hope he manages it – there's no way we'll get everyone on Garurumon," Mimi said, pressing her hands together as she looked to the ginger girl currently with her hand on her mother's shoulder. She nodded back, before stepping forward.

"We've got more than him," she said, a defiance in her eyes.

"Yeah – we don't have time to play political games now," the messy brunette added, clenching a fist. "Screw keeping our record clean – I don't think we have a hope in hell!"

"My turn?" Biyomon asked, Sora nodding defiantly and drawing forth a card to her red-ringed, yellow-buttoned D-Arc.

"Your turn…DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

**D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N**

**Biyomon, Digivolve to…**

A rouge egg enclosed the bird as she was stripped to her wireframe, and rebuilt as a far larger creature, now wilder-looking but still a bird, wide dull orange wings sweeping outwards as she called her name from her pinkish beak.

…**Birdramon!**

The police officer stood up from the car bonnet, clenching his fists as he hissed up to the bird. "Stop that right now!" Things looked to be going majorly out of his control.

"I'll sort out the car." Sure enough, the blonde model was quickly back in the driving seat, the Mercedes' engine roaring away without much success yet.

"Leomon, I'll help…" the orange dinosaur called, rushing over to the ice-sculpture, still stuck fast even despite the cracks in it. What was it made of? Then again, relying on real norms for Digimon seemed to be a mistake from Kohaku's experience. "PEPPER BREATH!" he cried, a ball of flame melting a small portion of the ice.

"Sorry for making it so hard," Garurumon growled, grimacing as his Tamer leapt onto his back, nodding in agreement.

"IceLeomon's card is a lot more powerful than I thought it would be."

"Stop escaping!" the policeman cried desperately, hands in the air as everything he controlled in the situation quickly rushed away from him. "Now!"

Kohaku could hear Sangloupmon laugh at the man, who quickly shot a confused glare over his shoulder at his car. Had they been heard? This couldn't be good.

If they had, the officer was evidently dismissing it, for with newfound vigour he raced back to his car door, opening it up and letting the engine rev loudly. This wouldn't have been a problem, were it not for the fact that at that moment, the ice shattered. And, worse, it only shattered on one side, the police car rushing forward and crushing ice underneath before it swerved around the Merc. "Crap!" the sea mammal exclaimed, no-one there to scold him for his cursing as he jumped onto the messy brunette's arm, grabbing tight as he leapt out of the way. The slightly-ginger girl cried out in shock as it brushed past her, her mother crying out for her in turn from her newfound position on top of Garurumon. Mimi pressed herself close to the side of the Mercedes, the black car still unable to move under the weight of its half of the ice sculpture for all of its driver's trying. The policeman broke quickly, the car spinning around to head back towards them, aiming for Birdramon and Jeri's family alongside as it slid uncontrollably. Had he overestimated his driving abilities?

Everyone seemed either too far away, facing the wrong way, too weak or, in Leomon's case, had their fist trapped in the ice by a combination of its collapsing and the sheer solidity of it all.

What could they do either? Could they attack the car? Could they make the driver brake?

Given that the policeman was now rolling out of the car, having ditched it in the middle of his skid as soon as he could, such seemed like wishful thinking. Jeri's mother cradled her son close to him, legs frozen on the spot whilst her husband began to push them out of the way.

"STICKER BLADE!"

Kohaku was caught off guard as his viewpoint on his D-Vice rocketed forward, blurring greatly as thin streaks of light came from it. Looking out into the 'real view', he couldn't keep up with the pace, simply instead seeing and hearing the roar of the petrol igniting and blasting the car to smithereens, a thick cloud of acrid smoke wafting up from around it.

"Shit…" he mumbled under his breath, unable to even hear anything anymore from below now on his D-Vice but not needing to either. The view over the edge of the roof was enough – after a brief period of surprise, the group rushed toward the two large Digimon and began to clamber onboard whilst Leomon quickly picked up his Tamer in his arms, giving up on getting rid of the ice. Mimi knocked on the window, the blonde model clambering out and wandering around to her, looking rather reluctant in the pace of her movements.

The police officer, finally, kneeled and stared over at the destroyed cruiser, now burning and sending a thick, acrid smoke into the air. He came to his feet, wandering toward it as more than just sirens arrived nearby. From every corner came a police car, closing in on them and the wreck.

Oddly, Kohaku felt sorry for him, the man surely in for a major punishment after all of this. He heard footsteps behind him, looking over his shoulder to see Sangloupmon, grinning widely in pride at himself.

The black-haired boy himself couldn't be too certain on what to think. They'd just saved the Tamers' lives, hadn't they? They'd done something good, even if the method was highly destructive, so why did he suddenly feel so…regretful? Did he want them to get caught?

"_Ugh, I shouldn't be so stupid."_

A caw and a roar rang in the air as he swung his head back around, seeing Birdramon and Garurumon fully loaded and rushing forward, up into the air for one and leaping over a police car and its rapidly-disembarking contents as they stared on in shock.

And soon enough, with pace beyond which the police cars could be turned round and chased after. The rest scanned the area, probably for further threats. Kohaku ducked right back in horror as he caught a final glimpse of the now-distraught police officer from before, his brave fight ending in failure.

"Come on, we've got to move," he said to his waiting partner, panic growing in his voice as he made a quick glance back over his shoulder and hoped they hadn't been seen. He climbed up to his feet, keeping low until he could be sure he was out of sight of the authorities below. "We'll head to Sakura's…I want to make sure she's safe."

"Okay – that'll be 1500 yen upfront."

"Huh?"

"I told you – "no more free rides". Didn't you think I was being serious?"

The pair stared each other in the eye, both gazes unwavering. The Tamer was disbelieving whilst his partner held a deadly serious stare, one so clearly fake but not about to be broken until Kohaku muttered his exact feelings at that moment. They were so simple, they could be summed up in three little words.

"…I hate you,"

He reached for his wallet – being the wolf's partner for so long had made it clear that he didn't had a choice, not least with so little time on his hands. Seeing his win, Sangloupmon gave a huge grin as he saw the crisp notes soon to be his, even if it was unlikely he'd be able to use them without the shop owner screaming in horror.

"I hate you too," he mocked.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Perhaps a bit of a contrast with last time but, ah well, I can't go for the whole 'mystery' thing in every chapter. And I'm sure this is just more teasing for you all…

Still, this time we got to see the point of view of a character that really hasn't had much screen time before, since Sakura always took the limelight with this particular coupling. And, of course, there's the fun of seeing a car explode. Apologies if it wasn't always clear who was who – I tried to keep the descriptions of the unnamed characters as consistent as possible.

Next time, we get to see the thoughts of the mastermind himself. Yep, it's Rayleigh's turn to shine…

Until next time…

B.C.


	20. Phase One: Rayleigh Thompson

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

I thought it was worth having a catch-up on where everyone we've heard from so far is, so:

Ryder, Mari, Calumon, Kristy, Seiko, Rey (baby), Suzie (and mother and sister), and Natsuki, are all heading through the tunnel under Shinjuku Park.

Takeru, Takeru's father, Izzy, Izzy's mother, Yamaki, Riley, Tally and Eiichi all met at Shinjuku Station, and are now heading for the park.

Kazu, Kenta, Ayaka, Miki, Joe (minus Gomamon) and Fumiko, plus partners, are all heading for the park in MarineAngemon's bubbles, planning to go on foot once away from the police and army.

Takehiro and Mie (Takato's parents) are heading with Impmon to the park, with the intention by the latter of heading onwards to make sure Ai and Mako are unharmed.

Henry is heading to save his father. Meanwhile, Janyuu, Shibumi and Rob McCoy have been captured and are currently being transported in a van to god knows where.

Yolei, Davis, Jun and Tai's mother, plus partners, are outside Ken's apartment, with Ken and Ryo presumably inside.

Kari, Cody, Takeru's mother and Cody's grandfather are all heading for the park straight from their apartment building.

Tai, Sora, Matt, Gomamon, Mimi, Jeri, Jeri's family and Rumiko, plus partners, are heading for the park on the backs of Garurumon and Birdramon.

Rika and Takato, plus partners and Ms. Asagi, are heading towards the park having been cornered in the school by unseen soldiers.

And finally...Kohaku is heading for Sakura's on the back of Sangloupmon, having paid 1500 yen for the privilege.

Phew, I think that's everyone. Now, for the man himself, the Acting Prime Minister…Rayleigh Thompson. Enjoy!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Rayleigh Thompson_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Near Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:15 JST**_

A smirk danced across the face as the video on the PDA finished, the last check made to ensure that the press conference was as persuasive as possible.

He felt that it not being so would be unlikely, given his particular role and all, but…_ "…you can never be too careful, can you?" _Chuckling, he tapped a button, approving the video for release to the media before flicking across to another application on his device.

Sure, the one on his wrist was undoubtedly more powerful, capable and useful, but right now even the thought of using it would have blown his cover eventually. Things such as that always came round to haunt in the end. And so, taking advantage of both his current and previous positions in employment, he had involved himself in designing an upgraded operating system for his particular device, ideal for coping with the stress of his job.

"_Oh, and, of course, launching attacks at a moment's notice, but mostly the stress."_

"Sir, we're here."

"Excellent," he said, looking to the aide standing in the now wide-open door of the fairly posh car he was being driven in, some Japanese car of a brand he did not know the name of – such things had never interested him. _"Even if it is packed to the brim with technology."_

A black suit graced his form when he stood up, contrasting with the white shirt underneath. In an attempt to avoid looking like a particular Antarctic bird as a result, he topped it off with a red tie, one which broadening out downwards to the usual arrowhead ending. He glanced upwards at the pair of towers, shooting away up into the Shinjuku sky, a military helicopter buzzing away not far above.

Perfect. Everything was in place.

This was a landmark still intact, of course. Where he had just come from, the Tokyo Kantei was chaos. A whole wall and three floors at one end wiped out – with one, key casualty which had thrown the whole government for a loop. Without the Prime Minister, very few departments were entirely sure where they stood – most blindly went for business as usual, some using the timing to 'bury' any particularly bad news they had to deep behind the cover of the newspapers. The parliament was taking a day of mourning, and the Emperor had sent his personal condolences and condemnation of whoever had committed the atrocity.

"_Not that he actually has any power – the Queen has more for heaven's sake. Regardless, no sense underestimating the respect that people have for him."_

As the media had not particularly made a note of, the Prime Minister was the only victim. The attack seemed so targeted, so specific, and had such intent that it was clear that whoever did it was remarkably powerful, powerful enough to destroy a fair portion of the building too. And, from the video, it was clearly just a warning – the Prime Minister was dead for a good minute or so before all evidence (apart from that video, of course) was rendered into little more than debris and rubble.

He took a gaze about, suppressing a grin when he saw the two policemen, armed to the brim with guns, already outside and musing how people were finally listening to his warnings. This clean-up should've happened an age ago. _"Prevention is always better than cure." _He was rather irritated that they had to be policemen, not soldiers, but regardless, the latter had their own particular job to do right now. Besides, special officers with firearms couldn't be too bad.

Striding up to them, he hoped he carried some form of authority with them, despite his foreign accent and relative youth – twenty-two years were all he had. Still, they had been nothing but productive – he had never let his intelligence be squandered. Private school, where eloquence, discipline and hierarchy were the order of the day, gave way to Oxford University – his parents, not the wealthiest people around, taking some fairly large monetary sacrifices to ensure his gifts were not wasted.

It had all paid off, of course – on a third-year visit to Japan, the subject of his dissertation, The Politics of Technology in Contemporary Japan, he had had the chance of meeting the Chief Cabinet Secretary and learning of the Voraus scheme. It was basically an attempt to recruit the best of the best from wherever in the world to organisations like Hypnos and scientific research, places where their skills could be honed, making Japan more competitive against international rivals for key economic, industrial and political positions. The only problem was, they weren't about to let him start with his hands on the reins – he had to sit below the awful Yamaki Mitsuo in Hypnos, an organisation he had the utmost disbelief still existed, an organisation supporting a group who could easily turn on the government. He had said nothing at the time – part of getting promoted, apart from having the right skills, of course, was not complaining about the mistakes of your bosses.

Still, he had taken care of Yamaki in the end, in the same way he had dealt with his parents – forced down into silence. They still contacted him, naturally, but by insisting that his job was high up, valuable and, most importantly, classified, he was able to avoid criticisms of not having succeeded. Sometimes he wasn't sure who was more pushy – him or them.

Far away now though, thankfully. He had more important things to concentrate on beyond the trifling matter of 'family', and voicemail freed up his time to do so. He knew, of course, that now he was Prime Minister of a whole country, albeit only an Acting Prime Minister (and unable to become the actual PM thanks to his nationality), they would have called. So many times.

"_I'll have to set up some way of filtering them out." _In any case, he could probably shut them up by sending a grand or so home, enough to make them satisfied he was successful whilst also having the side-effect of keeping his annoying conscience quiet about how he had 'bled them dry' only not to talk to them again.

"Sir, we would like clarification on some points of this mission…"

It seemed he had to deal with annoying people wherever he went. Humans could be such a pain in the arse.

Shaking his head, he decided it would be easier to simply 'wing it'. "Simply follow my orders to the letter, understand? This is a dangerous organisation we are dealing with here, and they must be suppressed, dead or alive, for the safety of all Japan."

"What organisation is it Sir?" asked the second policeman, sounding slightly more youthful than the first, if not by much, and still definitely older than Rayleigh himself.

"_Pah, I thought the news was meant to spread quickly. All about celebs these days though. Damn Big Brother." _"The Digimon Tamers and their associated rogue elements within our government – they are all involved in the assassination of the Prime Minister yesterday."

There was a clear look of surprise on the first policeman's face, a black-haired thirty-something bloke with a normally neutral expression breaking into a gape. He looked fit to ask questions, and so did his companion, but both held back, the first finishing. "Understood."

"Now, what are your _first _names?"

"Yori."

"Rikuto," stated the second. He was in his late twenties or perhaps early thirties, a throng of blonde underneath his helmet, and held his gun still with the look of one surprised to have such a device. Certainly, both seemed unnerved to break protocol by actually holding the weapons constantly rather than attaching them to their belt as per usual. Rayleigh grimaced, noticing that neither gun was EMP-capable. Any Digimon, and their plan seemed screwed.

"_Unless Calumon is around again, I'm sure that there's no danger of that. Those protocols were highly refined during my tenure, even if I'm certain that Yamaki's apathetic leadership will have allowed them to lapse again." _"Excellent, follow me men." A wave of the hand gestured them onwards, through the glass-paned doors at the front of the building and into the spacious and highly polished lobby, the Tokyo Metropolitan Building home to the governance of the twenty-six wards of Tokyo as a whole, even if a combination of their autonomy and the fact that a large portion of the departments had been shifted away from the hotbed of Digital activity for safety reasons all meant together that the governance here was rather limited nowadays. _"And to think, this was their pride and joy, their Gothic cathedral."_

The secretary looked up, but a stern shake of the head and recognition of who he was silenced her again. No-one else in the lobby made moves to ask – such was the power of walking like one 'owned the place'. In plenty of respects, such was now somewhat true.

His companions stayed silent as, after paying a brief gaze upwards through the vast lobby at the glass roof of the central building between the two towers, internal windows and a bridge gracing the walls about the lobby, he tapped the call button for the lift. Soon enough, it arrived, its lone passenger (a distracted-looking office-based civil servant) quickly scurried off, leaving the trio alone as the lift doors closed with a clunk, and it began its fairly rapid acceleration upwards.

"I'll go and confront them first…come in when I click my fingers, understand?"

"But, wouldn't it be simpler to…" Rikuto began.

"Things have to be discussed that are far beyond your security clearance, so you will comply."

"Understood, sir." Yori looked rather less certain on the prospect than his words implied, but unlike his younger colleague he seemed more content to play along for now.

"Perfect," Rayleigh mumbled, pulling out his PDA and smiling as he brought up his program, the word **Sonnett** printed above a number of controls, one far larger than the others and with the word **Activate** printed across it. Unsurprisingly, he tapped it, smiling slyly whilst hiding his amusement from the policemen. This would prevent Hypnos trying anything, and the element of surprise worked far better when it also generated prolonged confusion to boot.

A dulled bleep sounded as they reached their floor, calling his attention back up from the PDA to the metal doors in front of him, the pair groaning as they parted. Stepping out, he gazed down the all-too-familiar corridor, a grin on his face periodically before he hid it again. Finally, this idiotic, inefficient and downright dangerous department would close its doors, permanently. The staff, at least, the uncorrupted ones, would easily find other jobs in governmental computer support and systems design – they would be perfect to meet the true aims of the Voraus scheme (in spirit if not in letter) without the mess which the SIGNT scheme, Hypnos being its result, had created.

Wandering past the glazed windows, he turned to the policemen, placed a finger on his lips, and held his palm out flat. Whether they would understand his gestures, he was unsure – Japan had a whole different language of unspoken signals, and he doubted that very much of what he knew from the West would've translated. But, it didn't matter – they seemed to get the idea regardless.

Continuing along, he soon stood outside the room itself, the dreaded control room, within which lurked his most senior of adversaries, albeit not his most powerful physically - even if at one point Yamaki had thrown a rather painful punch or two in the aftermath of the Zweite incident. Unlike what he expected, he felt rather nervous – this was the first part of his strategy that he truly had to engage in, and he had run through the vast list of potential problems in his mind. His programming failing, however, came very low in likelihood on the list, albeit it was not forgotten entirely like he was tempted to. He was prepared for such an event, but his ego told him that it was highly unlikely and would be a disgrace on his part.

After all, he did consider himself to be one of the finest programmers around, and had yet to find a challenge that he couldn't beat yet with the skill. If only humans were so simple. _"Then again, their minds are so easy to infiltrate and alter – they may as well be some primitive computer."_

Hearing rather loud voices from behind the door, and realising he was stalling, he tuned his ears in as much as he could.

"…**all your base** on there, they've still managed to hack into Hypnos regardless of how they've managed to do that, and I want to know how!"

"_Ah, my cue. Almost poetic, ironically." _

The automatic doors hissed aside as he stepped towards them, the darkness of the chamber a sharp contrast to the fairly airy and, dare-he-say-it, pleasant corridor outside, windows gracing one wall and beiges the other.

Of all, the light there was now came primarily from the large white screens above, broken only by a quote in simple, black, serif lettering.

"**Hell is empty and all the devils are here." - William Shakespeare**

"_I feel ashamed of myself for daring to think that my skills would let me down. If I'm not mistaken, this is checkmate." _A wide smirk landed on his face, wider than he felt should've been possible.

This was his moment of triumph, this was his true chance to make Yamaki see some sense and realise the destruction he had unleashed on all of their lives. And it would transpire in style.

Regardless, it was worth denouncing their obvious concerns if only to heighten their later pain when they realised it was the least of their worries.

"Your precious computer system is safe." Snorting derisively, he glanced upwards to the computer screens above again, amending his words. "Even if it is a heap of junk."

"Rayleigh," Yamaki hissed, daggers shot down at the man from everyone in the room. The Brit simply chuckled under the gaze, putting his hands out in a surrendering pose so as to mock them further. Surveying the scene, he noticed the presence of all of his targets: Yamaki and Eiichi on the floor, and Riley and Tally in the chairs above, seemingly blinded by the harsh white light in such a normally-dark room. The Hypnos Four, or, at least, The Hypnos Trio plus Eiichi. Rayleigh wasn't sure exactly why Yamaki hadn't yet gone ahead and fired his practically-useless 'deputy' – he never delegated roles to him anyway. Yet, Yamaki hadn't yet fallen for that trap, even if Rayleigh felt that what had happened anyway had made up for it.

"_Never underestimate the destructive capability of a poorly-trained employee. Yamaki should know that himself, given he himself was so poorly trained as to design a program which generates a huge hole in the sky."_

Having heard of his plans, Rayleigh had already decided on his dislike of the man before even joining Hypnos, and the pair had locked horns almost immediately once he had, making it clear that his supposition was accurate. Regardless, rubbing it in proved rather amusing in the black-haired man's mind. "Now, that's no way to greet a friend."

"Why are you here?" Rayleigh spun his head around to the former Chief Cabinet Secretary, a smile of amusement crossing his lips at the sight of the shorter, black-haired man.

"Ah, my predecessor. How are you lately?"

"Mourning."

"Ah, but we all are. The PM's death comes at a terrible time for us all."

"What do you mean by that?"

Yamaki was now giving him a suspicious gaze, the sound of shuffling of the two women above causing Rayleigh to then avert his eyes upwards for a moment, probably to the irritation of the man in front of him. Gazing up at the wide, white panels, gracing every wall, he smirked, gesturing his hand up whilst his eyes came back down.

"For **hell is empty, and all the devils are here**. I don't believe I could state it in any simpler or less impressive terms." _"Alas, even your mind might be too stupid to comprehend something so obvious, or so great in literature."_

"Devils? Hell? What do you mean?" asked the voice of Eiichi, more shuffling from above as the British gentleman could feel every single eye in the room focused on him. The pressure didn't faze him at all, but he still felt a concern that, knowing such people, this could all go so wrong. Regardless, showing such concern or weakness to them would be a mistake, except if expressed as meticulous attention to detail. He hoped that he wasn't subconsciously sounding or looking odd at that very moment, for if any of them noticed anything but his usual professionalism the whole plan would be ruined.

He pressed onwards. "Well, like many of Shakespeare's lines, it has such deep meaning. Is hell what we truly fear, and the devils their manifestation? Or does it remark on the evil nature of people, acting like devils in our world? But, personally, I like to think it means one thing."

"Which is?"

"_Eiichi, ah…you don't buy much of what I say, do you? And yet, so often I was so right. Even today, I am so right – the Tamers, the Digimon they keep, Yamaki, they're all such…menaces, creatures who do not know their place or how to control themselves. I only wish I could simply tell them all that. Regardless, on with my dance…" _"The Tamers act as if this world is so safe, so…insulated from reality, and Hypnos along with our government does so much to cushion them. They need to face reality, face the fact that their world is not always going to accept them."

"But we will."

"_I can hear his uncertainty...he is bluffing just as much as I am." _Rayleigh looked up, to those still sitting in the chairs above, and spoke up to them in a booming voice, if not his own then amplified by the acoustics of the room. "You two monitor the internet, I'm _sure_ you know what I mean."

There was a pause before Riley spoke, a pregnant pause, meaning so much, and making it so clear what they knew. "There is…some hostility…"

"That doesn't cover even a tiny part of the situation. Sure, the vocal may be a minority, but a large group of people out there resent Digimon, and only need the right…" He clicked, the sound echoing sharply. "Spark."

"But the Tamers protect our world!"

"_And now, for the blunt facts – time to see what they'll do when it turns out their 'precious Tamers' have had them for fools." _"Yesterday, at eight o'clock in the evening, our beloved Prime Minister Inukai Keishiro was killed by a Digimon."

He wanted a pause as it sunk in, but instead he got the opposite – an instant reply from Eiichi, albeit a rather spluttered and horrified one. The rest, at least, complied with his wishes for silence, broken only by gasps.

"Wait…what?!"

"_Pah, what a cliché…I know you understand perfectly well what I mean." _"The worst thing is…the Digimon was a tamed one, in biomerged form. Given that a human can easily be killed by a lower level, I'd say that was overkill, wouldn't you?"

"How do you know this?!"

"_My, Eiichi, this is the most work on Hypnos' behalf I've ever seen you do. Shame an officially nonexistent organisation doesn't need a spokesman." _"I, as Acting Prime Minister, have personally been watching the tapes from the one remaining security camera in the premises," he said, hardening the blow by placing his hand on his chest as if speaking a truth under oath.

"Excuse me?"

"_And again, you clearly understand yet deny it."_ "Yes. Some have said this Digimon was careless, but personally I believe she was trying to prove a point, to show how powerful they are as Tamers and what control they have over us."

"Hold on…she?!"

"_And finally, another of them speaks. I was worried I'd given them all heart attacks," _Rayleigh thought, looking up and smirking at Tally who had made the exclamation. It was far more amusing to watch, hear, feel, her temper boil so much, to the point where her words became so sharp, so angered, so trying to convey an authority they so sorely lacked. Rayleigh glanced across to Yamaki, the man deep in thought. _"I'm still surprised the bastard himself hasn't said a word…"_

"Are you going to give us some answers?"

Rayleigh once again chose the 'blunt facts' option, crossing his arms and putting on a mock frown, hiding his amusement at the truth behind this all as he said only one word.

"Sakuyamon."

There was much shuffling above, from the other side of the room to Tally. "It couldn't be!" Riley cried down.

Finally, Yamaki spoke, throwing his hands up in the air fearfully as if he expected to catch her form, now perched seemingly perilously on the edge of the platform. "Don't fall!"

There was a sharp sound of metal being grabbed, as the angered redhead's voice continued unabated. "Rika would never do such a thing! She's got a child, she wants to protect people, she…"

"_Wow, you do live in such a dream world, don't you? Has she never heard that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'? 'Great men are almost always bad men'. Or women, in this case. Although calling that girl great would be a grand stretch of the imagination, one which I'm sure her boyfriend has taken to be with her so long. But, dream worlds must end eventually – every Sam Tyler must wake up."_ "Murdered the Prime Minister? I don't pretend to understand her motives, but regardless, it is clear it is her."

He heard a hissed growl from near him, the doors still open and illuminating the face of Yamaki in an oddly visceral manner. Rayleigh was unfazed by the anger itself – his main fear came from knowing the misplaced acts that such emotion usually generated.

"Then show us the tape."

"_God, do you expect me to be like a clichéd bad guy? I thought these people were realistic." _Rayleigh snorted at the idea. "Do you think I would be that stupid? Regardless, even if it is her, you will simply deny it."

There was yet more cluttering; now moving downwards towards him. He knew it was Tally – it wasn't worth looking, and her voice confirmed it. "How many people know?!"

"No-one else, yet. But, all the major television networks around the world are watching my office…in a few moments I will put up a press statement revealing the sad news."

"But…it's a lie!"

"_Pah, what is she basing this all on? She hasn't seen the tape, I have – what is it with people and ignoring the facts?" _"I have no reason to doubt this information." _"Then again, I hardly expected to convince them with words – unfortunately, even if I were the most charismatic person on earth, I doubt I could change their vehement minds." _"But, however, I do have plenty of reason to suspect all of your involvement, and so…"

A wide grin crossed Rayleigh's face, his fingers coming together and making a click far unlike the usual metallic clicking that would fill the room every time Yamaki was stressed.

**Click.**

"You're under arrest."

Right on cue, past him on either side came the sound of boots thumping against the tough flooring. The police officer's backs entered his vision – they stood in front of him, ensuring that none of those inside tried anything at him. Nothing left to chance. At least, nothing controllable left to chance.

Perfect.

Rayleigh quickly arrested his grin again as he realised he had let his pleasure at his plan for finally clearing out a permanent bugbear of his working successfully (at least, so far) nearly ruin his cover, and bit his lip. _"Almost done."_

Silence befell the room for a second, all eyes on the equally quiet newcomers, illuminated in the light of the screens, not least the guns they held prominently in their hands.

And then, it was broken.

"You bastard!"

Without Rayleigh even moving his lips, the police officers both cocked their guns and pointed them at the angered Yamaki, the man stopping short in surprise. Glancing across, the Brit saw that the blonde's girlfriend looked petrified, a hand out already in fear.

"_Ugh, time and time again they push their luck and expect to escape unscathed. Don't they realise how serious I am being here? This is not a game."_

"Not one more step. You will not stand in the way of justice," barked Yori, the older officer's voice authoritative and unquestioning, yet also having a sense that he wasn't just going to play exactly by every rule in the rulebook if they stood in the way of what was clearly right and wrong for him. Regardless of that, Rayleigh felt like the numbers were finally being evened up a bit, even if he knew that, if it wasn't going to blow his cover, he could easily have called Falcomon in to deal with them anyway were the worst case scenario to occur.

"_Doubtless it would've been more efficient too, even if I'll admit that these men are well trained."_

"Justice? You're arresting innocent civilians!" came the offended cry of Eiichi, before it was muffled into a squirm as Yori stepped forth and grabbed his hands behind him, restraining him before looking ready to use the handcuffs on his belt. The less senior officer, Rikuto, followed orders and restrained Yamaki. In Rayleigh's eyes, it wasn't ideal – Yamaki was the least predictable and he wanted the officer with the most experience and seniority – the most inclination to bend the rules slightly in terms of how violent they could be due to the lack of potential damage to future reputation – to deal with him. But, alas, it was only a minor problem.

"You are under arrest," Yori said forcefully, talking over Eiichi as he went to speak again. "Anything you say…" he began, he and his partner both opening the handcuffs, the slightest move probably not even visible to the people around, or indeed the man being arrested himself – all for the better, since it meant neither Yamaki and Eiichi would make a quick move forward.

He was interrupted, however, when Rayleigh saw something hit him in the back, making him wrong-foot for a moment before both officers turned, guns ready and pointing to the air, their targets forgotten.

Rayleigh, naturally, gritted his teeth at this, as the officers kept their guns trained on the people above. _"How can these be well-trained policemen?!" _He glanced down to the thrown object. _"Distracted by a shoe!"_

Cringing, he hissed through his jaw and furrowed his brow greatly. "Go after them!" he barked, before he was forced to stop.

By no less than a sharp left hook to his cheek, one which threw him staggering backwards and caught him greatly off guard as he felt the pain work through his jaw. He landed on the floor and his hand on a control panel as he tried to steady himself, before thanking the heavens he hadn't pressed one of the myriad of buttons. He didn't need that kind of complication.

Thankfully, this time the policemen got a grip on themselves, now aiming at Yamaki and seeing sense once again. There was a series of thumps as boots and shoes met the ground nearby, the sight of a blonde and redhead on the ground now making Rayleigh feel that his well-cast plan was now going out of control. But not beyond hope.

Regardless, he ironically broke one of his own rules regarding plans: don't let your own emotions influence you.

"STOP THEM!" he bellowed as he sat up properly again, hearing the roaring anger in his voice, ironically much like Yamaki's only a few moments before. The eloquence had vanished, but now things had gotten personal. His last fight with the blonde had been let off – this time, he was going to make the chief of Hypnos pay dearly, by prison or otherwise. Returning the punch would not be enough – he had long-suffered at the hands of that man, in spite of all his revenge attempts.

He pushed himself up to his feet and darted towards Yamaki, intending to teach him a lesson once and for all.

Yet, he continued straight past, the blonde staggering away from his vision. As Rayleigh came back to a stop, he heard a loud slamming sound, watching the electric sparks around the control panel which Yamaki had hit. In turn, the doors slammed shut, a clunk echoing around the chamber.

Once again, the clatter of arms being prepared filled the air, but Rayleigh threw a hand up into the air and called loudly, the policemen ceasing in their movements with bewildered gazes.

"_As much as it would be pleasing, I'm not going to wreck my chances!" _"Don't, you'll damage the equipment." Quickly becoming aware of a wet feeling to the pain on his lips and chin, he pressed his hand against it.

A brief glance at the red, ghastly blood brought a sadistic laugh to his lips as he felt his anger and irritation at how everything had gone against him so sudden grating on him.

"So funny you all are," he spat, eyes crossing the three subordinates of the blonde currently firmly in the sights of a pair of guns and well-trained eyes. This situation was far from out of control – he could still eliminate all of those in the room with no lasting effect, particularly since the officers were sworn to secrecy anyway. Were it not for the highly valuable equipment, he would have in that moment ordered an erratic spray of fire around the room – scaring his prey before they died. He knew, however, that he couldn't do as such, regardless of how angry he became. "But you're nothing compared to my brilliance."

And that was true. He was a gifted, young, relatively fit and successful young man – he could not be described as anything but brilliant. He was, perhaps, the word's definition, at least in his eyes.

But, it seemed that someone else disagreed.

And laughed.

Rayleigh's brow furrowed sharply down, his eyes widening in total surprise, and his mouth falling more than slightly agape. He span to look at Yamaki, chuckling to some unknown tickle and snorting at the idea. _"What the hell is he doing?" _the Brit wondered, gritting his teeth in annoyance at how this man continued to be a pain.

The laugh fell almost as quickly as it had arrived, a flat, almost emotionless expression now filling the blonde's face.

"What's so funny now?" Rayleigh hissed, wanting answers. How could anyone laugh in a situation as dire as _this_?

He contemplated the gun hidden away in the inside pocket of his suit, a 'gift' from a dead girl. With it, it would be so simple to end this annoyance right now. But, he knew that, as satisfying as such a move would be in the short term, in the long run it would seriously jeopardise so much more.

"So, you wrote this program and put it into the system when you worked here?" Remarkably, Yamaki's voice had become flat, monotonous even, and the smug amusement from before had vanished.

"Hmph, he can think clearly for once," snorted Rayleigh, hiding his inner trepidation at where the blonde's questioning was heading.

"You're like a child."

Rayleigh paused briefly, astonishment across his face a blink later.

"A child?! This program is sophisticated; it took down an entire government system with ease! No child could manage that!" he insisted, making sharp, pointed hand gestures to the screens around, still white and blaring with their ever-present quote. An elegant program, one from experience and skill, and something no mere child could have. Was this a quip at his youth perhaps? _"If so granddad, then you need to be led outside and swiftly put out of your misery."_

And yet, the man still laughed, a glance across to his girlfriend. She looked briefly confused, before nodding. "Go on Riley, tell him about what happened."

Yamaki's prompt brought a smile to Riley's face, one which looked out of place as Rayleigh turned to fully face her. Were they…controlling the situation? _"No, this cannot happen! My first priority in this kind of situation is to dominate…they will not be the ones mocking _me_!" _

"A child, of only 13, managed to take down our whole system with the most destructive program ever."

Rayleigh's first action was a snort, coupled with a muttered "bollocks". And then, upon seeing the pair were deadly serious in their gazes, even a nod coming from the redhead, he furrowed his brow. "What?" he asked dismissively. "What program?" he added, shaking his head as his eyes rolled upwards in disbelief, his tone matching. "How do you know this?!"

"The Hazard."

Rayleigh was, for the first time that day, well and truly left speechless by the simple two words of Riley. He glanced back to Yamaki, eyes widening and jaw somewhat agape as he quickly rushed through all those references he had heard in his mind.

Every passing comment.

Every unexplained note on their database.

Every time he had seen that symbol on the partner of that child, that oh-so-powerful Chaos.

They suddenly all added up, a huge picture in his mind coming to fruition about what was going on, even if 'the event' itself still eluded him. It didn't matter though. Something was off about this all, nonetheless, at least in the mind of the man who insisted on scrutinising every variable, every avenue, every possibility in the pursuit of his plans.

"_This cannot be true – the Hazard is the work of Chaos…it is Chaos, I have known as such from the day I awoke and felt the after-effects on the world of whatever that godforsaken force did. The force of that same Chaos who destroys everything he touches…the same one who cannot design anything that is perfect, controlled, sophisticated, intelligent. That…program, stored within his partner. How…how can that possibly even begin to be compared with my program? It is like comparing a tub of lard to the Ritz!"_

They were going to pay for the suggestion too. His entire life had been based around intelligence and programming, and now his work was being compared to something which was little more than a wild animal, and, indeed, put down compared to it. That would not stand.

And, neither would Rayleigh, ironically, as a sharp pain in his back made him stagger forwards, straight towards Yamaki.

Reaching out to steady himself and regain his balance, he instead felt another, more powerful shove in the side, one which made him fall towards the pair of police officers – all three tumbling to the ground painfully and with bewilderment still hot on their minds at what had just happened.

Over his shoulder, he could hear the sounds of movement nearby – of shoes on the relatively clean floor of the room, shoes moving quickly before being replaced by silence. They had to be stopped now, and his officers were not helping at all.

"Stop…them!"

He tried to turn his head, but with a hiss he felt a kick in his side, the foot then retreating back towards where the others had come from.

He ran his hand down his back and side, feeling sharp rushes of pain on the sore skin. Gritting his teeth and cursing how he had let himself be distracted and then caught off guard, Rayleigh was first up onto his knees out of the three who had fallen. Pondering how useless the officers had turned to be, he twisted round, beginning to push himself onto his feet, ignoring the pain he felt as he looked through the dim light of the room. Light burst from the floor all of a sudden, a hatch panel now pointing out of the floor and a mechanical hiss sounding as it helped itself open.

"_So this'll be how it is then? Then I'll have to deal with this issue right here, right now before Hypnos can cause any more harm to this country. It's a shame though…I had such amusing games planned…"_

The question of how exactly they knew about the escape route, leading down through the floors of the Tokyo Metropolitan building, did cross his mind. It was unlikely to be chance – it was one of so many hatches in the room, and, not being engineers, he doubted they'd ever opened any personally, particularly since, if not mistaken, Rayleigh recalled the other panels simply contained power supplies and other such menial utilities.

"They'll escape!" he summed up the issue to Yori and Rikuto, who thankfully were now back on their feet alongside him. They began to advance, as Rayleigh did likewise, watching Yamaki bend down near his allies and begin to talk.

"This…is an escape route?" the Brit could hear Eiichi stammer. "I didn't even know it was here."

Rayleigh hadn't forgotten to consider that they could pursue such a plan. But…it hadn't been worth blocking either. He was limited enough in his numbers – perhaps with good reason given how much more difficult bringing down Digimon-armed Tamers would be by comparison. He couldn't afford to split his force, and, besides, that route was not convenient for ground-level entry by any means.

"Yeah, but I think Rayleigh did," Tally added, Yamaki reaching them and pointing down into the opening.

"_Ah, someone's learning about my modus operandi. It's such a shame you're still stupid enough to leave yourself open…"_ the man thought menacingly, tightening his fingers sharply into a ball and pulling his arm back slightly.

This was his target – the police could easily deal with the other three. But this one had made a disgrace of him, and had been a permanent thorn in his backside. Yamaki Mitsuo had to learn his lesson, even if it meant he would have to be written off as a tactical loss of intelligence (even if Rayleigh found the concept laughable) next time the Hypnos agency's finances were reviewed. Of course, such was a joke on Rayleigh's part – he didn't plan for there to be a Hypnos after this was all over anyway.

"Quickly!" Yamaki called, kneeling by the edge of the floor hatch. Tally dropped down nearby, whilst Rayleigh could hear a scuffle between the officers and the two remaining subordinates on the Hypnos floor, Riley and Eiichi.

And then, finally, came the satisfying feeling as his knuckle crammed straight into the blonde hair.

Yamaki fell sharply forward, smashing his head on the metal chair support pillar, definitely not designed for such a task with its grill-like shape and sharp metal, the device intended to twist and turn to spin its users around the room as fast as they needed, ladders gracing either side.

Ignoring gasps of shock, and not allowing his surprised opponent to do anything, he gripped the man's collar, manhandling him forward and slamming him into the pillar again and again. Dismissively, he finally shoved Yamaki to the ground, blonde hair now permanently touching the metal.

The white light still streaming down from the sphere of screens above their heads cast a curious gaze on proceedings, making the blood on the man's face look oddly glossy, whilst the whole scene seemed like something out of Bond – something which Rayleigh found infinitely satisfying.

There was a moment of silence, around the black and blonde haired men if not in the rest of the room, whilst Yamaki's now-erratic breathing reached his foe's ears. The briefest of smirks registered on the Brit's face before soon being replaced by a growl of anger, a bitter edge to his shouted words.

"DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE MY WORK TO THAT DISGRACEFUL PROGRAM!"

Yamaki winced in pain, as Rayleigh shouted so close to his ear. The Acting Prime Minister slammed his hand into the back of the blonde's head, a sharp and painful noise echoing up the support pillar to the chairs high above.

"_Time to silence a pain in my arse."_

Rayleigh reached down into his coat, pulling forth a pistol and making the room fall silent in the process, even his own officers losing their breath. He didn't care – he was assisting them in their job in his eyes, and if they didn't like it, a demotion to a dead-end job would soon enough land on their doorstep with all the (fairly substantial) powers he had right now as the Acting Prime Minister.

"Come on Riley!" he could hear words echo from the escape hatch, the voice of Tally below, unaware of the drama and violence erupting above. It would simply be all the more shocking for her when she arose, or, better, was arrested.

The head battered against the metal again, Rayleigh hissing as a distant voice in his mind told him not to let his anger control him. He pressed it down – right now, he was succeeding regardless, combining anger with accuracy. Gone were the times when he was on the receiving end, the blood on his lip a grim reminder. Gone were the days when he was made to make coffee for the arrogant man. And, thankfully, gone were the days when he had to act pleasant to this horrid fellow even when he was proving to be a problem.

"You…you foil everything!" _"No longer…" _he thought, cocking the gun and preparing to fire.

"Yamaki!" cried Riley's voice over Rayleigh's shoulder. Seemingly in response to her words, the blonde began to move onto his knees in the hope of recovery, but Rayleigh simply kicked him sharply in the leg and sent him stumbling downwards. The gun was perfectly trained on the back of his head.

"I should've done this ages ago," the Brit said darkly, blonde hair becoming stained with red as he heard exclamations of surprise from behind, Riley seemingly grabbed by one of the officers. Everything was coming together perfectly – almost poetically too, given the relationship between the blonde and the redhead.

"You are under arrest…" began Yori, but Rayleigh felt he would go for something perhaps far more clichéd to be the final thing which his perpetual annoyance heard.

"Goodbye, Yamaki Mitsuo!"

And with that, he was knocked off his feet.

Sharply.

A gunshot streaked across the room, yet was muted as it hit some surface unknown. A loud wheezing and hissing, an almost hydraulic one, filled the air, echoing as there was a great groan, one finished by a crash above, a sprinkling of debris falling down.

Rayleigh groaned, rubbing his head in agony and feeling pain all over as his eyes span. Placing his hand on the floor, he brushed it past his gun, his mind just thankfully that the bullet hadn't ended up in him. Opening his eyes properly, he surveyed the scene.

To his left, stuck somewhat in the wall and having taken out one of the screen panels above, was the chair of the metal support, the same metal support currently at a sharp angle with its base hissing. His eyes widened as he gazed closer, seeing a broken pipe sitting slightly outside it all.

"_No…he didn't…he couldn't…that…bastard!"_

Yamaki had broken the pipe…maybe some kind of cutting implement? What did he have on him? It didn't matter – even by yanking it alone in a place like this, where such things weren't expected to be broken as such and so weren't designed for it (an irony given the number of attacks on the building), one could probably break it after a while.

He cursed his distraction – he had become so obsessed with killing the man he hadn't paid attention to his hands. Given the absence of any chopped limbs near where the man had been, he could only guess that Yamaki had escaped just in time.

As had all of them, by the looks of it. Yori and Rikuto were the only two left in the room – the former perched, one foot on the ladder and now paying a gaze over to him, questioning what his orders should be. The latter still just looked stunned, as Rayleigh cursed that he hadn't let them use guns, particularly in the context of the irony that the room had now been damaged regardless.

"What are you waiting for?" Rayleigh asked, pushing himself quickly to his feet and then feeling a sharp case of dizziness which forced him to rest one hand on the wall. "After them."

"Yes sir," echoed both officers, Yori disappearing nearly instantly and Rikuto clambering down soon after, Rayleigh finding himself alone in the Hypnos control room. The lights above on the monitors continued to blaze out, but now only read:

"**Hell is empty and all……re here." - William Shakespeare**

He let loose a sigh, a mix of anger, frustration and disgrace at himself. Even when he had acknowledged the fault of his anger in the heat of it all, he had still not thought straight.

But it was not over. In fact, this had been prepared for, and well too. He had a plan, one going far beyond just the Hypnos personnel, one for which all the resources were already in place and were waiting on just one simple command, one which he would be pleased to give.

The dizziness now gone, he wandered across to the centre of the room again, pausing only to pick up his gun with a clatter from the floor. Afterwards, he kicked the hatch closed, before reaching into his suit and replacing the weapon, only to in turn pull out his faithful PDA.

Flicking with the slightest gesture into the email client, he went into his drafts, bringing up an email with a list of contacts which filled the screen. Scrolling down, a smirk grew on his face. Military commanders, police chiefs, even just individual sergeants, all told to do one thing.

**Begin Operation Klemmen**

Of course, Rayleigh wasn't stupid, although he certainly thought those receiving it could be. Although they were expected to have been previously briefed, following the call for action was a list of details, specific orders. All lacking one major thing: a reason.

Sure, it explained the fact that the Digimon Tamers had killed the PM, and the chief suspects, but not much more than that. It would've been unnecessary in any case – these people were trained to ask "how high", not "why".

But, in any case, anything short of rebellious dissent would ensure this plan succeeded. The Klemmen, the pincers, would encircle them all with all the famous efficiency of the language of the country from where the name derived.

Without much pomp and circumstance, the finger met send, and, with a surprisingly quick progress bar (the privilege of such a high role and military transmitters), it was gone.

A smirk.

"Perfect."

"Is everything in order sir?"

"Of course Falcomon," answered Rayleigh, looking up to his purple and black partner with amusement limited only by his reserved nature. "Phones disconnected, Tamers fearful, the media telling the world, soldiers and police closing in on every house, and every single thing they send intercepted. Run run run, as fast as you can. Nowhere is safe," he mused to himself, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Shall I continue my monitoring duties then?"

Rayleigh glanced down as a bleep came from the PDA, a smirk on his face again as he read it. "Not by the looks of it...we have somewhere to go," he added, holding the device out to show to his partner.

**SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

"These people have obviously never watched a movie. Seriously, it's like fighting sheep."

"Are we going ourselves then sir?"

"Of course – why do you ask?" Rayleigh replied, cocking an eyebrow at his partner. An oddly nervous look crossed the Digimon's face, almost a guilty one.

"I…I was simply concerned for your well-being. Uh, sir."

Rayleigh let loose a snorted chuckle, shaking his head and smiling. "Absolutely nothing to worry about there my friend – I am perfectly prepared."

"I noticed sir." And of course he had. Practically every night, Falcomon had seen his plans. Pulled out from a compartment at the back of the cupboard, ensuring that, as unlikely as it would be, any mistake on his part leading to a search in his apartment wouldn't be completely fatal for his identity and strategy.

And what plans they were, even if Rayleigh did think so himself, albeit with Falcomon's usual compliance and agreement with his every word. Dozens and dozens of bits of paper, of every size, with rulers and compasses, combined with memory sticks and a laptop, full to the brim with every piece of tactical technology he could ever need, from GIS to brute force hacking. Not that he really needed the latter now in his new position. And, of course, the death of the PM had a massive impact on his plans, making them about a thousand times simpler than they would've been otherwise.

Every detail had been meticulously planned. Books and books and books of calculations of odds, probabilities, ideas, and worst case scenarios, along with reams of profiles and data on every single Tamer and anyone who had done any more than have a minute's worth of conversation with them. Falcomon would observe them on a daily basis, and by night he would collate his data before retiring for but an hour's sleep most of the time.

"_Lucky bugger only needs that much; even if I think he looks tired a lot of the time." _Rayleigh was simply glad the Digimon had taken his advice (not that he would ever ignore or not agree with anything he said) and got some proper rest the night before last. The middle of a war was not the time for a nap.

"Well, if that's so…shall we move on sir?"

Rayleigh chuckled at his partner's continuing politeness, a blight which he had found himself unable to get rid of even with the best of his attempts. Regardless, better an overly polite Digimon than an overly rude one, something which put him in a league of his own well above the vast majority of Digimon out there. Sure, some were polite, but their alliances dragged them down into the terrible masses, a shame really.

"Of course," he said, quickly returning the PDA to his jacket and striding back towards the door. The pair walked, in silence, along the corridor, Rayleigh turning to his partner to find he had already vanished as soon as another person all but had an atom around the nearest corner, if that.

The wide, open foyer beckoned once again as they strode from the lift, or, at least, Rayleigh did, for, before he could even see the receptionist and the few staff in the room, Falcomon had gone…somewhere. He never quite explained where – the art of subtlety could naturally not be so easily defined, but, sure enough, no-one saw him.

No-one ever saw him.

Rayleigh wandered across the floor, his shoes making distinct clapping noises against the highly polished surface, before he reached the set of revolving doors, pausing as he reached them and looking curiously back to the receptionist. He wandered over to her with a wide smile, looking over her neat pale brown hair and glasses, her form graced with a smart and conservative uniform, the practice for all staff here.

"Hello," he said, the woman nodding and looking briefly surprised at such a prominent figure suddenly turning up at her desk. Evidently though, given her comparative lack of surprise, she hadn't yet heard the news about the chief suspects. _"Probably actually makes my life easier right now." _

"Do you need anything sir?"

"Two things, if you'd be so kind. Firstly, could you put out a radio call or announcement or whatever you deem most prudent, for Rikuto and Yori to 'return home'?"

"Right away. And the other thing?"

"Ah, yeah. If someone turns up asking for me, can you direct them to Storage Room 29?"

"Are you expecting a visitor then?"

"Naturally. And, don't worry about all the paperwork – I'll deal with it in due course."

"I'll do so right away."

"Excellent."

Rayleigh turned, a kindly smile on his face flashed to the woman as he wandered away, knowing exactly what he had meant. For there were no 'storage rooms' in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building – indeed, he would have been interested in finding a place where there was one in any government facility. They always meant something else.

"_Laboratory 29. The final phase of my plan."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the many mysteries and insights throughout which hopefully made up for it being an expanded parallel to Riley's earlier chapter (albeit solving the cliff-hanger and explaining a lot of what happened there). Next time is Ryo's chapter, which I'm sure a lot of you will be looking forward to.

Until next time…

B.C.


	21. Phase One: Ryo Akiyama

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself). Or Guitar Hero, for that matter.**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

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**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

**Phase One**

_Ryo Akiyama_

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**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

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_**Ichijouji **__**Residence, Minato Ward**_

_**11:40 JST**_

Fingers rushed up and down, clattering across the coloured keys at a rate which made little logical sense to any onlookers, the hand far detached from its usual mind, some sort of reflex leaping straight from eye to muscle and skipping everything in-between.

And the reward? The next note of the song, or, at least, the impression that one had made some impact in producing it (or rather, ensuring that it was not replaced with an ungodly scratching noise).

An MP3 player, a computer, even a tape recorder, would've been easier and less exhausting, but the bizarre addition which Guitar Hero 6 provided had ensured it became a hit with teenagers across the world practically the day after launch late in 2010. Sure, it was only pretending to play guitar (or, worse, sing), but it was miles easier than actually learning how to do so. Coloured buttons were a lot easier than frets, even if a million teens would insist that they had awesome skills at it. People who pointed out that unfortunate truth were usually the subject of a quick dismissal, a glare, or a challenge to 'do better'.

Those were the cocky ones, the ones who always played on 'expert'. They were not the only ones on that mode though, not the only ones not content with the 'medium' and 'hard' modes the majority of the rest of the gaming populace seemed satisfied with, for there were also the humble ones. They were ones whose inherent abilities beggared belief but were never boasted about, who insisted on teaching everyone else to do better, and who barely let a smile go loose apart from to make a fake comment about how badly they felt they did.

They were by far the most annoying of them all.

Two of this particular type were currently engaged with this particular copy of the game and a pair of plastic guitars of slightly different makes, eyes set firmly on the screen as notes flew towards them at a rapid pace, swirling from one side of the screen to the other and being gone before most could even begin to think about acting upon them. And every one, or at least, almost every one, was met.

"Come on Ken…" cheered a rather large green worm-like creature, even if he was rather smaller than most of his kind – Digimon – who had a habit for being much larger than their real world inspirations. Ken barely reacted, clenching his teeth, whilst the other boy felt confident enough to throw a look back, a frown on his face about how his own partner failed to do likewise. _"Cyberdramon looks miserable…like always when he's not fighting."_

He couldn't help but wish that the large (indeed, rather larger than the living room of his friend's house seemed fit to take) dragon Digimon, one always hiding his emotions (besides rage, of course) both literally and figuratively beneath a mask, was more like the rest. The rest who stayed at the rookie level or at least at a higher level in a manageable size, the rest who seemed to talk to their partners all the time about anything which bothered them, and, of course, the type who didn't secretly half want to destroy the universe.

That last point was definitely the biggest pain of all. Sitting doing revision for his all-too-soon exams, eating tea with his father (or, at least, the man in this world calling himself that who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere), or just, as now, playing games, it dwelled on his mind, not least thanks to recent events. Whether it was an out-of-control moment for Cyberdramon, or just a harmless shiver in his spine, the dreaded beast, one who had threatened everything from the smallest space to the largest expanse of time, was leaving his mark more and more nowadays.

It wasn't like there were many he could talk to about it either, not least because doing so would've involved delving so far into history, and undoubtedly breaking a lot of the perception locks cutting off the majority of his friend's memories of the subject. The Digidestined knew nothing beyond the fact they had been involved to train him up, and perhaps the name of the great beast himself, although the boy speculated that even that could be stolen from them at a moment's notice by Milleniummon.

There was that shiver again. That ungodly word.

There was one friend who knew about most of it, at least historically even if his present fears hadn't been explained in as much detail. It was the same friend who he was currently neck and neck with on the game, the needle of the virtual 'Guitar Duel' dial wavering from left to right as both tried to get the upper hand. The same friend who had suffered so much in the past thanks to it all, so much so that he felt guilty every time he burdened Ken with even the slightest hint about Milleniummon's subtle manoeuvrings. He already felt guilty enough that, when they had beaten Milleniummon one of the previous times, it was Ken's attempt at pushing him out of the way of what later turned out to be a number of fast-flying 'dark spores' that had lead to that same boy's later trauma and much devastation for the Digital World.

"_I'd rather have taken the hit – at least then I could be sure that Milleniummon would've kept me alive and close enough that I could destroy him." _The idea that he was tied in destiny to a 'Digital God' was both puzzling and worrying, even if right now he seemed pretty subdued. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask – what if he died through another cause? Would Milleniummon automatically die too? Was that a better option?

What if he died naturally? Heck, what if Milleniummon killed him by cutting him up into tiny pieces? Surely he couldn't remain after that? Death was assured once the body was beyond even a glimmer of being able to function. At least, wasn't it?

"_I get the feeling that Ryder might disagree on that one."_

Ryder was another interesting point in his life, even if the pair hadn't shared that much conversation. The Tamers as a whole proved to be an interesting group, a united front with more isolated sub-groups within. Of course, everyone knew everyone, but that didn't mean everyone was everyone's best friend.

"_I know I'm being cynical, but…"_

The blindness of groups was inevitable with the Tamers, and was something he felt he had reopened his eyes from, for he had been an outsider to them once – self-imposed exile. Even after over a year back with the Digidestined, and even longer with the Shinjuku area Tamers, he felt like an outsider. This gave him a view without the rosy tint which most had, and he knew that his group was less than perfect. They pulled together every time there was a crisis, of course, but outside, there were far more conflicts, the majority rarely put into words.

Ryder was another outsider, and yet, he seemed to gel better with the group, at least marginally. _"Knowing everyone from the TV show must help a lot. I remember when Takato and the others met the Digidestined – they were asked a lot more questions than they asked themselves. And Ryder knows more than that –he probably knows everyone, and their history, and everything. Which means he must know about Milleniummon too…" _he thought warily, pondering what problems such a situation could bring. Ryder had to know about what was going on, didn't he? He couldn't have just stood back and watched when the Cult of Victory had attacked before and Monodramon had gone feral…could he? _"Still…if he'd said something, I'd have heard about it by now. Seems like I can trust him in that at least."_

The boy frowned, appreciating the irony that, despite trusting Monodramon (at least, the part which wasn't his arch-enemy) and his friends to the end of the earth, he didn't trust them with something they could probably help him with.

"_I don't want to scare them though. Sure, the Demons want them dead, and Yggdrasil did a lot of damage but…Milleniummon is in a whole different league, and I don't think anything any of us have faced lives up to it. He can disrupt time, he's insanely powerful and he never seems to say die either. He's part of one of our friends too, and I really don't want Monodramon to become an outcast. Everyone could be so afraid of him, even more so than when he's Cyberdramon."_

"Ryo?"

Ryo blinked, looking out at the game again and finding the dial was nearly on Ken's side, whilst his side of the game was flashing red. He looked across to Ken, the boy looking worriedly back even though it meant interrupting his own play, something which probably prolonged Ryo's avatar being booed off the virtual stage for at least a few moments.

"I'm fine," Ryo insisted, shaking his head and giving his best 'everything is okay' grin. Not that it would work. Ken knew him too well.

Diverting his attention back to the game in the hopes he could stave off discussion of what bothered him for as long as possible, he quickly picked up his A-game again, the bar swinging back again, just reaching his side as the song, 'Who Am I' by 38th Parallel, finally came to a close.

"Whew, so close…" Ryo said, fake wiping a beat of sweat and looking to Ken, half-expecting an immediate question about the exact topic he was thinking of. He was very thankful when, instead, the relieved look was returned.

"Heh, wouldn't have been if you hadn't phased out so much – well done."

Ryo contemplated the idea of Ken ever being able to actually boast. Well, at least, since he stopped being the Digimon Emperor.

"Seems like we both have some natural talent at this, huh?" Ken said, Ryo outwardly smiling but knowing that there were so many unspoken connotations to the words. Ken's skill, of course, came from the Dark Spore still within him, but Ryo's…he could only suspect that Milleniummon had something to do with it.

"_I wish I knew how." _"Yeah. If you got Wormmon pressing the buttons though…"

Ken laughed, shaking his head. "We've tried," he said, before with a quick leap of string Wormmon landed on his shoulder, nodding.

"I can't see the buttons and the colours that fast." His voice was almost apologetic, and Ryo gave a reassuring smile.

"Hey, don't sweat it – at least you wouldn't break the guitar like Cyberdramon would."

A hissed growl was all he got in return, something which would frighten most but which only remind him of his predicament, and didn't seem to faze Ken or Wormmon at all.

"Hey, can you even see in colour properly?" Ken asked, looking to the Digimon with a curious gaze.

"I don't know what that looks like."

"Oh, yeah, right," the blue-haired boy apologised, whilst Ryo threw a gaze at the screen, a slim smile on his face.

"You can choose the next song if you want."

"Right. And this time, can we just do lead and bass? My fingers ache so much."

Ryo nodded, looking back to the screen as Ken scrolled through the menus and songs, feeling in no hurry to pressure him to just pick a song already. Wormmon shot a thread and swung away again, back to the nearby coffee table alongside Ken's cell phone. He glanced back to Cyberdramon, biting down on his lip for a moment as he saw the rather cramped dragon give his a blank look in return. And it wasn't just a blank look because of the mask – Ryo could tell he wasn't expressing anything at all, not even annoyance at being squeezed into such a small space. Of course, he had the option for going back to Monodramon, but Cyberdramon never liked dedigivolving except when he had to through tiredness. _"Which isn't often." _"So, which universities are you thinking of trying for now?"

Ken frowned. "No idea…this week has just made it all the more confusing."

Nodding, Ryo turned his gaze back to the screen from his friend, the song 'w.a.m.s.' by Fall Out Boy chosen and the loading screen popping up. "Good choice."

"If only universities were so simple."

"Well, I have to say, you were a lot more thorough than me in looking at the courses. My dad just insisted on going to the highest one on the list he could get me into. Just hope I get the results I need to get in." Ryo, of course, was a year older, and could only look back on the process of looking at the various universities and choices available with cringing. It had been so boring, and he still wasn't sure that his Dad's method of university selection was the best.

"Still, thanks again for coming to look at them with me and my folks."

"No problem – we don't see each other enough. Felt a bit like the old times…the good parts at least. And, I was planning to visit everyone in Tokyo again soon anyway, so I saved on train fare too."

"Couldn't you have just flown here on Cyberdramon?" Ken asked, genuinely curious. Ryo tried to suppress a frown; looking for some answer he could give which wouldn't worry his old friend.

"_I didn't even plan to have Cyberdramon here – although I'm glad he waited until after we finished looking at all the universities to digivolve. If he didn't fit in the car, then I'd have to fly on him – I really don't know what he'd do." _"Yeah, I could have. I might fly home, or get the train as usual. Depends on whether Cyberdramon feels up to it." _"Yeah, right, as if he'd really object. I just hope he dedigivolves before Sunday so I've got a real excuse."_ Ryo couldn't believe that once upon a time he had made practically all his trips by Air Cyberdramon, not least given the risk he now knew he presented every time. _"Milleniummon was just pretending to be quiet all that time."_

Apart from Cyberdramon's usual angered state, of course.

"Yeah, but he kept complaining." _"Please don't comment Cyberdramon, please don't comment."_

Yet, no such comment came, and Ryo was left silently thankful for the interruption as the song burst onto the screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ken look round to the graphics seen a thousand times before, none of it fazing the pair as they picked up their guitars, hands at the ready and conversation pushed aside. Quick fingers dashed about, the song beginning with the loud sound of guitars once played by distant hands.

"Ken…your phone is flashing over here," said Wormmon from behind, slightly nervously. He probably was worried about interrupting Ken's game.

"Huh?" The blue haired boy sounded surprised, and missed a bank of notes too as they flew thick and fast towards them. Ryo helped his friend out by pressing pause, whilst a quick burst of white webbing shot out from Wormmon, grabbing the mobile from where it had been left on the table and depositing it in the blue-haired boy's hand. The Legendary Tamer looked over curiously, seeing Ken's expression go to a smile once he read the name. "Damn, I must have left it on silent from the admissions talks."

"Your D-Terminal is probably full of messages from her now,"Ryo mused with a smile too. Regardless of his light jibing, his old friend seemed to be much more successful in the department of romance than him, and had been for the past three years. Albeit being disrupted at times by Yolei's rather changeable moods and temper, coupled with Ken's occasionally melancholic nature, they had survived together, and Ryo couldn't really imagine them apart now, not least because he hadn't known Yolei beforehand.

Ryo, meanwhile, found himself too far from his friends, in a school where everything seemed rather mundane and dull, and with a life which meant he didn't really feel up to being a full time boyfriend. Plus, it didn't really seem fair to put such weight on someone – once you were in the 'group', Tamer or not, you were there for life. And that wasn't just for romantic relationships – just being friends with a Tamer meant you were at risk. And so, he usually stuck to those who were Tamers, ones who had already been through the fire anyway.

And yet, of all his friends over in Tokyo, he tended to stick to a small few. In terms of friendships, Ken, of course, was top of the list, and occasionally he would meet one of the other Digidestined like Izzy or Davis. As for the single girls, Kari was a minefield he could clearly see and knew to steer clear of, even if the people involved themselves only seemed to be just becoming aware of it themselves in the brief glimpses he had seen of them. Sora and Yolei, of course, were already in relationships, and Mimi, although once having offered Ryo the prospect of a date, didn't exactly feel like his type, even if she was rather attractive. The two year age difference didn't help either.

Since they weren't so tinged with bad memories, he would usually instead stick with the Tamers, the ones based around Shinjuku that was. Although only really getting to know him properly after the D-Reaper, he felt he could trust Takato a lot, even if their paths crossed too little for them to be the best of friends. Henry was easier to communicate with, of course, thanks to his love of technology, and Ryo had played plenty of games of e-Digimon cards and such with him in his time, but the card game increasingly seemed meaningless compared to the real thing, and the two boys rarely found much to talk about besides their taming life. Then again, the same was true for most of the Tamers. As for Kazu and Kenta he didn't know them as well and hadn't spoken to them as much, even if they once adored the very ground he walked upon, a practice which had thankfully ceased to the most extent.

As for the girls, there wasn't much to discuss – Jeri, probably one of the nicest people he had ever met even if he still felt that before the D-Reaper she was probably a somewhat different (for better or for worse) person, was, of course, with Henry, whilst Rika, the member of the group he had known the longest and felt he had the most connections with, was, suffice to say, rather tied up in a lot of things, and always seemed to find him annoying, even if they seemed to get along better nowadays than historically.

It was strange – for all the people he had met, across all the universes he had visited, he hadn't really met anyone that he had clicked with well enough to consider them in that way. He hadn't really stayed in one place long enough at all, and with all the Milleniummon stuff in the past, such things as love hadn't really crossed his mind.

That wasn't to say that others hadn't thought as such – he knew that, thanks to his rather mysterious nature, reasonable looks and a fairly easy-going personality (at least outwardly), coupled with, of course, his fame from before it was even known he was a Tamer, he had plenty of admirers in his school. Some had even asked him out, and one or two he had been out with, for the most lasting about two months, but in the end he found himself unable to really commit to something like that when his mind was forever five hundred miles away.

Looking up curiously at his friend, he found Ken holding the phone pointing down in his hand, well away from his ear as a rather bemused expression manifested on his face. "What's up?"

Ken looked round, still seeming highly puzzled as he stared at the screen. "I'm not sure."

"Why? What'd she say?"

"She was glad I was safe, and then she asked me to listen."

"Listen to what?"

"I don't know, the phone cut out before she could say."

"Probably just a bad line. Call her back."

Ken looked down to his cell, grimacing and furrowing his eyebrows even more. "I've got no signal now."

"That's strange." But it wasn't beyond the normal gripes of phone networks and their odd reception.

"I'll use the landline," Ken decided, wandering over to where it sat on its base station and reaching for it, only for the lights and television to suddenly and inexplicably die as he did so.

Ryo looked upwards, blinking in surprise at how everything had suddenly cut out. Spinning round to Cyberdramon, he half-expect it all to be Milleniummon's work, but the dragon looked just as surprised as anyone. Wormmon quivered, swinging onto Ken's shoulder once again.

"Ken, what's going on?"

"Power cut?" The blue-haired boy's words were more of a question than any sort of wisdom, his eyes turning to Ryo for confirmation. The Legendary Tamer couldn't be too sure himself.

"Cyberdramon, do you know what it is?" His words were wary – he didn't want the Digimon bursting into a fight, particularly not with the risk he'd destroy his friend's home in the process, or, worse, destroy his friend full stop.

The Digimon simply snarled, leaving Ryo with a deep sense of unease. Did he actually know? Or was he just apprehensive in his own way? Or, worse, was he snarling about something else entirely?

"Ken, what's that?"

"Huh, what do you mean Worm…" the blue haired boy began, before it dawned on both him and Ryo what the Digimon was now pointing at through the dark. Over in the hallway, there was light – a lot of light, fading brighter and darker in a cycle. He began to wander towards it, Ryo following as they pushed through the apartment, blinds down to avoid the midday sun from heating everything up too much and also blinding them from their game, a dim light cast by the windows.

As he moved, he could hear Cyberdramon traipsing after him, which made him rather nervous as to what was going on. Perhaps he really did know? Regardless, upon reaching Ken's room and opening the door with a quiet squeak, they quickly found the source of this bright light, one bright enough to be noticeable even without complete blackness.

"Oh, it's just a message," Ken said, a sigh of relief from his lips as he wandered over to his D-Terminal where it sat by the computer on his desk. Ryo gave a rather smaller sigh, still somewhat apprehensive as he wandered to the window, pulling on the cord for the blinds.

"Better get some light back in here," he commented, as with a sharp hissing and clapping noise the fabric shot up into a roll. The sun was refreshing to see again, and his eyes blurred for a moment. _"I play video games too much," _he thought, hearing the nearby whir of a helicopter even through the panes. It was not an unusual sound in this city, of course.

What was unusual, however, was the rather large gathering of police and military cars at the apartment building's base.

"What's going on?"

"Ryo…it's from Izzy," Ken interrupted from behind, Ryo turning as his friend drew up to him, D-Terminal still in hand. Wormmon, on his shoulder, looked especially worried, matching his Tamer's tone.

"What does it say?"

Ken, grimacing, held up the heavily-shortened email for his old friend to see in all its glory**. ****SOS all Tamers. Run. Gvt on warpath. Mt at hdt. Izzy.**

"The government is on the warpath? That doesn't sound good at all."

Ken shook his head in agreement. "That's not the worst thing though. This email was sent about twenty-five minutes ago – if we're in danger, then we're in danger…"

The boy wasn't able to finish that sentence, as with an almighty crash the front door, just down the hallway and visible through the half-open door to Ken's room, practically flew off its hinges and into the wall, a number of heavily armed men in military gear storming straight through as if it had never existed. Ryo's eyes flashed with alarm as he saw the weapons, Cyberdramon far too big and dominating in the room to go unnoticed.

"We're dead," he announced, seeing the hugely shocked look on his friend's face. Wormmon shivered up on the boy's shoulder, whilst Cyberdramon simply stayed…silent.

The lead soldier glanced around, oddly confused. "Did you hear something?" he asked his colleagues behind, his tone aggressive and sharp. None of them seemed too sure, and so he instead turned back, feet pounding towards Ken's bedroom.

"_Why haven't they noticed us yet? They can hear us…right?"_

"This must be the kid's room…search it, they might be hiding, or there might be something we need," the soldier, now evidently the head of the group, ordered. Nods came in reply, as the people giving them soon began to ransack the room, the handle of a machine gun sending a pile of CDs crashing to the ground, and another smashing in the door to a wooden closet. Another man got down on his hands and knees, looking under the bed, whilst a final one strode straight past Ryo as if he weren't really there, looking out the window and peering up, down, and to either side.

"_They can't see us," _Ryo thought, looking to an equally-shocked Ken but neither wanting to voice it right now for fear of making themselves 'visible' again. Both, like Cyberdramon too, stayed back out of the way of the men.

With Cyberdramon, it was particularly surprising though, given his large size. And, even Wormmon wasn't exactly a normal sight. Indeed, right now he looked very bewildered and confused, eyes jumping around nervously in a pose rarely seen by the Legendary Tamer on the virus-type.

It was, however, when peering over at his dragon-like partner that the truth about everything that was going on, from Wormmon's nerves to the soldier's ignorance, all hit Ryo like a ton of bricks, as his eyes became caught on a particular feature. Namely, the eyes of Cyberdramon.

Those eyes that were never normally visible now shone through the opaque head-mask, ovals of a dull red glow appearing on it. An eye colour which rang so many bells in the boy's mind.

And one which brought a voice back, a voice back from so many memories, so many nightmares, only now it spoke different words.

New words.

* * *

The world slowed to a crawl around him as he heard them. Whether it was the drama of his mind hearing that old voice again, or whether it was that old voice itself playing its part, or whether those thoughts simply moved so fast they made it all seem so slow by comparison, the soldiers moved so sluggishly around.

"_**Ah humans. You are all so pathetically easy to deceive."**_

Ryo's eyes went to widen in horror, before his brow instead furrowed in irritation and loathing. _"What are you doing?"_

"_**Saving your lives, ingrate. That is, unless you would wish me to stop?"**_

The boy gritted his teeth, the voice penetrating his conscious from all corners of his mind, impossible to block out, even more so to ignore or to forget.

"_**I think you should be counting yourself lucky that your beast is weak enough that he cannot do this himself, lest you would be dead or in chains by now. Alas, perhaps not the former, unless those Digimon bullets live up to their concept."**_

"_You would never die so easily."_

"_**I shall take that as a compliment then."**_

Snorting, Ryo dispensed with Milleniummon's attempts at humour. _"What do you want?"_

"_**Who said I **_**wanted**_** anything?"**_

"_You _always_ want something."_

"_**Cannot a leopard change his spots? The irony is delicious – you are ever so hasty to forgive all others you fight – Impmon, DarkRenamon, and the Cult of Victory. Every single being in creation except me. Or rather, almost all. Your grudges are far too harsh Ryo."**_

"_You are the last person I need a lesson in morality from."_

"_**Ah, but I know you so well, I have forever known you so well, and I am certain that I struck a chord there, let a nag loose in your head. Your will now wonder how unfair you have been. Those seeds of doubt have been sewn, my Tamer, by none other than yourself."**_

"_It's the lesser of two evils."_

"_**So glad we agree that you are anything but good. It never ceases to amuse me how such perspectives change – I recall when that anarchist ENIAC insisted on protecting an old and deathly regime over my supreme, content empire, and you were there, sitting firmly on your high horse and insisting I was wrong."**_

"_You were! You hurt so many!"_

"_**You cannot deny that ENIAC has not done the same. Or rather, should that be Yggdrasil? I must admit I have lost track of his schizophrenia. Alas, it need not matter – he has rightfully passed from existence."**_

"_I'm betting that you must have had a part to play in him turning evil."_

"_**Ryo, you underestimate me. If I had done such a thing, I would confess it – as I am certain you would be first to say, I am far too proud to keep such a thing as a mere secret of mine."**_

"_Then tell me what you're doing now."_

"_**All in good time, my dear Ryo. All in good time."**_

"_Answer me!"_

"_**Humph. It is clear that you have been spending too much time with violent characters like those incarnations of Chaos and Harmony. Hard to think you used to be such a friendly and sweet boy."**_

"_Yeah, well you didn't help much in keeping that."_

"_**You always had an option to step away, to escape a war you had no reason to be involved in from the very start. I had no interest in the real world back then – you would have been perfectly safe."**_

"_So you're interested in the real world now?"_

"_**I am interested in nothing but you Ryo. Be my Tamer – it is all I now wish for." **_

"_No way!"_

"_**I mean no harm. Am I not allowed to have emotions, to long for anything? Can you honestly say I have done nothing for you, even when right now I am keeping you alive?"**_

"_You've pulled so many tricks before."_

"_**Yes, but, tell me, for it continues to baffle me to this day even with such access to your every thought – why do you think your movements to the former Southern Quadrant real world were so simple? Why do you think the Digidestined do not remember everything? I want to keep life easy for you; I would hate to feel that my Tamer was having a bad life because of my actions."**_

"_You just want to cover your own back so you're just fighting me."_

"_**And yet you assist by keeping everything a secret. You honestly believe that you are better off facing this alone. How naïve"**_

"_I'm the only one who can defeat you – I don't want to bring the others into our game."_

"_**Defeat me? I have been slain at your hands as many times as you have at mine – we live and die together my dear Ryo, whether you prefer it or not. Our 'game', as you so peculiarly put it, shall last for an eternity."**_

"_Yeah, well, if you want to be my partner, then why do you make Cyberdramon go out of control, huh? Do you really think I'd settle for you if I lost him?!"_

"_**Calm down, my pet. Once again, your perspective is so, so wrong."**_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_**You do not honestly believe that I of all creatures, a Digital God, would be so petty as to let aggression be a tactic."**_

"_I don't know what to believe about you."_

"_**I feel so insulted – after all we have been through, you know nothing of me. Alas, it shall suffice to say that without my intervention, Cyberdramon would forever be little more than a vicious beast – I am the one holding him back, saving so many lives in the process."**_

"_That's ridiculous. You're manipulating him."_

"_**In which case, answer me this simple question. Where did the whip in your D-Arc originate?"**_

Ryo paused, mouth slightly open as he found himself unable to think of a response.

"_I don't know."_

Was Milleniummon…telling the truth?

"_**Excellent. Now we are reaching an understanding. But, alas, you have real life matters to attend to. The dark spore child wishes to address you."**_

"_Huh?"_

_

* * *

_

"Ryo…" broke the quiet, worried voice of Ken through the boy's mental conversation, bringing him back down to reality with a figurative thump. He quickly shot a glance about at the now soldier-less bedroom, one could be summed up by perfectly by only one simple word which would seemingly automatically cross the mind of anyone who saw it, coupled with a gaping mouth like that now on the Legendary Tamer.

Wrecked.

Every cupboard was busted open, every sheet ruffled, every screen pushed aside and every box opened. CDs cluttered the floor, pressing against books and homework. The window was left open, a cold breeze rushing through and making Ryo shiver on top of the shudder already going up his spine at the sight. The soldiers had replaced nothing to where it was – everything was simply left in situ once it proved fruitless in searching.

Ken's room was, simply put, ruined, and the culprits were nowhere to be seen. Down the hallway, the front door had been shut again, a surprise given how forcefully it had been opened.

"They're gone?" Ryo said, half stating and half questioning, his voice fairly low for fear of being overheard by any soldiers still in the flat, perhaps now busting open their guitar controllers in the search for clues. Perhaps they enjoyed busting apart lives? Was this what the military was ordered to do? Heck, why were they ordered to do it? What on earth was going on?

"Yeah…" Ken seemed hesitant, and somewhat bewildered, in his reply. Ryo soon found out why. "Didn't you see?"

"Yeah," Ryo lied. "I just thought they could have gone to the next room or something."

Grimacing, his old friend wandered over, picking up a photo frame of his family from the floor where it had been discarded, the glass cracked. Ryo saw the frown deepen as Ken gazed across the image, the Legendary Tamer wandering over to see that the image, of a long distant holiday from when Ken was a child, contained his late brother Sam too.

Putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, he uttered some words of reassurance. "These soldiers can't just do this without explanation. We'll find them, don't worry."

"My parents are still going to kill me."

"They'll just be glad you're safe," Wormmon disagreed.

"Yeah, but how? Why didn't they see us?"

Ryo glanced up at Cyberdramon periodically, the Digimon now back to his normal, emotionless state, well, apart from when he growled. The glowing eyes had receded, and Ken seemed not to have noticed. "I don't know."

"It's very weird."

Ryo decided to quickly change the subject before his friend cottoned onto anything, or, worse, before he slipped up in his words and gave his suspicions away. "I think we should just count it as a blessing for now that we're still here."

"Why are they after us though?"

Ryo looked over at the D-Terminal Ken still held loosely, now closed, in one hand. "The email didn't say anything, no?"

"Just that the government is on the warpath. But, if Izzy thinks it's important enough to send out an SOS, and if the government's involved too…something major must be going down."

"Then what about the others? Did they get the email?"

"I guess so. That must be why Yolei called. I should call her back…" he began, reaching for his phone with newfound anxiety in his voice, before he sighed upon seeing it. "Oh…no signal still."

"They cut the phones then," Ryo surmised.

"Ken, do you think it's safe here now?" Wormmon asked, the boy looking genuinely puzzled by it as he put his hand on his chin.

"Hmm…on the one hand, they don't seem to think we're here, and I doubt they'd check back for a while. But…then again…with the others heading for the hideout, maybe there's safety in numbers."

Ryo put his hands behind his head, sighing. "I just wish we had some way of finding out what's going on, but doesn't seem like there's anything in here that could help us." _"It's not like there's nothing tying the four of us together, after all. Maybe the government found out about Milleniummon? But how would they?"_

"So, let's go and find the others."

"Yeah, but Cyberdramon or Stingmon would look really conspicuous on the streets of Tokyo. We need a better way, and I don't think going mega would be the answer either."

"We can work that out in a second – I am going to pack a bag," Ken decided, grabbing the thankfully-intact (if pulled widely-open) school rucksack of his off a nearby shelf. Ryo nodded, putting out a hand as Ken set about the room, mourning a few things now destroyed as he went about looking for anything of any use. The bag was loaded up with a some money, a sweater or two, a pair of shoes, and other hopefully useful bits and bobs.

"Can I help?" _"Not that I know where anything is. I really should know my best friend better…maybe I should ask Dad if we could move. Then again, with his job coming up, and me going to university anyway, it's not like it'd make much difference."_ He still half-expected his thoughts to be interrupted by that ominous voice, but Milleniummon made no attempt at such. He had done the minimum he wanted, he had left the Legendary Tamer off guard, and so he had vanished away again into the depths of non-existence.

It was at that moment that his question was interrupted by a rapping of something against the front door, Ken gesturing down it as he placed the photo frame of his family in it, along with another one of just Sam.

"Can you check the door while I keep packing?"

Ryo felt a lump in his throat as he looked that way, grimacing and hoping it wasn't the soldiers back for round two. After what he'd discussed with Milleniummon, and after the Digimon failed to get his wish, he doubted they'd get the same benefit this time round.

"Ken," called a voice, an oddly familiar one as a look of relief crossed the boy's face.

"I need to get some food," the former Digimon Emperor was still insistent on his plan, as he grabbed his bag up and ushering Ryo down the hallway in order to reach the kitchen. The Legendary Tamer couldn't help but be rather impressed by his friend's planning and haste in a crisis, and lack of hesitation in prioritising finding food over answering the door, even for his girlfriend. He somehow doubted that she would see it the same way.

"Ken." The voice was oddly restrained for someone they would have expected to be shouting loudly.

"Okay," Ryo answered as Ken vanished away, probably to find any food which wasn't perishable. Although, then again, very little food could probably stay intact in a rucksack like that no matter how optimistic its owner was.

Ryo nodded, reaching the door and going for the handle. He heard Cyberdramon creeping up behind, followed by the squelching noise of Wormmon attaching a web to the wall and swinging along. He was left unfazed when the Digimon landed by his feet.

"Are you t…?" continued the voice, before Ryo opened it, a look of shock on a surprisingly large number of people there, including Davis, Veemon, Hawkmon, Jun, Tai's mother, and, most importantly, Yolei, gaping incredibly widely.

"You're…safe."

"Yeah," was all that Ryo could think to reply with. Yolei didn't seem as interested in talking though, as she rushed past him, heading straight down the hallway before back-footing once she evidently caught an eye on Ken, swerving into the kitchen.

"You're safe too!" she cried, such happiness in her voice. Ryo felt an odd sense of humour at the moment as he heard Ken say something about trying to get supplies together, even if he sounded equally pleased to see her at the same time.

"What the hell?" interrupted Davis, finally breaking into speech. "I thought all the soldiers came up here."

"You must be good at hide and seek," Veemon added. Jun grimaced at the joke, peering around at the apartment over Ryo's shoulder, and then brushing straight past him. Her hands were held out wide, palms opened as she looked with dismay at the damage.

"Really really good at it," Jun added, sounding in disbelief. "They must have searched everywhere."

"They did," Ryo replied, the others entering before he closed the door behind them. Was probably better not to leave the door wide open and obvious to any other residents nearby, not that a herd of soldiers traipsing in wouldn't have been.

"Something made them not see us," Wormmon said, sounding unsure still himself. Did he know about Milleniummon? Could he sense the Digimon, the 'evil' in the air? That was the last Ryo needed right now.

"What was it?"

"I don't know – I couldn't sense anything," Cyberdramon growled. Ryo raised an eyebrow. It was a surprisingly talkative turn for the dragon – did he know about how Milleniummon had used him scant seconds before? Was he trying to cover his Tamer's back? Or…perhaps…was it Milleniummon controlling him even now?

Was it true? Would Cyberdramon be so out of control were it not for the Digital God inside? Or was something else going on?

Ken came out of the kitchen at that moment, followed by a happier-looking Yolei. Hawkmon gestured to her, before back to the door.

"Now that that matter is dealt with, can I suggest that we hurry out of here before the soldiers return?"

"Is that likely?" Ken asked, sounding pretty worried. Yolei shrugged.

"I don't know, but it's probably wise to leave."

"Yeah, I don't think we can second guess those guys – and there could be other soldiers too. The whole government is against us," Davis said, an apprehension in his voice. "And we didn't do anything."

Ryo nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. "We got the email, yeah," he replied, turning to look at Mrs Kamiya, still very silent as she took her own attempts at peering around the apartment, seeing all the damage. Perhaps she was worried her own would soon befall a same fate? Then again, had it already? Why was she with Davis, Jun and Yolei anyhow? "Where are Kari and Tai? Are they safe?"

"I hope so," was all she said. She had to have been wracked by fear for them by now. A mother, separated from her kids when it seemed everyone was being hunted. Not a good situation.

"Kari should be," Yolei explained, gesturing towards the windows. "Takeru, her and Cody were at mine, and she and Cody went to get Takeru's mom and his grandfather – they're most likely to be safe out of all of us."

"Takeru went to find his dad…right?" Davis asked, checking his reporting was right.

"Right," Hawkmon replied, nodding as he raised a finger. "I am certain that Tai and the others will all have received the email too, and are probably well on their way away."

"We didn't get the message until it was too late," Wormmon added. Ken nodded, as the Digimon landed back on his pride of place on the boy's shoulder once again.

"My D-Terminal was in the wrong room, and my phone was on silent."

"From now on, never turn them off or let them out of your sight – understand?" Yolei ordered, Ken quickly nodding. The girl seemed pretty paranoid about it all, anxiety lying under the surface of her insistent anger.

"Okay, I understand all of that, but, still…why are we all heading for the hideout? What happened?"

"You don't know?" Davis asked, sounding rather surprised.

"No…we were playing Guitar Hero when the power went."

"Talk about being caught napping," Jun exclaimed, her voice heightened. "The government is after all of you Tamers because they say that one of you killed the PM."

"What?! Who?!" This…this was unexpected for Ryo, definitely. Involved in a major Digimon incident, perhaps. A government attack to eradicate them, probably. But governmental assassination…that…that was not something he had put on his list of 'maybes."

"Ruki and Renardmon!"

Davis cleared his throat, interrupting his sister forcefully. "_Rika _and _Renamon_, Jun."

Ryo's eyes widened, it made no difference how the names were said – the picture was all too clear. They were being blamed for something they hadn't done – Rika and Renamon wouldn't have done such a thing in a million years. His normal, fairly reserved reaction to surprises, at least amongst more distant friends, went right out the window in that instant.

"I said that!" she insisted, before Ken interrupted a potential sibling argument with his gasp of surprise.

"They couldn't have!"

"Try telling that to the government." Mrs Kamiya's worry was still there in full force alongside the bitterness of her comment.

"They said on TV that Rika and Renamon were chief suspects," Veemon explained, both Ryo and Ken's eyes, as well of those of Wormmon, widening massively. Ryo doubted that Cyberdramon hadn't even slightly done the same underneath that mask of his.

"_Milleniummon probably already knew of all of this too."_

The Digital God, unsurprisingly, stayed silent.

"No wonder Izzy wants us all to meet up then," Ken noted, Ryo nodding.

"Safety in numbers."

"Excuse me, but why are we waiting here then? Izzy said to get to the hideout." Mrs Kamiya seemed oddly to have woken up now, perhaps thanks to the reality of everything going on becoming so much clearer for her from all of their talking. She definitely had a point.

"Come on then," Davis said, gesturing towards the door. "Raidramon's fast enough to evade detection."

"Did you get everything you needed honey?" Yolei asked Ken, sounding guilty all-of-a-sudden as she was interrupted.

"As much as I can probably carry," he replied, nodding and stringing the rucksack over his back. "I better leave a note for my folks first though," he mused, wandering up to the notice board and taking the pen to the whiteboard, one surrounded by school letters, phone numbers and to-dos, a large crack in the centre of it now, no thanks to the soldiers. They definitely weren't the subtle kind.

Ryo stared at the words he wrote, wishing he could do the same for his father. Doubtless, every other teen there, and, indeed, even Mrs Kamiya, were holding similar sentiments.

**I'm safe, don't worry. Keep low. I'll find you soon. Love, Ken.**

They were safe now. But for how long?

Ryo swore he could hear chuckling from the depths of his mind, that haunting voice again. But was it real? Or was he just remembering it, from so many days before? All that pain. All those deaths. All that suffering, of him and of others.

He closed his fist, digging into his palm with his nails. This wasn't over.

It never was.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Hehe, perhaps not as hugely explosive as some might have been expecting from Milleniummon in this chapter but still very, very dark and also terribly significant. This Digital God is definitely not going to stay quiet, even if his actions will typically speak louder than his words.

Next time, we get to see Henry, trying to save his father, a difficult job when he doesn't even know where the man is. And then, after that, Phase One concludes with Mari's point of view, as strings draw together in the park…

Until next time…

B.C.


	22. Phase One: Henry Wong

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. Oh, and I went through and fixed every date so far (except for the prologue) – I didn't change the number (but I did change the day of the week) when moving a day forward from the prologue so it all read Friday 12th May 2011 when it's meant to be the 13th May. My bad!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

**Phase One**

_Henry Wong_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Outside The Digital Technology Company Japanese Office, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**11:40 JST**_

Once upon a time, Henry was certain his breakfast would have been spewed across the pavement near the familiar building that was his dad's office by now, one shared with the rest of the Monster Makers in their company, simply entitled The Digital Technology Company. Yet, nearly four years of taming had hardened up his stomach to subjecting him to far worse than Rapidmon's incredible speed. Speed which contrasted remarkably with his fairly lumbering mega form.

Nonetheless, upon disembarking from his partner's tight mechanical (and hence not very comfortable) lower arm grip, which had held him all the way from their apartment scant seconds ago (to his mind at least), he fell to his knees and felt rather queasy.

But, this wasn't because of the ride at all, even though his head began to spin regardless.

It was, instead, all thanks to the sight in front of him. For, surrounding this modern, low-rise office block, were a number of military and police vehicles, including a rather large contingent of vans currently being loaded with what were unmistakably computers from the office above, half a dozen soldiers visible on that task alone.

Naturally, Henry had no doubt that his father and his colleagues had been long-taken by now, and in response to this his heart sank deeply, even if it didn't surprise him at all. All the firepower of Rapidmon, all of the support of his friends, all of his Angel 'powers' (which to date consisted solely of the generic Ryder-dubbed 'Babel' ability and the rather more advanced (or, at least, more user-friendly) digivice), and it had made no difference whatsoever in saving his father. Indeed, if anything, it had endangered him in the first place.

"Wow, someone likes their sound systems," interrupted Rapidmon, oddly distracting Henry from his thoughts with a seemingly irrelevant comment. Yet, as Henry looked closer at what the green robot pointed at with his metal hand, he was suddenly left rather intrigued, for there, right outside the building, were four, very large speakers.

"But what for?"

"I don't know, maybe they wanted to scare your dad with some music from the last twenty years?"

"Rapidmon!"

"Momentai."

Henry grimaced, shaking his head in disbelief at how the 'echo' to his words forever continued. For every scolding of "Terriermon" (or, at least, one of his forms), there would be a "Momentai" in reply – it was practically a law of existence. Oddly, this all sent up a flag in his mind.

"No…wait…that's it."

"Uh…what?"

"Take it easy."

"Geez, I _was_ taking it easy Henry until you started acting all weird on me and…"

"No, I mean, that's what the speakers are for. I read it on Wikipedia once."

"Was it one of the entries I edited?"

"No."

"Then it's probably right."

Henry pressed on, not dignifying the comment with a response again. "The military use it to make ambient noise so their targets don't hear them."

"Oh. I'd like a copy of that tape to drown out your moaning sometimes."

Henry went to scold his partner, before he stopped with his mouth open, looking uneasily at the floor before pressing on with poorly-done fake bravado. "Come on, let's save dad."

He couldn't help but be irritated when Rapidmon saw straight through his unusual actions. "This is about the Angel thing and all that again, isn't it?"

Henry couldn't help but curse his partner's near omnipresence and omniscience in and about his life – very little could be well hidden. Then again, his habit of talking to the dog-bunny about his problems probably wasn't the ideal way of keeping mum on such matters. "Can we talk about it later?"

"Henrrrrry…" Rapidmon whined, evidently not letting up just yet despite his Tamer's request. "I've told you time and time again – it's not your fault; Rey just woke you up too early."

"But what if that means they'll never work?"

"Who cares? You already saved our lives with being an Angel without you doing anything – I'd be insisting everyone cheered for me."

"Blowing up a whole city doesn't really count as a win in my book Rapidmon."

"Momentai Henry – it's not like it wasn't about to go boom anyway."

Henry felt like scolding the Digimon again for his fairly tactless language, but right now, given his partner was at least trying to help, he didn't really feel up to it. "Like I said – can we talk about this when this is all over?"

"I'm holding you to that you know." The worrying thing was, the dark-haired boy knew he meant it. "So, what's the plan of attack here? Do I blow them up?" A gun barrel rose in demonstration.

"No! How would that help anything?"

"Henry, your dad is probably miles away by now – it could be really therapeutic."

"Ugh, Rapidmon…"

"Hey, I could always threaten them until they tell us where your dad is. Do you have a better idea?"

Henry finally took a proper look at the scene. They were hidden, thankfully, in a quiet adjoining street with a wall blocking their view, and, inversely, the soldiers' view of them, even given Rapidmon's larger size (although the boy had nagging worries about the threat of onlookers getting involved). The vehicles seemed to be arranged fairly randomly outside the office, but the soldiers had amassed on one side around the trucks they were loading the computers into. Indeed, whilst half of them seemed to be working on that task, the other half seemed idle – what were they waiting on? Weren't they meant to be busy with tons of orders, like, capturing the others?

"_Unless everyone else is already captured," _he thought, before pushing that idea back down to the pit of his stomach.

In any case, it made Henry's job a lot more difficult. He'd hoped he'd be able to turn up, find some (probably obscure) clue as to where his father and the other Monster Makers had been taken, and get away as quickly as possible to save them. Such seemed rather less likely now.

"Not yet."

"Great…I won't aim to hit you know."

"Rapidmon, I don't want to even risk hurting anyone, you know that."

"But they started it Henry! And they already want me from early for fighting back, it's not like this changes anything."

"No, there has to be a better way."

Rapidmon pressed up a chin with a barrel, grimacing. "Henry, you sound like a broken record. Maybe you can distract them with the annoying sound?"

"Hmm…that's an idea…maybe I could make the speakers feedback somehow and have a look for anything I can find in the vans…"

"Hey, I'm going to start charging in a sec for all the ideas I give you. And if they want to find you, they'll just look for the microphone, if I don't have to state the blindingly obvious."

"Then what can I do?"

"My idea!"

"Rapidmon!"

"Okay, what if I just taunt them? You know, "hey, look over there!""

"They're not five years old."

"God Henry, you won't let me blow things up, you won't let me taunt them – stifle my creativity why don't ya?!"

"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad plan, but…" Henry hesitated on the word, letting the Digimon quickly get a word in edgeways.

"But what Henry? It's not like we've got much time to waste, and I'm fast too! I can keep them occupied, painlessly, while you find out where the heck your dad is."

The boy grimaced, looking into his partner's oddly determined eyes. Was he really so set on such a simple plan? Did they have time to think of anything else? Maybe they didn't need anything else? Of course, this whole plan rested on the idea that somewhere, in one of the trucks, there would be unguarded details of where his father was at right this moment and easy to find. Even by someone like Takato's standards, this was farfetched.

"Come on, you want your powers to work – give them impossibly bad odds so they have a chance to do so," Rapidmon said with an out-of-place level of cheery optimism, a 'tempting' edge to his words as if it were all some form of sin.

"How do "bad odds" give them a chance?"

"Haven't you ever watched Takato?"

Henry groaned. "I knew this smelt really badly of a Goggleheaded scheme."

"And? They usually work."

"But I'm not a Gogglehead!"

"Then it's even more likely to work."

Henry groaned, putting his hand on his forehead and trying to overcome the huge lump in his throat which told him that this was a very bad idea, one which had served him reasonably well in the past and made him steer clear of trouble. Then again, those times it proved to be an issue tended to be of greater significance – his reluctance to fight even when there was no other choice back in the early days, his difficulty to come to terms with launching Terriermon's Digimon V2.0 patch (which had, to be fair, had some unintended consequences, not least Rejimon) and his hesitancy with getting involved in saving the Chuchidarumon village, another of his Goggleheaded friend's successful plans.

He looked up, into his partner's eager eyes, pleading with him to say yes. That was definitely one thing he appreciated – the Digimon still listened to his orders in such serious matters, even if he was completely ignored when the mood was more casual. Yet, despite that eagerness…

"_What if Rapidmon gets hurt? They didn't seem at all reluctant to shoot earlier, and now we're even closer. Who knows what weapons they've got now? They won't have told Yamaki about anything new they've built."_

"Henry, trust me." Rapidmon's voice sounded familiar, the exact tone he'd heard occasionally before from Terriermon when things looked bleak, or he was already injured. The emotional voice, the one behind the jokes, the Terriermon who just wanted to protect his partner and his friends.

"…okay."

"Great!"

Before Henry could even see Rapidmon grab him tightly, he found himself a few hundred metres away, his hands and knees landing on solid metal with a quiet thump. Looking up, he couldn't help but feel quite nauseous, completely caught off guard by the act for the first time in a long while.

But, before he spoke, he saw Rapidmon, floating above him and putting a robotic finger to his still-oddly organic lips in silent shushing, before vanishing from sight. Probably before any of the soldiers could fail to dismiss him as more than just a trick of their eyes.

Henry looked down, finding himself, quite worryingly, on the roof of one of the vans, one on the opposite side to where the majority of soldiers were gathered. He lay on the flat, green-black surface, a pair of satellite dishes and other various bits of communication technology scant feet away. Gazing around (and being rather pleased with Rapidmon's reasoning that, if anywhere had a 'the truck is here' indicator, it was here), he felt concerned about the soldiers still being able to see him up on the roof.

"HEY!"

Not any more, at least, for their attentions were quickly drawn away to the unmistakably 'green mean machine' which had seemingly appeared out of thin air (thanks to blisteringly-fast speed, of course) in front of the lot of them, making a cheery call and mockingly waving one of his turret-like arms.

"STOP IMMEDIATELY!" roared back one of the soldiers.

"I never stop!" Rapidmon quipped, a whirring sound in the air as bullets fired, Henry not even needing to see things to know what was going on, or, indeed, cringe. "Missed me!"

Slapping a hand on his forehead again, he sighed, clambering as quietly as he could across the side of the van and using everything he had learnt from martial arts to hang himself over the side from the roof-bars and drop down. Not exactly the kind of thing one was normally taught in such a place, of course.

Hearing further gunshots, he pressed his back against the vehicle, looking either way and once again being pleased that Rapidmon thought deeper than he ever considered (or had better luck than he thought). The side he had been placed on was conveniently hidden by two neighbouring vans – a problem normally, yes, given the inevitable few soldiers near them, but right now the area seemed bare.

It wouldn't be for long. They'd realise that Rapidmon was sans-partner.

"Hmm…" Henry mused quietly, reaching to his deck in his back pocket and hoping to help out in that category. After all, maintaining the illusion that he was watching from a nearby alleyway or something whilst Rapidmon did the dirty work wouldn't be a bad idea. Still unsurely even after all these months, he tapped the screen of the D-Vice, the sight of its black surface and green screen ring still unnerving him somewhat and reminding him of too much. Pushing it down, for now (until Terriermon's inevitable conversation on the matter), he swept a card through it. "Speed Activate," he whispered out of habit.

"Whoa!" he heard, knowing that his partner was rather caught off-guard by the move, one which added even more speed to his already record-holding form. It'd hold the illusion for longer, and that was what mattered right now.

Keeping his back close to the metallic surface of the van, he sidled across to the side door, thankfully already open, albeit not as much as he would have hoped. After a brief peek through to check for guards and, deciding not to touch it for fear of leaving an obvious sign of his presence, he squeezed through the gap and stepped into a geek's heaven.

Well, that was perhaps exaggerating, but there was no doubt this vehicle alone had technology which blew Moore's law out the window. Huge investment must have gone into such a vehicle (or, indeed, a fleet), fitted with the best computers from the finest Japanese manufacturers, all on the hush-hush of course. Banks of systems lined the side, and a number of screens glowed in the blackness, seemingly more than the two chairs provided suggested would be needed.

He stepped forth carefully into the dim room, hearing a constant whirring (perhaps less than he had expected from so much computing power) and detecting the odd smell of computers in the air, a curious tang of metal and dust even reaching his tongue. This place breathed technology, and seemed completely uncaring of the lack of its human master.

This was worse than he expected, however. He had wanted a big screen with a map and a dot where the truck was, or a radio carelessly reporting back locations – not a bunch of new computer systems he hadn't the faintest clue of the workings of. _"Somehow I doubt they run Windows for starters."_

Wandering forth, he half expected an idea to come to him as he stared at the screen, very little on there he understood other than a progress bar. Everything was codified into short, meaningless acronyms– about the only thing in plain Japanese was the name of the company making the display, and even then he'd never heard of it. At least, he assumed it was Japanese – he knew all-too well that his Babel ability now meant that everything made sense to him. It had definitely made life easier when surfing the English parts of the internet, or, indeed, everything full stop on the internet regardless of what language it was in.

"So much for hacking," he muttered, musing how life continued to be so different to movies, the movies where some random guy using a computer with hardly any proper experience could hack into the Pentagon without even knowing how the systems worked, or where they could automatically use some new computer program without the usual stage of accidentally erasing everything they just worked on.

Grimacing, he looked around. Every other screen looked the same, or worse. Nothing he had ever learnt about computing prepared him for this. He turned back, gazing at the acronyms, oddly still in Latin characters.

"So much for the translations too." It seemed that, regardless of what it said, if he didn't know what it could translate to, it didn't translate full stop.

There was an explosion outside, a fairly small popping-like one, but one that nonetheless made Henry feel apprehensive. He glanced up, half wanting to go see, before Rapidmon's taunting voice once again drifted through.

"And there's more where that came from."

"_Please don't let him kill someone," _Henry mentally pleaded to whoever might be listening, placing his hand on his forehead and rubbing it in the hopes of relieving the stress building up. Then again, given he knew exactly who were the Gods, and that they would be a bit too wrapped up with their newfound Chief Suspect (or boyfriend of Chief Suspect) status right now, he doubted it'd make much difference.

Sighing, and listening carefully to ensure that no soldiers were returning to the vehicle, he began to realise what a task he faced. Rapidmon couldn't hold them forever before they got suspicious, and he didn't have the time to waste. But, pushing random buttons or clicking random things in random hope could be just as bad.

He stared on at the screen, really hoping that at some point something would leap out of the depths of his mind and tell him what to do.

* * *

"Come on, you want your powers to work – give them impossibly bad odds so they have a chance to do so."

"How do "bad odds" give them a chance?"

"Haven't you ever watched Takato?"

"I knew this smelt really badly of a Goggleheaded scheme."

"And? They usually work."

"But I'm not a Gogglehead!"

"Then it's even more likely to work."

* * *

As odd as it may have seemed, Henry had rather envied Takato's luck throughout the years. Sure, he hadn't had as much luck overall, their family incomes and lifestyles differing somewhat, not to mention all the other brick walls he had metaphorically (and, indeed, literally) run into over the years. But, when it came down to it, the boy had a remarkable ability to save them all from the brink of disaster by what appeared to be, well, accident. It compared well with Tai and Ryder (even if the latter was only a Gogglehead by status and ownership of a broken pair of the said item), and was only slightly less impressive than Davis' record with miracles.

Yet…Terriermon had faith in him, even if it meant using such a scheme. Was he crazy? And did he really believe that Angel powers worked like that?

Henry placed his hand flat on the screen. "If you're going to work…whatever you are…now would be a good time."

A beep sounded from the screen, his eyes widening as he pulled his hand back. Only, in doing so, he realised what had actually happened.

Far from a last-minute save from his powers, he had instead pulled a rather more typical Goggleheaded 'tripping over your own feet' move, and pressed one of the buttons on the screen, one which now flashed before a message popped up, the progress bar dropping away to zero and

"_Great…so it's a touch screen too."_

**DEVICE EJECTED. UNIVERSAL CONNECTOR DETACHING. TRAY DOOR OPENING.**

There was a calm sliding noise as, to his surprise, he looked up to find a drawer had opened from the wall bank of computing equipment. Not a CD drawer, oddly but a rather taller compartment-like drawer with but a single item in it, a PDA, one which lit up with the words **ERROR: 49029: File transfer was stopped due to user disconnection**.

Carefully, he lifted it out, turning it over curiously before it occurred to him what it was.

"This is Shibumi's? But why was it here? Why was it in the computer?" He gazed at the screen, seeing the words **File Transfer** again before it finally hit him.

They were stealing Shibumi's work, copying everything from the PDA they could. Or, something more specific, perhaps a particular program. Either way, it made no difference – whoever had put this device in here wanted it for a reason, else they'd have simply destroyed it.

"Maybe they took my dad's too?" he wondered, contemplating searching for it. But how would he get the drawers open? Would they have kept all of them? And would it make any difference in contacting him?

Thankfully, something else made the decision for him, as that something made him nearly jump out of his skin in surprise.

The PDA beeped and vibrated.

Eyes widened, as he looked over at the screen, cancelling the device ejection message and having the next popup appear, proudly stating **One new message**. He frowned as he saw it, his mind torn between looking and respecting the man's privacy.

On the other hand, what if it was his family or something, worried about him? Did he have a family? Being in a coma all that time – was there anyone by his bedside? The man seemed so devoted to programming that Henry had never even heard any mention of the fairer gender regarding him either, besides his association with Daisy and Curly.

There was only one way to find out.

**Hello Tamer Henry,**

**Follow the arrow.**

**Mokumoku**

Henry raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. What arrow? Who was this? What did they want?

"And, even more importantly, how did they know it was me?"

Henry glanced back to the half-open doorway, the panic in his mind reminding him to be ready for soldiers at any time. Only, what he witnessed was far from what he expected to see, enough to make him stagger back in surprise at what he saw. It wasn't horrifying. It wasn't scary. It wasn't even dangerous, at least it didn't seem so.

It was just…weird.

For there, in the air, above the half-open doorway, floated a large, yellow, arrow. Not an arrow from a bow, but an arrow, slightly thick and with all the normal embellishments of a bold head and a fishtail end. If he hadn't been sure (although his certainty was beginning to fade) that he was conscious and actually living through all of this, he could have sworn it looked like something straight out of a video game.

The arrow just…floated there, before making a strange, almost detached laugh.

The boy took another step back. What was this thing? What did it want? Was it going to get him for taking the PDA? How did it know him? Was it a Digimon?

He raised his D-Vice arm to look at the screen, expanding it with a push, only to find all he could see on it and its hologram was Rapidmon's point of view, a few vehicles in pursuit as he flew backwards and forwards through the adjacent street. The sight alarmed him a lot – his partner was taking terrible risks to keep them occupied, even if he was even faster than his already rather nippy normal self thanks to the boy's modify card. Regardless, without his partner, he had no way of knowing what this thing was, and thus, whether to trust it.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?" it echoed back. This thing wasn't about to give him any answers, and its voice sounded oddly like a disembodied copy of his own. Scarily so.

Suddenly, it was no longer alone, for, right next to it, another appeared, looking exactly like the former. Henry staggered back again, eyes wide. "What?" he exclaimed, only for the predictable to happen.

"What?"

"What?"

The creatures spoke in tandem. Were they mocking him? What did they want? Could they actually speak?

"Henry, I heard you the first time," echoed a voice through his D-Vice, the boy looking down and his eyes widening.

"Henry, I heard you the first time."

"Henry, I heard you the first time."

The voices were perfect, right down to the static and the tone. It sounded exactly like an echo, with the same disturbingly disembodied quality.

"Whoa, what was that?" Rapidmon exclaimed, whilst Henry quickly cottoned onto the game these creatures (or whatever they were) were playing, if it were indeed a game to them.

"Whoa, what was that?"

"Whoa, what was that?"

"_They're copying everything we say." _"Don't worry for now, just get back over here." Henry said, hesitating as he glanced up at them, grimacing as he was torn over trusting them.

As if trying to convince him otherwise, they echoed again. "Don't worry for now, just get back over here."

"Don't worry for now, just get back over here."

"Henry, is everything…"

"Yes – I think I've found a way to my dad."

"Henry, is everything…yes – I think I've found a way to my dad."

"Henry, is everything…yes – I think I've found a way to my dad."

Henry felt like yelling at the arrows to shut up, but he doubted it would make much difference. Where were they talking from anyway? They didn't appear to have a mouth. He wanted to ask, but it would make no difference, and, indeed, he would simply be running the risk that they would, with all their noise, draw soldiers near them.

"Geez, no need to interrupt."

"Geez, no need to interrupt."

"Geez, no need to interrupt."

"Momentai."

"Momentai."

"Momentai."

"That's my line Henry – you know…" Rapidmon began, before Henry deftly switched the device's sound to mute, telling himself it was simply to avoid the annoying echo, and absolutely nothing to do with silencing his partner.

"That's my line Henry – you know…"

"That's my line Henry – you know…"

Finally, he looked up, oddly finding the creatures not copying his sigh of reluctance. "Fine, I'll follow."

"…yes."

"…yes."

"_Are they…learning?" _Henry found himself rather surprised that, instead of merely copying what he just said, they instead regurgitated what he had said a few moments before, unnerving him further. Just what did they want? Well, other than for him to follow their mysteriously simple yellow arrow forms.

The arrows turned smoothly in the air, turning no further than they needed to, before moving out of the door. Henry was apprehensive that they would be seen at first, and he checked carefully as he went, but saw nothing. Had they looked already? Or was it just luck?

"Are you sure about this?" he whispered nervously, the two arrows not turning as they responded in his own disembodied voice, which was increasingly leaving the boy rather disturbed.

"…yes."

"…yes."

"Henry!" exclaimed a voice next to him, and for a brief instant he worried it was just the arrows talking again. But, looking, he found Rapidmon had reappeared, a highly apprehensive look on his face. "We need to run – I may have pissed them o…huh?"

The arrows had no discernable reaction as they turned to face him, both pointing their heads directly at the robot-bunny, whilst he himself looked extremely bewildered.

"What the heck are those things?"

Henry went to reply, before he realised instead that now he could get a definite answer, looking down to his D-Vice and tapping it back to its full form once again. The screen burst upwards with a hologram of Rapidmon's view of the creatures, now thankfully with some details.

"**Mokumon, Baby Level, attack is Smokey Blow."**

"Geez Henry, I've seen some weird things in my time, but…"

"…you…follow."

"…you…follow."

"Whoa…was that our voices I just heard?"

"Yeah – seems like they use our voices to talk."

"They're like the Digimon version of Microsoft Sam," Rapidmon mused with a shudder, before it suddenly hit him that there were guns nearby.

Literally.

His green metallic form glowed with blue electricity, bullets smashing against metal as he staggered back in pain and shuddered even more, soon ending up with his back to a nearby vehicle. Henry rapidly hit the deck to avoid the bullets from all directions, placing his hands on the back of his head to be as low as possible.

"Rapidmon!" Henry cried through the cacophony of noise and bursts of blue light, horrified at what was going on. _"They're EMP bullets…but…they're so much more powerful now!"_

"SMOKEY BLOW!"

"SMOKEY BLOW!"

New words in new voices, singsong-like ones, oddly seemed to be louder than the bullets despite retaining a bizarrely gentle air to them. Henry glanced upwards, but found quickly that he could no longer see anything but thick, impermeable and strangely odourless smoke.

Coughing and spluttering, he pushed himself up, trying to hear anything apart from the hissing of what was seemingly the creatures themselves. The bullets had ceased shortly after the smoke had so quickly filled the air, and as he listened carefully he could hear the groans of Rapidmon from nearby. Just what were these Mokumon? And what were they up to? Did they know where his dad was, or were they just using that as an excuse?

Suddenly, all sounds ceased, Henry feeling dizzy and nauseous once again that day. He felt movement, his own movement, but no joints of his shifted, no muscles pulled or pushed. His head continued to spin as the sensation faded, the boy forcing his eyes open despite the fear the room seeming to spin would simply worsen his ill state.

The irony was that, when he did so, he found he wasn't in a room at all. Well, at least not the normal kind, for this one made a lot more noise.

Blinking, he sat up, placing his hand on his head and looking around, quickly finding he was actually now lying on the back seat of a car he found to be completely unfamiliar, a stale scent to the air. His eyes darted about, looking for some sign of what had happened. Someone sat in the right hand seat, driving silently.

"Ugh…no more frying pans Rika…no!" murmured the familiar voice of Terriermon from nearby, and, indeed, it was that very same creature, albeit now looking rather worse for wear. Henry couldn't help but find it odd how Digimon usually failed to have physical scars or injuries but still seemed to take on a worsening state as they continued to fight, coupled with physical exhaustion in the end.

"Terriermon, it's me," he said, peering over at the dog-bunny and tapping him on the ear. He shot awake, looking very alarmed as he leapt up to his feet.

"Come on then, show me your moves!" he blurted out, balling up his tiny fingers into rather puny-looking fists as a glare entered his gaze. Upon seeing his Tamer, however, he stopped, looking very confused. "Huh? Henry? What happened to the soldiers?"

"Beats me – I just woke up here, or something like that."

"Hey, it's a car," Terriermon stated the obvious. "Who's driving then?"

It struck Henry then that this was something he hadn't really considered, as he and Terriermon both turned at the same time, worry in their expressions to a great degree as they stared at the driver, quickly doing a double take.

"Well, that's something new," Terriermon mused out loud.

"Huh? Mr Mizuno?! What are you doing here?" Henry exclaimed, seeing none other than the oddly-emotionless face of Gorou Mizuno, better known as Shibumi.

They paused, glances paid forward to the road ahead, oddly calm compared to where they were before, before looking back to the man who still hadn't answered them, causing Henry to raise an eyebrow. Something seemed very wrong right now.

"Wakey-wakey! Hey, can you hear us?"

"Terriermon!"

"Come on Henry, he's the one being rude."

"That's not what I mean." _"But come to think of it, I haven't seen him wearing that yellow cap in ages…what's going on?"_

"Uh…Henry…" Terriermon interrupted the boy's thoughts, leaving him very unnerved by the creature's tone of voice as the dog-bunny pointed forwards from Shibumi with his ear. "Is it just me, or is that not how you drive?"

The boy gazed over, a gasp and a widening of the eyes following once he saw that 'Shibumi', for he was no longer sure if this was even the man, was not even touching the wheel. In fact, he wasn't even touching the pedals, or, indeed, anything at all in the car other than where he sat, his arms slouched as his sides.

"Crap!" the blue-haired teen exclaimed, instincts for survival making him reach out and forward to the front of the car to grab the wheel before they swerved off and hit any of the other cars speeding past the other way. Oddly, when he grabbed it, it sharply turned itself back. An even more bewildered Henry and Terriermon were then flung across the car as it turned; the wheel and pedals moving on their own and sending it down a side street.

"Hey, how about a bit of warning?!" Terriermon exclaimed.

Henry felt a shudder run up his spine as the head of 'Shibumi' turned in a freakishly robotic manner. What was going on?!

"We need to run," it said in what was unmistakably his partner's voice, in a tone seeming rather unsuited to what was going on right now.

"Great Henry, all of your dad's computer friends are weird."

Henry didn't reply to his partner's comment, his mind simply stuck on repaying what 'Shibumi' had just said over and over again. The voice seemed almost…regurgitated, which lead him to only one answer.

"Hey, you're one of those Mokumon again!"

"What?!" Terriermon evidently didn't understand how an arrow-like creature could suddenly look like one of the Monster Makers.

"You guys transform, right?" Henry asked 'Shibumi', before he vanished in front of his eyes in a poof of smoke, all too quickly replaced instead by a small puff-like creature. It was just…smoke, eyes, arms, tail, mouth, an even a candle-like flame on his head blurred to some degree. It stared, an oddly-dumb look on its face even if from what he had seen so-far Henry knew that such was definitely far from the case.

"…yes."

Wait…that means…where'd your friend go?"

The car suddenly revved, catching Henry off guard as his eyes widened in shock, not least because the quick acceleration flung him back in his seat right to the back. Terriermon did likewise, quickly expressing his annoyance. "Hey, give us some warning!"

"So he's the car?!"

"That's not what I mean."

Henry, despite beginning to understand these creatures more, shivered nonetheless upon hearing his own voice fed back at him. "So what?"

"He's…he's…he's…"

"In the car?"

"…yes. He's…in the car?"

Somehow Henry got the impression that that wasn't meant to sound like a question, for once again he was just hearing his words played back at him. "I get it now – you were just making it look like someone was driving so that people weren't alarmed by a car driving itself."

Oddly, Henry thought he caught the slightest hints of a smile in the fanged mouth of the creature."…yes."

"So does that mean you really know where my dad and the others are?"

"…yes."

"Well that's a relief," Terriermon sighed. "At least we're not being kidnapped."

"How far are they?"

"They…are…they…are…they…are…"

"Oh, I get it – you need more words. Are they…?"

"Momentai!" Terriermon interrupted with the greatest of grins on his face.

"They…are…Momentai!"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai!"

"Momentai!"

"Terriermon, stop it!" Henry groaned, Terriermon simply wasting time and messing with the mind of his fellow Digimon. The boy reached out again to talk, but was quickly flung to the other side of the car as he did so. He grabbed onto the front seat again pretty quickly, feeling some slight annoyance at how the Mokumon just floated there, completely unaffected by the g-forces involved. "Hey, is there any chance I can sit in front? Not commenting on your driving or anything, but I think I'd feel a lot safer that way."

"Yeah, if you keep driving like a maniac, you need someone who can use the brakes!"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai!"

"…yes."

"_Huh? Yes to what? Oh, right," _Henry quickly gathered, clambering across through the middle of the car to the front driving seat on the right hand side, breathing a sigh of relief as he placed his hands on the wheel. Sure, he'd never driven a car like this before, and his lessons were still very much an in-progress matter, but he felt a lot more reassured by it all, even if there was the nagging concern at the back of his mind that he'd be caught without an accompanying driver. _"I think that that's the least of my worries with the police though."_ "Thanks."

"Momentai."

"See, it's catching. Before long, the whole world will be united under one catchphrase!"

Henry decided to ignore his partner's ambitions. "Hey, I was wondering – if you could find and drive the car there yourself, why'd you need us to help?"

"Henry, don't complain!"

"They…are…need…help. Being…kidnapped. We…not…know…car there. We…know where…your…dad and the others are? We...need…computer. We…new…here? We…find…you. You…tha…tha…t…t…"

"Tamer?" Terriermon suggested.

"…yes. You…Tamer? We…could…need…your…help. We…did…not…know…if…we…could…need…your…help."

"Oh, I see – you thought we might be useful if you couldn't get to them."

"…yes."

"Uh…not that I'm complaining…but, why are you trying to save them?"

"We…know…Mr Mizuno?!"

"You know Shibumi? How come?" Terriermon asked, curious expression mirroring that of his Tamer.

"We…help…him…before."

"You helped him before? But when?" Henry now felt very confused by all of this – sure, Shibumi was mysterious, and, of course, they'd met him in the Digital World before, but they had no idea he knew these creatures, these Mokumon.

"Yeah, are you his partners or something?"

"No…we…we…help…we…we…we…if…if…if…if…if…"

"Friends?"

"…yes."

Henry was then forced to grab onto the wheel once again, in spite of his surprise, as the car swerved once again, now back out onto a main road, oddly not far from the park and the areas he knew all-too-well. Raising an eyebrow, he felt rather confused. _"I'd thought that they'd have taken my dad and the others further away by now – maybe even out of the city." _They could've been heading for the Hypnos building, of course, but why? Maybe they were rounding up everyone there?

His heart sank at the idea. What if they already had his mother and sisters? What if they already had Jeri, and all the others? Could they really fight back? With the Digimon, he'd have thought so in the past, but having seen those bullets…they'd shaken him a lot. They were just so powerful, so much more than what he'd seen of Mari's EMP gun in the past. Did they have a chance to fight back without escalating things to a degree where they were just putting the rest of the public at danger? Suspected murder of a high-up public figure was one thing, but proven murder (even if accidental) of innocent members of the public would be devastating for any chance at recovering from all of the bad publicity this had brought. They would be thrown in jail faster than they could try and plead their case, and that time they wouldn't have any basis to fight back on.

Clenching a hand tightly around the wheel, Henry gritted his teeth. They had to stop this somehow. The only question was…well…how?

"They…are…here?"

Despite it sounding like a question (and a highly disembodied one at that), Henry knew it wasn't. He looked carefully ahead, sure enough seeing a green-black van a fair few hundred metres away, an odd sight amongst the normal small and medium sized cars that made up the body of the traffic on Shinjuku's streets. The buildings on either side flowed up and down, urban planning barely touching their varying forms and functions.

Seeing it, Henry felt a mix of relief and agitation as the car accelerated itself to close the gap. "Only question is, how are we going to stop their van?"

"You could take out the tyres," Terriermon chipped in, now standing on the top edge of his Tamer's seat, clutching onto the headrest with one ear for stability.

"What with? I don't have a gun or anything, and at this speed anything from you would just blow up the road in front of us."

"Geez Henry, it was just a suggestion – don't dismiss everything I say, okay?!"

"I know, sorry," Henry sighed, placing a hand on his forehead. He was increasingly feeling guilty for how he always assumed Terriermon was joking, perhaps with good cause but it didn't seem too fair on the guy, or rather, Digimon. "I owe you an apology for earlier too – your plan sort of worked really well."

"Finally, someone's giving me credit for my ideas," the dog-bunny said, crossing his arms and grinning. "Next stop, Nobel Prize!"

"One at a time Terriermon. Mokumon, do you have any ideas for how we can stop the van?"

"…yes."

"What then?" Terriermon asked.

"We…are…going to…take out…their van?"

"Take out? What do you…?" Henry began to ask, looking forward as he caught sight of the vehicle again, now a fair bit closer to them and being gained on quickly. In fact, a fair bit was an over-exaggeration, for the sight left the boy horrified and speechless, enough to leave Terriermon to echo his probable response.

"Hey, anything but that!"

"Momentai," the Mokumon replied, no change in its expression despite the jokey nature of its 'recording'.

Henry finally went to reply, but before he could he was majorly winded.

He quickly realised, now finding himself on the back seats of the car, that it could've been a lot worse, as he looked up to see the now-deflating airbag and folded-back rear seat, covered in signs of him and Terriermon being unceremoniously flung over it. _"At least we didn't crash yet."_

Looking ahead, he saw that such was still on the agenda, the number plate now in clear view on the van.

"_He's going to ram it – I have to get out of here!"_

"Henry, I'm dizzy again," Terriermon complained, in the commotion ending up loosely held in his Tamer's arms. Henry reached across, grabbing for the door handle and yanking it sharply, dearly hoping that this car was built before the invention of automatic-locking.

For the first time in his life, he truly felt thankful for having an ancient piece of technology as, sure enough, the door opened. He pushed himself forward, ignoring Terriermon's cries of surprise about what he was doing.

He froze again once he saw the road speeding by beneath him, before a glance up to the van, now mere seconds away from collision, told him that he had no option.

Grabbing his legs to cushion the blow (and in the process protecting an already-weakened Terriermon with his body), the teen flung himself from the vehicle.

A sharp cringe-worthy crunch filled his ears as everything seemed to go black.

Was it the crash? Was his Dad okay?

Was it him hitting the ground? Was it bones breaking?

Was Terriermon okay?

Was he okay?

"Henry!"

"_Not dead then." _Henry found even his thoughts slurred. _"Unless Terriermon's in heaven with me too."_

"Henry!"

"_Gee, Rika would be annoyed about that. Harmony seemed set on hell for him."_

"Henry!" This voice was far deeper and held far longer memories in Henry's find, reaching back right to where they began. He opened his mouth and pained lips, trying to speak.

"Dad?" His voice came out as but a murmur.

"Are you okay son?!"

Henry felt someone placing their hand on his wrist, as his eyes blinked open, swarming initially with colour. The dark blue, the pinkish pale brown, the cream and green, and the sky above, which as his eyes cleared began rapidly to be filled with smoke. "Wah…" Henry knew it wasn't the most coherent statement, but it was all he seemed to be able to form right now.

"Shit Henry, there's daring and then there's dumb!"

"Terriermon…" Henry murmured, inwardly glad that the Digimon was alright too.

"Momentai Henry – I was talking about the Mokumon."

"_Sure…" _Henry had no doubt that it was a lie.

"I have to apologise on their behalf," came the voice of Shibumi, the real Shibumi, from nearby. "My friends didn't seem to know about humans not being able to take as much damage as Digimon, and they also don't seem to know the same for my car." He sounded rather less concerned than most would've been about the latter, oddly.

"That's okay," Henry uttered as he went to push himself up, still feeling the world spinning. Regardless, he would have taken the earlier nausea over this any day.

"Don't try to…"

"I'm okay Dad," Henry replied, sitting up and finally getting a look around at what had happened. He seemed not to have moved that far from where he had thrown himself out, but everything had changed definitively. The car he was in was now but a mangled burning wreck at the front, a trail of smoke rising up from it. As for the van, it had evidently spun on impact, now facing slightly backwards at right angles to the car, now apparent to be a dark blue colour, right up the rear end of it. The doors had been burst open, whilst the two soldier drivers seemed busy simply scratching their heads and surveying the damage. Henry got the impression from this that not much time at all had passed since his risky move – they wouldn't give them much of a break before arrest. Indeed, one was now beginning to stride towards them, gun leaving Henry rather nervous about what they were about to do.

Nearer to him, the two Mokumon floated either side of their 'master', Shibumi, without the slightest glimpse of guilt on their smoke-like faces, or, indeed, any emotion at all.

"Even so, you're remarkably intact," Dolphin, also known as Rob McCoy, spoke from next to Mr Mizuno. "I've seen people come out of car accidents far worse than that," he said, the oddest trace of sadness registering in Henry's mind upon hearing the voice. Was it sadness for Shibumi? The man himself, however, didn't seem too fazed, an odd smile on his face.

"I think we can count ourselves lucky then," he said, as Henry looked down. Sure enough, his clothes, a dark green jacket over a black t-shirt and grey pants were left ripped and torn, grazes of dirt and dust all over the outer layer he had only brought as preparation for the worst. His bag strap felt loose and uneasy, whilst his D-Vice sat securely on his wrist as always, oddly relatively unharmed.

It was not alone. Grazes ran up and down Henry's legs, stinging somewhat, and as his consciousness returned fully he ended up with a pounding headache beating at his skull painfully. His arms felt sore and there was blood on them, especially on the back of his hands where they had probably taken a fair bit of the landing. His face felt tender and slightly wet in a number of places, his back ached, and his chest still seemed rather winded.

And yet…he'd expected more. Hospitalisation, resuscitation, operation – not cut, graze and ache. What was going on?

"So much for no Angel abilities, huh Henry?" Terriermon whispered to him as an aside. Henry grimaced, feeling the soreness rip through his face. If this was that, it didn't feel like much.

A clearing of the throat nearby diverted attention of the adults, looking up to the soldier glaring down at them with a gun strongly gripped in his hands. "Damaging a military vehicle is a military offense."

"SMOKEY BLOW!"

"SMOKEY BLOW!"

Henry felt that same nausea again, as he knew what was about to happen, the smoke quickly filling his vision and being coupled with the gasps of surprise from the adults, not least the soldiers. Despite everything, of course, being sure to work out alright for the time being – they would escape the authorities, even if it would probably be a bit overwhelming for their new allies in the process – he still felt nervous.

These Mokumon – were they really safe to be around?

This new power of survival – what did it mean? Was it unique, or was it just more of the same generic Babel-like ability he shared with Mari, Ryder and Rey?

But, most importantly of all – how were they meant to escape from an enemy that would go so far to succeed?

Arresting, kidnapping, shooting…killing?

"_I don't think we're all going to survive this."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

BlueIke has been at it again, and there's now a fantastic concept image of Donmon up on DeviantART. All of the Dimensions images are in a collection accessible from my favourites page on DA (you can find the URL on my profile at the bottom), or you can simply head to the wiki and click the direct link there. Let him (and, indeed, me) know what you think by leaving a comment.

Chapter 20 will be the long-awaited (not least by me) conclusion to Phase One, all from Mari's point of view. Hope you're looking forward to it…

Until next time…

B.C.


	23. Phase One: Mari Flynn

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

**Phase One**

_Mari Flynn_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

_**Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku Ward**_

_**12:10 JST**_

Mari Flynn had been in many tense and bleak situations in her time – from the death of her parents, to the death of her partner, to the many deaths of her boyfriend and her own near-death at the hands of a maniac in a shopping mall one grim July day but ten months prior. So much death, so much loss, so much despair.

Perhaps that was why then; perhaps that was why she had never before felt the air as electric and, most importantly, alive, as right here, right now, running through the familiar paths of the park with her heart racing in a strange sense of joy, even with all the frightful tension trying to stop it completely. This would make one impressive entry for the diary, a fair weight in her bag. At least, if she survived that was.

Mind put at unease by the idea, she clutched more tightly onto her boyfriend's hand, thankfully still its healthy pink rather than a morbid grey, as he did likewise. Over the gentle rustling of leaves from a blustery summer breeze, she could hear other footsteps pounding sharply in their wake, her mind half-happy for them all to be still alive and half-petrified that such would not remain the case for long.

He, on the other hand, seemed rather less optimistic (not that she was, of course), as she gazed over his grimacing face. What was wrong? What had happened? What had he dreamt about this time? She wanted to ask, but the burning stove of memories of the answers to past such questions made her pull her finger back.

In her other arm, she held a quivering Calumon tightly against her chest to avoid dropping him. Behind, out of the corner of her eye, she could see the black and red forms of her partner and Ryder's respectively following after them, the former bursting in and out of view and the latter simply stomping on through.

"Ryder…what do we do if no-one else is there?" Ryder glancing back to his partner, his morbid frown still stuck fast as the windy silence was interrupted by their louder voices.

"Then we have to get out of the country somehow. Do you reckon your old friends at SDCO could pull it off?"

Mari raised an eyebrow, surprised that Ryder's reasoning had shifted as such even if in retrospect it was a clear option. "Well, Jeff has power, but come on; do you really think Rayleigh would care?"

"True…then…we…I…could biomerge…I mean, if it came down to just us, I reckon I could carry you. I've done it before – you're not that heavy." She noticed the brief faulting in his face, the slightest of movements telling her everything she needed to know about the thought that was just going through his mind. Right on cue, his pace slowed and he went to open his mouth, but she simply gave the lightest of smiles.

"I know you didn't mean that in a bad way. And yeah, you could…but…what about everyone else?"

"I really don't know – maybe Antylamon can carry a bunch? As for the others elsewhere, we'd just have to contact them somehow and meet them somewhere." It was rather evident that the teen wasn't remotely sure on what they could do at all, and the idea seemed to be little more than a last ditch suggestion. "We'd just have to hope the government didn't catch us on the way."

"There's always another option," DarkRenamon piped up. "One which I think Izzy already envisaged."

Ryder nodded, making it evident he wasn't as oblivious to the concept as he seemed at first. "Yeah, I know, but…the Digital World is a horrible place."

"You've never been though…right?"

"Not in this world, but…Merukimon's Digital World was only just okay, and I've seen this world before so many times. It's harsh, really harsh, at least if we ended up unlucky enough to land on the Southern Region."

"Yeah, there are mean doggies everywhere, and birdies that stick you in a jar," Calumon complained, waving his ears from where he was still held in Mari's arms. Ryder nodded.

"_Digimon that stick you in a jar? What does he mean?" _Mari wondered, once again feeling that she had been left out of everything. It wasn't like Calumon would be able to give her a straight answer either.

"Plus, what do we do when we're there? How do we get home? The guys have always had Hypnos in the past, but we can't count on that."

"What about Ryo's option?" asked Donmon.

Ryder glanced back to his partner, a brief flash of thought in his eyes. "Yeah, but…I…sort of doubt that's a route we could all take." Mari couldn't help but feel curious about what it was. She doubted she would get a straight answer, her mind instead turning to listening carefully and trying to see if she could figure out what they meant.

"Why?"

"Never mind, just…in the show it was never explained, and even when it was an option they never properly used it. Plus, even if he has used it himself, there's no saying it'll be reliable, or accessible."

"Still, seeing the Digital World…a whole different sky…I'd love to go there…"

"Honestly, you wouldn't."

"You're really cynical today."

"Sorry, but dying sort of does that to a guy."

Mari paused, grimacing at the damned word, something that had only just begun to shift to the back of her mind from the earlier trauma thanks to the distraction of conversation. "Ryder…" she cooed, stroking his fingers gently with hers and opening her mouth to speak, but finding it hard to follow up his embittered words with anything.

"Sorry…" he finally mumbled, placing his other hand on his chest, removing it when he seemed to find nothing out of the ordinary. "Everything is so confusing, and I just can't get used to it as hard as I try." His voice descended to little more than a mutter to himself. "Ugh, I could really use an alarm clock right now."

"Huh?" Mari got the feeling from his subsequent expression that he didn't expect his words to be heard. "Alarm clock? What are you talking about?" He quickly shook his head dismissively.

"Never mind…I'm just…being…me. You know, me being weird."

"_That doesn't explain anything at all," _she thought, easily being able to tell he was covering something up from her. Only question was: what about? This was just another layer on the myriad of secrets – not least the big one he still refused to tell. Why couldn't he be honest with her? In light of his reassurances, she always felt like a nag for bringing any of them up, but that didn't mean she never thought about them. Indeed, barely a second went by when she didn't. "You don't seem okay?"

He looked at her, a brief moment of thought before he rallied back rather too quickly with an overly forceful "I'm fine."

"Okay," she replied, not the slightest touch of honesty in her tone. She definitely wasn't okay with this – he was doing it again, and right when they seemed to be making progress. Every damn time they seemed closer, he closed himself right off. All of her effort always ended up squandered, and whenever she tried to get to know him it wasn't long before she hit a brick wall. If something was bothering him, she was meant to help him…right? Yet, in spite of all she had done to help with the little things, those things he was actually honest with her about, the big things, the ones which led to his 'quiet days', always stayed just out of reach.

Could she ask now? Would it make a difference? Would it…make things worse?

"Well, moment of truth," he interrupted.

"I hope they're all okay," Donmon echoed his partner, blissfully unaware of Mari's inner thoughts.

There it was – the fault of hesitation. The window of opportunity was gone, quickly snatched from her by circumstance. She gazed up, first at his face then out towards where he gazed, not taking a moment to look her in the eyes.

As they rounded the corner, their mouths hit the floor only to be met by the edges of their widened eyes.

"Bloody hell…"

"That's one way of putting it," she muttered, shocked by nothing more than the sheer number of people gathered, so much so that the usually relatively large spaces on the green about the front of the hideout were now full to the brim. That was before she even saw who they were.

Jeri was locked around Henry in an embrace, the boy looking worse for wear from an unknown experience whilst their parents stayed all-too close by, and Leomon towered over them. Terriermon looked rather irritated as he looked up, alongside Lopmon. Her partner, Suzie, grabbed her father's leg in happiness, and Jeri's brother did the same to his mother, in this case for comfort and security. Henry's older sister stared on, a smile on her face, whilst his older brother was nowhere to be seen.

"_They saved Janyuu!" _she thought, breathing a light sigh of relief, thankful that their earlier fears turned out to be ill-established.

Over on the steps of the hideout, Tai and Agumon sat alongside Izzy and a hovering Tentomon, staring out at the masses and talking with worried gazes on their faces. All the while, Sora and all of their mothers perched nearby, watching them cautiously. Mimi and Palmon gathered near Fumiko and Joe, the doctor looking rather worse for wear than Mari liked, Gomamon all the while clutching tightly to his Tamer's head.

"_What happened to her?"_ She couldn't help but be worried about the doctor who had been such a help to her when Ryder had been in his unfortunate coma (and, of course, had met death along the way, twice), as well as of course having been her friend Rika's doctor too.

Speaking of whom, Rika sat with Takato's arm around her back on the grass nearby, but hers didn't return the favour, instead holding tightly onto the baby in her arms and looking for all the world like she'd bite the head off of anyone who tried to take her. Impmon sat in front of Takato, talking with him with a particularly concerned look on both of their faces, brief glances taken across the city skyline poking over the tops of the trees. Kristy sat alongside her sister, peering at Rey but not making any moves to touch her, whilst Kudamon looped round her neck and talked to DarkBiyomon, standing alongside both Kristy and her Tamer. Seiko herself stood above, talking to Rumiko in particular, who regularly paid a gaze down and a questioning comment to her daughter below. Mie and Takehiro sat nearby, the former staring at her son whilst the latter put his hand on hers in reassurance. Renamon stood behind them all, watching proceedings with a hawk's eye whilst Guilmon, next to her, clutched an excitable Rejimon in his arms and stared blankly wherever Renamon looked.

"_Huh?"_

Following Renamon's wandering gaze, to Mari's surprise, and a rubbing of an eye with a hand, she saw their teacher there amongst the group, sitting near Takato's parents whilst looking completely bewildered by the situation at hand.

"_Poor Miss Asagi, but…why is she here?"_

At least she didn't have to worry about annoying pupils for the time being, since Kazu looked in no mood for jokes. He sat a bit further up the slope, looking rather irritated with the cell phone he held, whilst what looked like their classmate Ayaka peered over from next to him. On the other side, Guardromon took up a fair deal of space, albeit he seemed to scan the surroundings. MarineAngemon probably could have, but he was busy stuck in another of their classmate's arms, this one a slightly quieter girl than Ayaka, Miki Nakajma.

Mari couldn't tell exactly, but there seemed to be an uneasy air around Takeru, Matt and their parents, the father of whom she could only recall having met once before. He'd cancelled more than that in the past, citing work and leaving his sons somewhat saddened yet surprisingly accepting of the fact. She'd met the mother a few more times, namely since Takeru's house had been the key meeting point whenever it came to visiting that part of the city and its local Tamers. Speaking of whom, Kari currently sat in Davis' arms as he gripped her tight, whilst Ken seemed to be in a similar (yet reversed) pose with Yolei. Cody watched the scene from alongside Ryo, the pair not moving their lips much and instead seeming deep in unknown thoughts, Cody's grandfather alongside him being the usual one to start them talking. Their Digimon sat in between them all, eating some bits and pieces out of a rucksack, the food rations quickly lost to their insatiable hunger. Only Cyberdramon didn't, dominating over them all from above and looking somewhat out of place. He wasn't the only one – Davis' sister sat behind him, the boy suddenly making irritated gazes at her for some comment she had made about him and Kari whilst she herself simply laughed in amusement.

Looking rather more on-task than the remainder of the group (although they looked worn-out enough to deserve it), a somewhat surprising group (not least because she'd never imagined they would be joining them) of Yamaki, the former Chief Cabinet Secretary, the two Hypnos operatives, and two of the Monster Makers were still standing, talking with concerned gazes as they gazed at those around them, scattered about.

For something did unify them, even those that seemed happy. Simultaneously, they all looked…worried. Scared. Petrified even. The enemy could descend at any moment, it was surprising they hadn't already, and then that would be that.

Game over. The end.

"Ryder! Mari! You're alive!" Kristy cheered when her eyes caught them. Kudamon barely leapt away in time before she stood up, racing towards them before falling into a hug around the boy, inadvertently drawing the attention of everyone else too. "I was so worried." Mari gave a light smile as she looked across to how he dealt with it, his previous pessimism completely at odds with the thankful cheeriness of the girl. Indeed, the redhead's optimism always proved to be a good thing, able to take your mind of brooding over how bad things were, and how much worse they could get

Before she could even notice, she too was grabbed, Calumon tumbling out of her arms and landing with a surprised "…hey!" on the path below, his own usual optimism quickly gone. Smiling in relief that those they had been running with through the tunnels all seemed okay, Mari gently patted the girl on the head. She broke loose to apologise to (and pick up) Calumon, leaving Mari to have something unexpectedly catch her eye.

Or rather, someone, someone who had skipped her mind entirely for that brief moment of seeing who was there, and the sight of whom made her frown more than anything.

The final sight made Mari frown more than anything. All on her own well away from the group, Natsuki sat with her knees right up and her arms wrapped around them as she stared down at the ground, deep in thought. They all seemed too wrapped up in their own worlds, fears, and probably just plain nervousness to try talking to a random girl who had suddenly appeared in their group, and she made no moves to introduce herself either. _"And it's all our fault…" _They were dragging her where she didn't want to be.

But, it did seem weird – she had had a window of opportunity earlier, so why didn't she escape?

For all her attempts to make it seem unusual, Mari knew it was simple. She couldn't be sure it would stay safe. She knew she would've done likewise were she in the exact same position, and thanked the heavens she wasn't.

"_She doesn't even have anyone she knows in the group – she's just…her."_

She could've run now, of course. No-one would've noticed, surely? Perhaps she was staying so her and Ryder didn't worry about her?

"_Then again, after all that happened I doubt it – she doesn't seem to like us much now. I can't really blame her."_

Sighing, Mari turned her attention back to the conversation at hand, wanting to help the girl but knowing there was very little she could do at this very moment. Not, at least, until they were clear what was going on, and had a plan for where to go next.

"…mean to tell me ya didn't email them?" Impmon complained, Izzy and Tai now on their feet whilst the purple virus stood on the path, shooting the sharpest of daggers up at them. Mari raised an eyebrow at first, wondering who they were talking about, before it hit her that only two Tamers were missing from the grand line-up:

Ai and Mako.

"I didn't have their address or anything Impmon – I didn't have a choice," Izzy sounded deeply apologetic, and Mari couldn't help but wonder how many other people they knew didn't get the memo he sent.

"Geez, and here I was waiting! Takato!" he growled, glaring across at the boy who stood up, looking annoyed by how it was suddenly his fault.

"Hey, I didn't know that – I just assumed he had!"

"Well done Pineapple Head! I could've gone and found them!"

"What, and let an already-angry city see you?" Matt interrupted, standing to his feet. Tai looked across to his friend, nodding in agreement and following up his point. All the while, Mari and Ryder wandered in closer, aware of the vast number of eyes watching this particular drama play out.

"Matt's right – we were lucky to get out alive there, and that was only because we could escape before anyone came."

"Then I'm out of here! Maybe I'll catch you schmoes up some time," Impmon huffed, turning and beginning to storm away. Jeri took to her feet quickly, letting go of Henry and rushing towards the creature. Leomon making smaller paces in pursuit.

"Impmon, wait!"

Impmon threw a look and a grunt over his shoulder, dismissing the girl, albeit it sounded to Mari's ears like it hurt to do so. "Sorry Jeri, but I can't let those bastards get to them – they're only kids!" Leomon's feet pounded after his Tamer soon after, his gruff voice making a final plea.

"Would they want you to die Impmon?"

The Digimon looked back, grimacing deeply. "It's the trying that matters," he surmised, before rapidly leaping into the undergrowth nearby, vanishing from sight. Jeri looked to Leomon, a sharp frown on her face, yet neither spoke.

"_They don't even have telepathy, and they still seem closer." _It seemed a selfish thought given the timing, but Mari couldn't help it – the constant failure for her and DarkRenamon to make a true bond, that was, one which worked both ways, frustrating her no end. DarkRenamon could read almost her every movement, but the thoughts were so clinical, the output of someone taught in tracking but not sympathising. The other way was even worse – whilst she could tell emotions, she could feel little more, and even when her partner digivolved their connection seemed…loose, even if to most people watching they seemed very close. It felt more like a friendship than a partnership, harkening back to the earliest days of their relationship about a year prior.

It didn't bode well for their chances of ever biomerging or becoming anywhere near as good as Rika and Renamon, seeming to practically share a mind at times. Mari did wonder if it was her own fault – was she afraid of opening up that much, having every worry, fear and anxiety from the last four years splayed out there for her partner to read if she accidentally let it cross her mind during telepathy. She didn't want somebody prying that much into her life – it was bad enough having someone doing so from afar, and without her permission too.

"This isn't going to end well," interrupted a comment from Ryder, still to Mari's right and catching her by surprise. "Someone should go after him." He gazed over the group, eyes catching on subjects unknown. "Like last time…" The girl didn't even bother to attempt to decipher the comment, instead speaking up.

"So what are we going to do?" Mari spoke up, gazing about. "Is anyone going to go after him?"

"He's made his choice – can't we leave him to it?" Matt asked, his opinion quickly clashing with others. It was moments like these when Mari saw the 'other side' of their group, the internal clashes that only a newcomer would think out of place. "We have to get out of here and to the Digital World before the soldiers catch up."

"But we can't just leave someone behind," Jeri quickly argued back, still looking torn over pursuing the imp.

"Jeri, we have to get out of here as quickly as possible," interrupted an unexpected source – her father, his gruff voice making no compromises. She shot a surprisingly harsh glare back, something not seen too often on a girl often topping the lists of 'nice people' in their group.

"Dad!"

"I'm your father and I won't risk your safety."

"Wait a minute; we can't just leave him behind. He's our friend!" Takato objected, standing to his feet and staring on in disbelief.

"Impmon's more than capable enough on his own," Ryo spoke up, quickly receiving a death glare from Rika, and, surprisingly, Jeri too. He put his hands up in objection, shaking his head as he wandered away from Cody and towards them. "He has shown himself to be pretty resourceful in the past, and, as much as you might hate the idea, I don't think he's our biggest worry right now."

"What do you mean?" Rika's voice was heavily weighted, saying much more than her words seemed to. Mari was surprised at all the tensions flying about, and still felt unable to place all of them. Something always seemed to be left unspoken – the complex web of secrets and history in this group was rarely unravelled even a bit, and asking Ryder often didn't get her too far.

"I think what Ryo means," Tai said, looking to the slightly younger boy. Their gazes paused on each other, for perhaps a little too long in fact, before Tai put his hands out, seeming to make a balancing gesture. "Is that right now, we're got all of our parents here, almost every Tamer, and even some other people too who I don't think I've ever met before." He explained, gesturing across to Natsuki who looked up, seeming surprised by the sudden attention called to her as it seemed to click in some people's minds that she wasn't part of the usual background. A worried look burst across her face, but no-one thankfully yet voiced what they wanted to ask, as Tai continued. "Rayleigh has us surrounded – everyone could turn us in, and we don't have many options. We don't have the time to waste if he wants to go off alone."

It was at that moment that total chaos broke out in the group, despite the clear intention of Tai to put a halt to it.

"But you can't…"

"I'm telling you…"

"How can you…?"

"Dad!"

"Rika!"

"Impmon is our friend, and…"

"QUIET!" bellowed a voice suddenly over the bickering, Mari reflexively taking a step back from the loud noise to her side as Ryder's hand detached from hers. He marched forward, right into the centre of the group, at the bottom of the steps by the hideout. All around him were over a dozen or two people, all looking down and anticipating what he was about to say. "This is ridiculous. This guy wants us all dead, bloody dead, you hear me? And he's not going to stop at anything to get us, so we're going to have to take the initiative for a change. We need to move out, regroup, and fight back, because if you guys really don't think he wants us dead, then I can tell you that less than a dozen minutes ago I was…"

At that precise moment Ryder's head exploded.

A shriek was let loose, but God only knew who by. Her ears rang from the sharp cracking noise upon the air, and Mari felt everything slow down as Ryder collapsed to the ground, forehead bleeding profusely. She didn't even know if it was her screaming – the lack of air in her lungs made her think she had lost it all in a gasp, let alone a cry of horror. The whole group seemed to have settled into disarray a thousand times worse than before, some throwing their heads around to look for the source of what had just happened, and others simply covering their children, both due to the horrifying sight and due to the fear of it happening to them too.

Her eyes swam downwards to the body. This was the fifth time, and this time was almost as horrific as the third. Donmon cried for his partner, yet sounded sickened at the same time as he bent over the boy.

For starters, the gun, if it was a gun (it had definitely sounded like one), was obviously a lot more powerful than Chiyo's was, even thought she was a lot more thorough in her practice. The bullet had speared right through his cranium, splattering blood and god-only-knew what all over, and covering his suddenly-relaxed face in a veil of blood. He was dead, no doubt about that.

Would he survive?

"In the exact same position you're in now, Ryder Mark Watson Stevens."

The voice was unmistakable, as a ruffle of bushes behind the hideout let loose a man, surprisingly well dressed for the occasion in a fairly smart suit, the widest of grins on his face. He wandered forward coolly, one hand tightly gripping a familiar form and dragging it along behind him.

"Rei!" Rika cried, taking a step forward towards her time-travelling daughter. Her eyes were shut, looking almost angelic in her sleep were it not for the gagging tape across her mouth, matched by a rope around her arms and legs. Her hair and clothes looked ruffled – a struggle perhaps? Rayleigh showed few of the same signs.

"Let her go!" Mari screamed, quick reflexes bringing a gun up from her leg, aiming it squarely at Rayleigh with her finger on the trigger, Donmon growling fiercely alongside her. Rika paused in her walking, suddenly very afraid of the line of fire, even though she was normally one to be right in the heat of battle. As for the man himself, he seemed to dismiss it before he even saw it, continuing to speak.

"My condolences for your loss my dear," he said mockingly towards her, trivialising it so much as he put on the most patronising of tones. The slightest of smirks was on his face, yet it was an image the girl knew she couldn't forget for all she tried. "But don't worry; I'm sure he'll be up to his old tricks."

"I said let her go – now!" Mari didn't feel like taking the same old crap from people like this. "You want a Tamer to kill a political figure – let me grant your wish!" she said darkly, knowing that her comment sent a wave of shock through the group as her finger quivered on the trigger.

"Ooh, controversial. Shall I line up the 'Thought for the Day' slot on Radio Four for you?"

"I don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about."

"Of course not – you uncultured Yanks. Will you ever learn the meaning of…?"

"Shut up!"

Rayleigh snorted derisively. "Very well then," he added, pulling a gun out with his free hand and putting it squarely to Rei's head, gripping her by her collar and pulling the fabric right up against her neck. "We shall play this game your way."

The sight made Mari lock up, the shaking of her hands stopping but not for the right reasons. She saw Rika look horrified before shooting the sharpest of death glares at the man, the powerlessness clearly killing her inside. Mari took a brief glance down at Ryder, knowing the same had been true in her case of who she loved.

The worst thing was she knew this wouldn't be the last time – if they survived, that was. Gritting her teeth, she felt like punching Rayleigh in the face as he blew off her threat ever so coolly once again.

"The future holds so many secrets, but they're worth sacrificing for the present." He toyed with the gun, running it up and down the side of her head. "Poor girl used up all her energy trying to fight back – for someone so powerful she hadn't yet learnt the concept of what this gun can do." Clicking his fingers, a soldier stepped out from behind, decked up in the full and anonymous special forces wear and with a machine gun of his own strapped to his belt, whilst in his hands he carried the form of Realmon, electricity arcing over her but going nowhere thanks to the man's gloves. He dumped her callously on the floor beside Rayleigh as the Acting Prime Minister pointed sharply down, whilst the soldier then lifted his own gun up defensively. "And neither has she."

"You bastard!"

"Afraid not Rika. And I find it ironic for you to be calling anyone a bastard."

This was the straw which broke the camel's back, Rika's wings promptly flying out and almost throwing Takato to the ground, he almost as angry as her once he found his balance again. Leaving Rey behind with the boy, she rushed forward, hands glowing with energy. "Take that back you…"

A pair of shots rang out across the air, and Rika screamed in pain as she collapsed forward, a breath held upon everyone's lips as they feared she had gone the same way as the boy whose blood now began to let up in pouring. "RIKA!" screamed Takato and Renamon together, both leaping forth, the former only pausing to pass his daughter to Kristy, something that in any other situation no doubt Rika wouldn't have agreed with.

But, surprisingly, such was not the case, for as Takato ran forward to her aid electricity arced across her from her wings. Had they aimed to miss? Or to prove a point?

Rumiko and Seiko looked close to doing the same as Takato, but paused when they looked up to see Rayleigh and the soldier again, the latter now aiming his machine gun directly at their group. Takato bent over her, grasping her hand and trying to talk to her, yet Mari couldn't hear a word that was said. Was it too far? Or was her mind clouded, blocking out anything not flashy enough to overcome her deathly glare at Rayleigh?

Takato span round, the red ball of energy in his hands definitely being one of the things which caught the brunette's gaze, along with the wings now sharply out from either side of him, his clothes now ripped. Renamon summoned a set of diamonds across her, venomous with rage.

A quick ringing of machine gun fire, however, and both were on the floor, falling straight over Rika as the EMP simply seemed to triple up across them all. Renamon suffered the worst, groaning in pain from every single spark.

"Takato! Renamon!" cried Guilmon, snarling as he raced forward.

Takato looked out, struggling a hand up, but it was too late and the dinosaur was quickly taken down too by yet another round of bullets from god-only-knew where.

Mari stared on in disbelief, and could tell most around her were unable to move out of a mix of fear for themselves and, of course, fear for others. In the commotion, Rey had at some point ended up in Seiko's arms, the woman holding her granddaughter as close as she could, her mother lying nearly-unconscious on the grass nearby. Kristy, nonetheless, had ended up with Rejimon, finally silenced from her usual excitable state by the sight of her parents screaming in agony.

"Part data, and all idiots," Rayleigh surmised, taking a deep yet clearly fake sigh as he shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly, I have killed rats in my old apartment with more sense, and they would teach you one vital lesson," he said, shoving Rei's unconscious form towards the soldier whilst in return taking the machine gun and holstering his own. Out of his back belt loop the soldier took out his reserve pistol – he wasn't defenceless by far. "The worst thing you can do is to all gather in one place."

Clicking his fingers sent prompted arguably the most chilling sight, as a wave of sharp red dots of light swept across, trained on each and every one of them, from the youngest baby to the oldest adult to the biggest Digimon to the smallest. On humans, the forehead, on Digimon, the chest and the vulnerable digi-core below. Even Ryder had one on his head, a clear sign that the man knew of his remarkable survivals.

"Move an inch and the guns will fire," he explained, lifting the machine gun and firing it rapidly into the air above. "Speak a word, and the guns will fire. Heck, try even thinking of fighting back, I think our technology has moved onto that now. Either way, it's end game for you all."

Rayleigh didn't even have to tell her – the gun fell from Mari's hand far too quickly and clattered onto the path below, leaving her gobsmacked as she now tried to cross her eyes and look up. As she did so, she could see a horrified Donmon looking up to Mari. She looked down to him, and across to her partner, all in equal horror as the implications hit home.

They were about to all die, together.

"Be assured, there's a dot on every single one of you…and you know what that means. Yep, it means, we're going to play a fun game of musical statues, only there's no music. Unless you all feel like joining me in a round of Rule Britannia? No? Shame."

"This is barbaric and…"

"SILENCE!"

A bullet flew within inches of Jeri's head, forcing the lion's eyes wide open and making the girl tremble in fear. Rayleigh laughed boisterously.

"Barbaric? I'm sorry Leomon, but any rule books containing those words were quickly burnt by me when I took up my lowest job. Welcome to the modern day, chum! There are no rules to let weaklings win, okay?" he said mockingly, taking a step forth, machine gun still in hand. "Oh, and, in case you were wondering – these are no ordinary EMP bullets. These are state of the art design bullets which I personally supervised the production of, and, as I'm sure some of you will already have seen, they are far more powerful than anything before," he began, sending a pair of them straight into the huge lion, roared screams bursting from him before a blurred Elecmon fell back to the ground below. "See?"

Frowning as he received no come back, no sudden rush to attack, not even any more than a whimper of fear from a muted Jeri, he sighed, stopped near the centre of them all, standing right by Ryder's corpse. He bent over, kicking his side a few times and then looking up, testing her reaction. Donmon glared on, but daren't growl.

"Hmm, nothing? Not even an "oh no, don't do that to my boyfriend"? Still, who wants a cheating boyfriend anyhow? You deserve better than someone with a fetish for blondes."

"He doesn't…how do you…" Mari spluttered, eyes widening in alarm. How on earth did anyone know that, let alone him? It was their secret – she hadn't told anyone, and surely Ryder hadn't? How…?

"Shush up my dear…Big Brother is watching you." The man gestured two fingers to his eyes, before pointing them at her. He shook his head, beginning to wander away, before a gasp of breath behind made him turn back.

Mari's hands ran to her ears as the screaming shots ran out once again, blood splattering up onto her. Sixth time, and this time even more horrific than the last, with bullets right the way up his body. Donmon let loose a quick hiss, but restrained himself again.

"Aw, he's so sweet when he's dead." Mari didn't even bother looking up, simply staring down at the body with the blankest of expressions as the mocking continued. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, chuckling as he wandered back towards the centre again, an amphitheatre of people arranged around him. Gazing about, he looked almost disappointed briefly, before shaking his head once again.

"What, no fighting back? No jokes? Come on Terriermon, pull another crack. Or Gatomon, a cat pun? What, cat got your tongue?" he suggested, shaking his head again. "Oh, now you're really making me scrape the barrel here…hmm…a joke about Mrs Kamiya's cooking?" he suggested, looking at each party in turn before rolling his eyes in disdain. "Bloody low point of comedy that. God, you guys are boring. I should just kill you all now."

He raised his fingers ready to click, the anticipation in the air growing but paused mid-way through.

"Oh, but after all this planning, why would I ever want it to go to waste? Operation Klemmen, also known as Operation Pincer, the ultimate in real life game shows. Take two dozen people or more, organise a plan in the ultimate of hurries, and then anticipate their moves. This is why I joined the government, to be an up-and-coming guy in a government that was going to go places. Being active, doing things, changing the world…whilst you all just dirty it, with your Digimon, and your insistence on endangering the lives of innocent people. You are all terrorists; I mean it when I say that."

He looked about, a pin able to drop in the sheer silence. Had everyone given up? Were they using an unusual tactic against him? Either way, it seemed to be bugging him, or perhaps even that was just past of the act? Mari couldn't tell, as she slowly moved her head back up to look around properly, shifting her eyes only slightly to look for a sign of anything.

Even those most likely to fight back – Matt, Tai, Ryo, Davis – none of them did. There were so many innocents at risk here.

Her eyes caught on Natsuki, head between her knees. This would be traumatising for her for life, no doubt about that. There was no going back here, not now, not ever, and they had dragged her into it. The guilt that had once been a lump in Mari's throat now blocked it entirely, and then some.

"You see, I've never liked those battle plans where the war just ends without any events. Those battles which just fizz out until someone declares "mission accomplished" and decides it's done," he put on a fake American accent for his quotes. "So here we are, Operation Klemmen, the ultimate extermination, all in one bite-sized chunk. Just add a dash of fear, push everyone into the same place, intercept every single communication, oh, and, of course, be prepared. It's a shame that I didn't join the military really, but I'm afraid I just wouldn't have the guts for it. Facing death on a daily basis – nasty!" he joked, glancing towards Ryder. Mari didn't gratify him with the response he wanted, instead remaining deathly silent. "And you fell right for it with a simple cry of, oh, let's see," he wondered, drawing out his PDA. "Ah yes - SOS all Tamers. Run. Government on warpath. Meet at hideout, from Izzy. Your grammar is truly appalling Izzy, though I have to applaud your heroism."

He clapped a fake clap, his gun handle tapping against his PDA as he shook his head.

"Hypnos sure did me a favour in not destroying all the equipment. But, at least someone's thinking tactically. Even though, for all of your geniuses, none of you seemed smart enough to listen to what I told you all. _All the devils are here_, right here, all just waiting for you to join their party. And you ran straight in to meet them – how adorably idiotic of you all."

He wandered across to the group of Yamaki, Eiichi, Tally and Riley, smirking at them as he looked Eiichi right in the eyes.

"My dear sweet Eiichi – you must be kicking yourself now, right? You got me here – your little tick of that box. Then again, losing your job would make you kick yourself enough already."

He sidestepped across, looking straight into the glaring orbs of his biggest foe.

"But, you, Yamaki, on the other hand, I think you deserve more than a kick. In fact…"

Mari winced as the man quickly punched the blonde squarely in the gut, making him stagger back slightly with his hands over his stomach but still not prompting anything more than a murmur of pain from his mouth.

Rayleigh was taunting them, he was mocking them, and, worst of all, he wasn't happy unless he got pain, suffering and amusement.

Indeed, right now, he threw his hands down, looking to the entire world like a small child having a tantrum as he stormed back across, shouting at the scattered pile of Takato, Rika, Renamon and Guilmon, none having moved too much thanks to the sheer pain of trying to do so.

"Come on then!"

He put his hands out and waved them back towards him, beckoning them on with the widest grin on his face.

"Come on Chaos, come on Harmony, where's your spirit, huh? No pun intended, of course, my lords. I'm sure you have a few things you want to say to me right now – so hit me with your best shot! Come on! Bring it on! Whoop! Kill me! Do something! ANYTHING!" he roared, angered so greatly.

He seemed to force himself to calm down, taking deep breaths as he turned, facing back towards the other side of the group. Rolling his eyes skywards, he began shaking his head in disbelief even more and tutting, exhaling sharply as he wandered back into the centre of them all.

"God, this really wasn't worth it, was it? After all I went to, not even a "well done"? You all better know that you're spoiling my dream come true – how does that make you feel? Ah, but then again, this must be the exact opposite for all of you, so, I'll be fair. So, this is your final chance – any last requests?" He called out, before he paused, putting his hand to his ear and smirking widely as the news came through. "Excellent, send him out. I'll be happy to honour one wish of yours, one which I'm sure plenty of you will be glad to see."

Looking back to the bushes nearby, he breathed in deeply, smiling widely again as they rustled.

"I've got a friend who wants to say a nice friendly hello to you, although I somehow doubt he is capable of that."

From the plants, another soldier stepped, throwing the purple and white form of Impmon carelessly down, grunts from his lips as he slid across the worn path. "Son of a…" he mumbled, electricity shooting across him still and forcing him back to silence, but Rayleigh still took this as a reason to cheer. The soldier once again vanished into nothing, leaving shocked yet silent gazes behind at the Imp who they had thought lost for good.

"Finally, you speak! Happy days! And I can assure you that Ai and Mako will be fine…so long as you keep quiet."

Impmon growled a grimace, before the sight of the hordes of red dots finally silenced him, something that so many things had tried to do before and failed. Mari couldn't help but be surprised that it had even silenced Terriermon and Chaos – this was gobsmacking. And the worst thing was that chances were they'd never get a chance to speak again.

"Can you do that? That would be one for the records."

"Go screw yourself," Impmon muttered under his breath painfully. Rayleigh laughed. Mari realised that even Impmon wasn't going to go down that easily.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. You should be glad I'm feeling happy right now, I'm a bastard on a bad day."

Mari noticed how no-one fell for his tricks this time, even with every word aimed to make them say something. Calling him a bastard always, saying that right now couldn't be a bad day, asking how he could be doing this at all. But, somehow, the fear kept them quiet. The fear of losing their families, their friends, their own lives, and even those of innocents.

"Sir," came a voice from behind Rayleigh, the man turning to see the soldier, his pose tense as Rei's eyes snapped open, and she squirmed against the ropes and gag holding her back, failing to do anything against it. Realmon, below, began to wake up, yet looked horrified when she found herself unable to move. Mari simply felt hopeless, standing there unable to move with Ryder still lying by her feet.

Rayleigh was being…psychotic. Worse than psychotic, he had gone…completely and utterly bat shit insane!

He twirled in a dance like manner, machine gun still in hand as he smiled darkly. How could this man, a man who had so elegantly planned out so much by the sounds of it, suddenly descend into this…mania?

"Ah, it's like all my Christmases have come at once!"

With a sharp ripping sound, Rei's wings suddenly burst out from her back, as she forced herself forward and free of the soldier, making a bee-line straight for Rayleigh as golden energy wracked through her bonds and burnt them away.

"Rei!" Rika cried in shock, her daughter's eyes flying around as she came to a stop. Rika's violets conveyed such apology, such guilt, the other girl picking up nearly instantly as the tension upon the air felt like it could be cut with a knife.

"It's not your fault! You had to call me!"

But Mari knew Rika wouldn't stop berating herself if the girl died, not now, not ever. Even if she survived, she would look down upon her child knowing when she would meet her fate, and that was something no mother need ever face.

Rei looked forward, too late to do anything as acceptance flashed on her face, and she broke back into the run, perhaps hoping in vein she would catch up to their enemy before he did anything.

"How touching…" he mocked, not skipping a beat as he fired sharply at her wings and then stepped aside as she tumbled past him. He didn't even bothering to watch properly as electricity danced up her body, sheer pain in her eyes.

A sharp and cringe worthy crunch rang upon the air as she hit the concrete alongside Ryder.

Hard.

Mari gazed down, seeing the shocked and pained eyes of the girl and sharing her horror, before she looked back up to the perpetrator, speechless. Realmon wisely stayed back out of view, the occasional burst of blue light across her making it clear to Mari that she wouldn't be up again anytime soon.

She heard Rei move, looking down to find her grabbed for her wrist only to gape in shock as she found it barren, pushing herself up with a hand excruciatingly and staring in shock at Rayleigh.

"Looking for this?" Rayleigh called, raising the time device in his hand and smirking. "Well, far be it from me to mess with time – no-one who has tried in the past has been too successful at it. I'll just leave it up to you Rei, you seem ever so good at it," he said, the girl looking back over her shoulder with a hating and pained expression, her face and arms grazed and bleeding. "Get up then, if you want it so much," he called, before raising his voice and making it clear it was an order. "Get up!"

Mari felt Rei grabbing her leg for support. She was briefly surprised, but in the end she helped her friend to her feet, Rayleigh tutting at the display of friendship.

"I never said you could be helped." From how she leant on her shoulder, Mari could tell that Rei was in no condition to come to her feet on her own. "But, I'll let you off – after all, you're not used to this time. Now, catch!"

Mari looked up, Rei weakly putting a hand out as he tossed the time device towards her. The brunette went further than her friend's daughter to grab it, taking a full step in one direction, but Rayleigh had aimed it well, the device smashing to the floor and cracking sharply, several of its buttons and bits of glass splaying everywhere as the case front broke off.

Rei lost her balance, and even Mari's attempt to help failed as the redhead was instead sent tumbling to the floor right next to the splayed device, all the more painful for her to see.

"Oh, whoops, sorry – was always a poor throw at cricket. Still, I'm sure you could rebuild it, right? You did before."

"How did you…?"

"Shush!"

A smirk crossed his face as he received no further argument, the girl breaking loose from her friend and beginning to gather up the pieces on her hands and knees. Mari felt powerless to help, frozen as she watched her friend, once again without her lifeline.

"Good, that's much better. Now, where was I?" he mused, looking around the group before his eyes stuck on one person in particular, a glint in his eye and a smirk on his face. "Oh, now what do we have here?"

Mari followed his eye-line straight to one person in particular, the blonde as far away as possible from the rest, knees touching the side of her head as she seemed to try to deny what was going on, what she had been dragged into. But Rayleigh was having none of it.

He strode across to her, his face almost charitable and kind, but it had to be fake. This man couldn't show any form of real human emotion – he had shown himself to be a despicable deceptive cold-hearted bastard, and he couldn't change that image in anyone's eyes, let alone Mari's, soured by the deaths of her boyfriend thanks to him.

"Is everything okay, dear?"

Natsuki didn't reply.

"You have permission to speak, you know," he added, putting his hand on her shoulder. She froze up, before raising her head, staring into his eyes like he had just said he was her father. "I have no interest in killing innocents," he added, Mari not sure if he was joking or if he genuinely believed his own words after what he'd been doing.

"You…"

"You shouldn't be dragged into this, I can see that. Trust me; everything will be alright my dear."

"What…why?" the blonde seemed more shocked than anything at how he had completely changed his posture and pose.

"We share something; we have both been dragged into a world in which we don't belong and which we want to escape as soon as we can. Your kind – you have all been so helpful to me."

And of course they had – Mari knew that this man had to have used Digital Watch a thousand times. Everything they posted, from the smallest niggle to the greatest secrets, would have gone into his deathly research, his attempts to bring their group down. Whether he had assassinated the Prime Minister or not, it was clear he had planned this for a long time.

"What…what do you mean?" The new girl's voice seemed frightened, like an animal penned into a corner whilst the farmer loaded a shotgun. Her eyes flitted downwards to the gun in his hand. Was this all a trick? Mari knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had led this poor girl to her death.

Rayleigh chuckled. "It appears that the machinations of destiny have gone way over your head, my dear. In any case, sit tight and enjoy the show," he announced, swinging round grandly as he raised his voice. "It's for a limited time only." He raised his gun with his dark words, as Mari noticed something had moved right into the centre of the group.

Or rather, a pair of something.

"SMOKEY BLOW!"

"SMOKEY BLOW!"

Before Mari could even tell what was going on, smoke filled the air, clouding her vision as she began to feel lightheaded. What was happening? Were they being saved?

A sharp rattle of noise erupted near her leg, before she felt an even sharper burst of pain spasm up her arm. The fog was rapidly coated in a huge burst of blue electricity, every arc of it prompting much pain for her. "Aaah," she cried, trying to suppress her voice but being unable to do so, her hands going to the side of her head protectively as she felt the shocks begin to overwhelm her.

And then, they stopped, and she found herself looking downwards, a scattering of bullets smashed into the concrete mere inches from her legs.

Looking up, she found the smoke had cleared, Rayleigh standing there atop the hideout stairs with one hand casually in his pocket and the other loosely holding the end of the machine gun. He looked around at the group in amazement, pulling his pocketed palm out in a gesture of disbelief.

"Is that it? Really? Is that the _best_ you guys can _really _do?"

Not receiving any answer, he shook his head with widened eyes filling his face.

"I am honestly shocked, honestly. Heck, next time I might as well not aim to miss if you're going to be _that _dull. This truly does beggar belief though – I have heard so much about you all, and I've seen your reports so many times. You are always meant to get some last minute win, some way to save the day and prevent total disaster," he gestured with a fist. "What went wrong?" he wondered.

He placed his hand on his chin, pondering for a moment before suddenly grasping the point, raising a single finger in the air in a 'eureka' pose.

"Ah, yeah, that's it – you forgot that life isn't fair, and sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to get by. Let your folks die, keep your own life and maybe save that of your pals – after all, what parent wouldn't sacrifice themselves for their own child."

He took in the faces of parents and children alike, horror in their eyes at what he was suggesting, before quickly turning around and putting across an aside.

"Oh, and, of course, Mari, my condolences. Again."

The brunette simply glared at him harshly; outraged he could bring up that subject, outraged that he even knew of it. Her teeth stayed gritted; not daring to open as Rayleigh seemed to lick his lips in amusement at it all.

"You see, I like a random life lesson just as much as the next guy – honestly, I can't get enough of them. Caveat Emptor, Carpe Diem, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Oh, but, then again, that last one is quite relevant right now…"

"Did you frame us?"

Tai's bitter interruption forced all eyes on him; not least Sora, his mother and Kari who all seemed more shocked than anyone. Their hands were literally together, begging him not to make the mistake of putting his life on the line so much. But, it was no use – he was defiant now, a glare in his eyes, yet it was a weakened one, his gaze dancing across the fallen, sticking on Mari and Ryder, before Rayleigh called him back.

"Now, you see, that's a stupid question."

"Why? Why is it a stupid question? Why are you even doing this?" Tai ranted. Whatever fire was now in his veins, it was one of desperation and sheer anger, something rarely seen in such an easy-going guy.

"Yeah, we never did anything to harm anyone!" Agumon spoke up, Rayleigh half-shocked and half-grinning at this new development. Indeed, to Mari, he looked fit to cry in happiness.

"Finally, you ask the most inane question around. The door was thrown open by the assassination, I simply stepped through it. I mean, seriously, how on earth was I _meant_ to frame you guys, huh? Do you really think I could dress up like that? Really, how would I look in a skin-tight lycra suit? Honestly. Although, if any of you ladies fancy it…" he said, glancing over to Riley and Tally and raising his eyebrows, prompting downright shock and scorn from them. He put his hands up apologetically, shaking his head. "Fair enough. I know when to back off, unlike some people," he said, swinging a gaze across the group and pausing periodically over in the corner of the younger Digidestined. Mari's eyes shot to look where he stuck, but she found herself unable to keep up. Just who was that comment aimed at? Had she missed something else?

"_Like always."_

Rayleigh clapped his hands together, before waving it off quickly. "No, not yet!" he quickly shouted down his earpiece, as a stray bullet hit the concrete. Mari almost jumped out of her skin.

He shook his head as he stared at the dust settling from it, rolling his eyes for the fifteen-hundredth time and tutting at himself.

"Heh, someday I'm going to get you all killed if I keep forgetting myself like that. Isn't that right, Ryder?"

Mari looked down, sure enough seeing Ryder's eyes open as he sighed very deeply, his attempts to reach for the gun still on the floor now foiled. "Sorry," he uttered up to the girl over him, looking truly at the end of his options, tether, everything. Had he given up? He couldn't…not him! Mari gently wiped a spot of drying blood off her face, a chilling reminder of why Ryder could so easily do so.

In battle, Ryder had everything to lose but himself.

"I heard your little gasp a short while back. I have to applaud your cunning though – nothing like a Brit for that."

Ryder rolled over onto his front, Mari surprised that he hadn't yet been shot. Was Rayleigh keeping him alive, and how was he making the choice between firing and not doing so? What did he want? Why was he drawing this all out so much? Was this his…dream?

As that thought truly hit home, beyond Rayleigh's usual lies, she felt sick to her stomach. He was playing with them, he was literally playing life or death, and he had gathered them together to get the most out of it. He was a boy watching a scary movie, a teen playing a violent game – in it for the thrills and the excitement. But, he was doing this with people he truly reviled, and getting rid of an enemy to his leadership – in turn getting so much out of it.

Once, Mari had thought that he didn't really want them dead – he had so many options for that, after all. But now it had become much clearer. He didn't want them dead before, simply because he wanted them here. Now.

And, once he was done with his sickening monologue, they would all die, and he would no doubt simply laugh. A baby, a ton of children and adults, and some of the most captivating creatures in existence. Dead.

The worst thing was, Ryder would be left in the wreckage. What would Rayleigh do to him? He could have whatever fun he wanted for however long he wanted in torturing the boy, and try every trick in the book. Mari oddly felt thankful she could escape it all through death.

Ryder had no escape.

Pushing himself up onto his knees, and further onto his feet, Ryder was the only one not left fatigued by the events, no doubt thanks to his bizarre abilities. He glanced around, seeing the various red dots on people's heads with his jaw dropping in disbelief. "What…what the hell is going on?"

"Oh yes, you don't know, do you?" Rayleigh clapped his hands together, before prompting shaking his head again to avoid the soldiers attacking. "If you'd like to direct your attention to your friends, you'll notice that each and every one of them currently has a sniper trained on them, as, I can assure you, do you. Along with this gun I have, I can make a sincere, heartfelt promise to you that, should you make any move beyond what I deem acceptable, all your friends will have their heads exploded sooner than intended in a manner rather like, well, you did."

Ryder's eyes were as wide as golf balls as he turned back, seeing Mari and Donmon had ones on their heads too. Had it skipped his notice before?

The sight made anger burn in those very same pupils, as he turned back, seething through his teeth. "What do you want then?"

"I have twenty-six numbered boxes, two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and a series of increasingly unfashionable plaid sweaters. Let's play Deal or…"

"Ugh, tell me Rayleigh – were you born an arsehole, or did you become one?" Ryder stepped up the steps towards the man, pushing his luck somewhat.

Rayleigh looked briefly surprised, before he smiled and chuckled. "I could ask the same of you, only there's so much more to ask about your birth."

"No, I think you're the bigger mystery here," Ryder put his hands in his pockets and looking the man straight in the eye as he came to a stand only two slabs below him.

Mari was rather surprised by all this, actually – was Rayleigh simply letting him survive for a chat? Who was playing games with whom here? She knew that, with the wrong words, it could all be over, and doubtless he knew that too.

The teen placed his palms out to either side with a disbelieving look on his face. "After all, what sort of public school failure ends up as a politician in this place? Boy, Daddy must be pissed, spending all of his money on all that education."

"How did you know I went to public school? And about my parents' wealth?"

"Digital Watch isn't the only group that does its homework, you know? Rayleigh Thompson, near the top of your class at Oxford and seemingly well-suited for any job you wished, yet for some reason you vanished to Japan. But, of course, there's always that lovely glass ceiling to consider – you need money and class too, not just the right education and knowhow."

"Hmph." For the first time so far, Rayleigh sounded genuinely irritated. "No wonder you never got with Ivy. Were you the weird one, always lurking at the back and without the bravery to do anything? To think, if you weren't so spineless we might have never come to this place and we'd have all been a lot better off."

"_How deep do his sources go? Who told him all this? Has he got us…bugged?" _Mari wondered, whilst at the same time asking the same question of her boyfriend. _"Why did he research that?"_

A brief look of surprise crossed Ryder's face, before he looked aside, Donmon giving him a saddened look. "You know that's…not true." The boy's confidence was gone.

"And yet you doubt it. So many lives you always manage to wreck whilst never having the decency to lose your own. Some would call that poetic."

The boy looked rather saddened, taking a glimpse back to Mari, the girl dearly wishing to tell him it wasn't so yet fearing the consequences. Ryder seemed to get by only on the British connection, and his own lack of a need to be afraid of death. Rayleigh looked to rather enjoy someone finally matching wits with him who he didn't instantly shush.

And then, oddly the teen smirked widely, chuckling again. "Meh, nobody's perfect," he shrugged, seeming to annoy Rayleigh the most by blowing off his hurtful words entirely. "Speaking of which, for someone who likes to tout how brilliant your plans are, you don't really make a point of hiding them."

"Excuse me? None of you knew any of this before the broadcast, I am almost completely certain of that."

"Well, I mean, first you threaten us after what happened before, and then you make a public broadcast? Why did you need to do that except to make us all scared and run?"

"Fear cultures idiocy."

"Yeah, but then you had so many chances to drag my corpse away, but you left it there. Boy, your soldiers are either really stupid, or you wanted us all here for your performance."

Rayleigh looked shocked for a moment, before breaking out of it and laughing. "Well done for working out what everyone else has already."

"So you don't want us dead, you just want us to be tortured by your endless rambling?"

"No, I do want you dead, but when I am finished. Otherwise, this'd be nowhere near as poetic."

"I hate poetry – there's no point to it."

There was a brief silence, when it seemed that Ryder would go on. Instead, Rayleigh took up the baton.

"Well, thanks for that pointless complaint, I'll add it to…"

"So, what are you going to do when we're dead? It'll be obvious we didn't do it, you know. Your leadership will crumble like…" Ryder clicked.

Rayleigh looked unfazed. "Simple. I'll quit."

"Huh?"

"This whole job was merely a preparation for this moment now, and when it's over, I will simply leave the clean up to someone else. After all, dealing with problems you create is _so_ verydifficult, isn't that right, Ryder?"

Ryder didn't take the bait this time round. "Then I'll tell everyone what you did."

"Don't worry, I have plans to deal with you," he said darkly, catching Ryder off guard completely. Mari was equally taken aback.

"_I don't like the sound of that."_

"Once that's all done, the government is a victim, I can unveil my patented advanced EMP gun system for dealing with everything up to a mega to the world at large, and then leave on account of the stress of the job in dealing with all that happened during these short few days. Heck, perhaps I'll even sob and say it was such a difficult choice to decide to kill so many young people, get the press on my side too. Then I'll spend the next month or two with a psychiatrist, and finally walk away with billions of guaranteed income in the arms trade, able to retire at the age of twenty-two to a life of luxury. With that much money and, of course, not being too bad looking either if I do say so myself, I'll have my own choice of a wife. Perhaps I'll even buy a seat in the House of Lords when the wrinkles start, or run for parliament up in some delightfully conservative constituency in the Home Counties. And, of course, I'll finally pay my parents back all that I'm owed. Perhaps."

Ryder held a cool gaze, but Mari could from experience tell that it was false. Underneath that mask which only the rambling idiot Rayleigh fell for, he shared her exact same shock at how callously he planned to deal with the situation. This man truly had no morals, or, indeed, anything. He acted like he was well above his age too – was that what Ryder meant about the public school thing? But wasn't a public school a free education? Both seemed to spout so many words she couldn't truly place.

And then she realised why Ryder had kept so stoic, as he leaned aside, talking past the chattering bastard to the soldier behind. "You hear that?"

The soldier barely reacted to the question, or, at least, that was Mari could tell. The anonymous uniform and mask didn't exactly make life simple in telling what he thought – it was more difficult than telling what DarkRenamon was thinking or feeling.

"No, in fact, he doesn't."

Ryder's eyebrows shot up, as he looked back to Rayleigh, taken off guard by the man's words. "What?"

"All of my soldiers are wearing ear defenders. Did you really think I would be such a fool as to let them all hear my words?"

"Wait…no…but…"

"Was this your plan? I was going to applaud your bravery, but now it appears you've simply been watching one too many episodes of Doctor Who. Shame, I was rather impressed too."

Ryder still seemed speechless, turning his hands over as he finally continued, albeit spluttering as he spoke. "But…but….you…you clapped and then told them not to fire."

"They are watching for a signal, not listening. I have an earpiece which I can switch on and off as I wish to cancel any orders I give. For example – Agent 2019, you are dismissed," he said, turning to face the man who had stood there all along, watching and aiding in events.

He saluted, bowing slightly before turning and walking away, Rayleigh watching proudly a man who followed every order to the letter without complaint. Mari simply wished they had more independent minds.

"Perfect, almost like robots. Having control of Special Forces agents is more fun than I thought," he mused, turning back to face Ryder with an amused grin.

"But…they're killing children? Surely…?"

"In the name of national security, anything goes, and these men have been trained for that. And beside, a little bit of angst is none of my problem – so long as when the time comes they're ready to do their job."

Mari was amazed. Not only did this guy not care about the killing of children, innocents and foreign nationals, or the destruction of lives of his enemies, but he didn't care about even his own men, some of whom would undoubtedly go home that very same evening with guilt on their minds. Even so, what impact would such choices have on his reputation? Surely her own government would be outraged? Then again, this guy had gotten this far – undoubtedly he had planned to deal with that eventuality.

On the other hand, maybe he didn't care about his own position either? He seemed set on taking them down, but had never mentioned policies beyond those mandated by the Prime Minister, or had shown any true political ambition on the television beyond his existing role (not that he could attain the highest office, of course). Was this all he wanted? What would happen to the Japanese government once the flames of public outrage about the assassination calmed down and the facts finally came to light? And whose heads would roll when they did?

Somehow, she had a feeling it would not be the very same soldiers with their fingers on the triggers. They would be "taking matters into their own hands" in the killings and out-stepping official orders. She grimaced – she had been there herself with her role at SDCO, albeit far more minor. The front line took all the flak but never got the medals. If something went right, your superiors took the credit, and likewise blame was routinely tossed downwards to her and Jeff's crew.

"I have to hand it to the Japs though – they're bloody fast with things like this. If I forget myself and accidentally do the wrong gesture at the wrong time, my audience figures might just collapse completely. Still, I'm sure I'll always have one loyal viewer, right Ryder?"

Words continued to fail the boy, except now it was less out of shock and more out of the glare he now gave, looking as angered by this man now as the rest of them.

"Still, out of curiosity, how does it feel? To not have to die?"

"Painful."

"Oh, I'm sure it does. Watching all your friends run in to their deaths, and telling them endlessly you would be the one to take a bullet for them. Shame that this is two dozen bullets then, of course, unless you can spontaneously split yourself that many ways. But, nonetheless, I am actually rather outraged by how selfish you can be – using your friends lives as measures of mortality when you lack your own. How pathetic."

"I…I care for them so much…and…you could never imagine that."

Rayleigh snorted. "Oh, I'm sure that 'you're an unloving bastard' line works with every other villain under the sun, but here's the bad news. I love my folks, as much as they can be a pain in the arse with their high expectations. I've had a girlfriend before, who I loved in every sense of the word, and who I loved to lose. And I love a fluffy bunny as much as the next guy – except when they're a smart alec freak, I mean. Which brings me neatly onto what I definitely do not like – shallow, selfish, uncaring brats who are so consumed by their own messages and words that they do not realise the sheer calamity they possess in their childish weak hands with their partners, and their open encouragement of peace with the Digital World. This is an open war, and children have no place in wars – I am surprised the UN hasn't intervened. Your friend there's stunt certainly didn't help your reputation with them at least." He gestured across to DarkRenamon, Mari's mind running through the memories of that moment, in the midst of talking to the assembled representatives, when that very same vixen had appeared and had kidnapped Takato with an aim, as it turned out, to give him to Yggdrasil and thus have him be destroyed.

Things had changed so unbelievably much since then.

"Are you okay?" Mari heard whispered from below, looking down to see Realmon now right by Rei, looking into her pained eyes and face as electricity still glinted across her. She had to have crossed the grass at but a snail's pace to have managed it. They couldn't all do that, however – they would easily be seen.

Rei simply frowned. "We're all going to die," she said, looking fit to cry but holding it back.

Realmon used her tails (and a quick glimpse over her shoulder) to gather up the nearby main parts of the time device, presenting it to her Tamer. "Is there anything?"

The redhead looked at the device, taking a quick glimpse away to look Mari straight in the eyes before shaking her head. "I can't fix it, not now, not without any parts."

Was this it? Had they given in? Did they have any chance?

Ryder didn't give in though. He couldn't, Mari knew he wouldn't. He was fighting back their case and would defend them until the end…

"So, that's it, huh? You've got your plan, you've cornered us fair and square…I can accept that."

…right?

"I must say, you're remarkably accepting in your losses. Perhaps in another situation, we might have become friends."

"After all, what does this place even mean? It's not like you're real anyhow," he gestured towards the older man and shrugged.

"Excuse me?"

Ryder put his hands on his hips, nodding as he looked skywards, sighing. "Yep, this entire place is pretty impressive, but it doesn't overshadow the fact that I'm one heart attack away from it all vanishing."

"_What the hell is he talking about? Is this his big secret? Or what's been bugging him? Or is he making it up to fool him?"_

"So go on. Give the order."

Rayleigh was the one silenced this time, looking completely bewildered by the sudden turnabout in mood. Ryder was completely blasé about it all– he didn't seem to care what happened from now on. What was going on?

"Kill them already for Christ's sake."

There were murmurs of surprise rising throughout the group, with good cause too. Mari was horrified that the one person who seemed to have been granted a chance to pull them out of this mess was suddenly dismissing them as worthless.

Ryder continued unabated. "If it's what you want, I really can't stop you now so we may as well get this whole show over with now. Heck, I normally wake up from dreams when a huge surprise happens – maybe them all dying will free me from all this. And I promise I'll watch whatever bizarre encore you have planned for me in your twisted little corner of my imagination if I'm wrong."

Rayleigh stayed rather speechless. Was this what Ryder intended? As relieving as it seemed, it didn't help the situation at all.

"How's this for substituting my friend's lives for my own, huh?"

The older man smirked widely, cogs working in his mind. "Ah, I see. You're bluffing. Well-played."

"Oh no, you've got me," Ryder said monotonously, shrugging one shoulder casually. "Now hurry up – do you know how much parking will cost Ivy with the NHS how it is?"

"_Ivy? Huh? What the hell is he talking about? What does he mean by hospital? What does he know? What is he…?"_

"Fair enough…I'll call your bluff then…if that's okay with you?"

"Fine by me."

Rayleigh still looked rather uncertain as he put his hand to his ear, Ryder taking a deep breath and turning to wave at Mari, absolutely no remorse or saddening on his face. He looked rather scary actually, as he gave the worse possible sentiment in this situation ever.

"It's been great."

Mari furrowed her eyebrow, trying to speak but finding herself completely unable to think of anything at all to say as she took a step forward, just as Rayleigh made the critical order, shouted proudly yet oddly uncertainly into his earpiece.

"Fire!" he cried, sweeping a hand down.

The signal. This was it.

Yet, oddly, the widest smirk appeared on Ryder's face as he let loose his deep breath. It soon enough became clear why that was.

"Retcon."

It was but a whisper, but it was one which sent Rayleigh's eyes wide, his hands to the sides of his head, and his leg back in an attempt to step away.

All hell then broke out.

The air filled with the song of shots from so many guns, all seemingly simultaneously.

Mari felt time slow for her as she heard the screaming sound shooting past, the bullet skimming her by before making a bee-line instead for a certain man's leg.

"BOLLOCKS!" Rayleigh screamed, staggering back with leg in hand as the sprinkling of bullets began, a dozen trees groaning from what was now. "DAMN IT," he cried, hopping forward to where Ryder had now collapsed thanks to the exertion, kicking him sharply with his bleeding leg. "YOU BASTARD!" he berated, the pain quickly making him stop and instead begin to bark orders down his earpiece.

"GO!" cried Tai, a vast disorganised mob rushing forward and pausing only to pull EMP bullets from Digimon and gods. Mari, already near the centre of it all, raced up the steps to her boyfriend's side, bending down with a mix of sadness and anger burning in her brown eyes.

"Fortunate he's unconscious, because otherwise I'd be tearing him a new one for scaring me like that!" she muttered harshly to DarkRenamon and Donmon who quickly joined her, as she grabbed his shoulder, pulling him up with the kitsune's help.

Looking out, she saw the most amazing sight. Almost every single one of the Tamers, parents, children and randoms had all rushed forward (albeit rather painfully in a few cases, not least Henry who limped and hobbled along) as soon as they had overcome their shock, all heading straight towards the beckoning hideout, and all now looking too close for Rayleigh's comfort.

"STAY BACK!" he growled, in excruciating pain still by the sounds of it. He swept his machine gun out in front of him, stopping the group in their tracks a metre or two from Mari, frozen by the sight of the menacing contraption and the concept of what it could do to them and their loved ones.

Mari looked up, amazed by how close she was to the man. If she simply barged forward and knocked him over, she could…

There was a scream again, this time from Jeri's little brother, as he pointed sharply out at the other side of the group from him, the red dots now reappearing. "Mummy!" Grabbing his mother's leg, he cried into it, evidently believing that the woman was somehow omnipotent, rather like every child of a young age would think. "Stop them!" he pleaded.

"Perfect." Rayleigh's voice had given up on eloquence and was now purely malevolent, humoured greatly by the child's distress. "Honestly, do you really think I would have left your little shack unguarded either?"

Before anyone could even begin to answer, however, he placed his hand on his earpiece, smirking widely as he pronounced those magic words.

"Detonate in three."

"_Detonate?"_

Mari's eyes danced up to the hideout they had visited so much so many times, before it suddenly and horrifyingly hit home what was about to happen. She looked up over her shoulder to see some people already embarking on a mad rush back, including the man himself, Rayleigh, wearing the widest grin on his face. Gazing back as a beep sounded from within the hideout, she knew it was too late for her, before a blur of black fur grabbed her.

She had never been more thankful for having a Digimon partner than in that very moment, heat rushing up her back as both she and DarkRenamon crashed to the grass at the bottom of the hideout steps.

Swinging her head back, she saw the last remnants of a fireball rising in the sky, thick acrid smoke covering the whole area, including, not least, Ryder's unconscious form, so close to the flames that it couldn't possibly have survived.

Seven times.

"Textbook demolition. Workmanship at its finest," Rayleigh boasted, almost dancing back up the steps again to take it in, standing half-way up them before spinning back to face him. "I hope you'll agree."

"No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!" cried a childish voice, the only one which could actually speak over the sheer shock of everything. Mari's head span, seeing the white and purple form of Calumon crying as he quickly made a dash from the group. "I want out!"

"No, Calumon!" Jeri cried, but the red dot chased him, ready to fire as soon as it got a lock. It was a matter of seconds…

Cyberdramon growled harshly from nearby, standing tall on his legs in display as the red dots quickly repositioned themselves away from Calumon and onto him, flying across the group in the process. Ryo stared up in shock at his partner as a bullet hit the ultimate, sending sharp sparks of electricity up his form and making him crash to the ground with a loud groan and a louder growl of agony. "Cyberdramon!" his Tamer exclaimed.

"No, go after the little one, it's just a diversion!" their foe growled over his earpiece, but it was too late; Calumon was already well out of sight amongst the treetops. Rayleigh seethed again, shaking his head. "Never mind – he is little threat to me, and I will deal with him in due course," he declared, turning back to the masses. "So, are you impressed?" His hand swept back over the hideout, a few small fires still burning in the ripped-out carcass, once its base.

He paused, seeing the sheer hatred and bile now directed towards him for his unexpected actions.

"Why did you blow up the hideout?" Takato suddenly cried at him as he took a step forward angrily, shaking a fist yet his face conveying his desperation far more. He of all people, besides his partner, had to have had the closest connection to that place.

Rika, next to him, said nothing, but held a glare of pure venom in her violet orbs. Rey was still in her grandmother's arms – the girl was well and truly in battle mode right now, and they were fighting for so many lives, both figuratively and literally.

"Yeah, I spent all that time digging!" Guilmon shouted too, looking terribly upset at the plume of black smoke continuing to rise from what was once their central meeting place. A fake look of apology crossed the eyes of the Acting Prime Minister.

"Ah, my apologies, but I would say that I have done more in an instant than you spent years doing with your hole in the ground."

"But why did you do it?" cried out a new voice, that of Kari from the other side of the group. Her parents and brother reached out to stop her, but she took a step forward, waving a hand. "Why are you destroying our lives? How can you do this? Can't you see that it's wrong?"

"Now, as I'm sure others in your group would lecture to you about, right and wrong are merely matters of perspective. Like, for example, by destroying your little hideout, portal included, just now, doubtless you think I'm an evil bastard, but what if a kid wandered in there? It's a matter of time, after all. I am simply doing a civil service – I am a civil servant, after all."

Mari could tell he knew his argument didn't hold water. He was simply mocking them; only his voice and pose had become much darker, one foot still raised against the pain. He bit his lip.

"Now, as I'm sure you'll sympathise, I am in bloody agony right now, so, as much as I want this to continue, I think I shall simply just end it all."

Finally, he turned, looking her right in the eyes, smirking as he gestured over at her boyfriend. His corpse was now becoming clear through the wreckage where it lay amongst the crackling flames, Mari dearly hoping that this wouldn't be an exception to his rules.

"And don't worry; I'll make sure the freak is cared for."

Evidently, Rayleigh didn't expect it to be so.

"And so, once again," he began, flicking on his earpiece for the final time as he grandly swept an arm about in a huge gesture. "FIRE!"

A thunderous clap rang upon the air, and the whole world turned slow once again for Mari. She pushed her head down with her hands by its sides, every sound muffled like it was pounding into jelly as the bullets flew forth.

She heard screams of horror from all about her and pushed her head down further, waiting for her end.

"_Sorry Ryder," _she mused, knowing that their last meeting would always have been on bad terms. She knew he wouldn't be able to move on from it either – this was exactly the kind of thing that would bug him. That was so…him. The thought even amused her somewhat, the slightest chuckle leaving her lips.

She would die happy.

"…_uh…"_

Blink.

"_What?"_

It took her a moment to notice what exactly was amiss as she lifted her face and looked around, mouth falling more and more ajar the more she saw of what she had missed.

Everyone was intact, from the Digimon to the people to the bastard Rayleigh himself, far beyond humanity now. Indeed, that man was presently staring on in disbelief, his mouth even wider than hers as he gazed around at what was going on.

The bullets were…disintegrating.

Seething through his teeth at the trick they were pulling, he raised his machine gun, pointing it straight at the gathering of them. "JUST DIE!"

The rattling came without the pain, however, as the second round of bullets too simply faded into nothing at all in mid flight, all at the same position from them as well. It was like they were hitting a hidden wall, only upon doing so they ceased to be. What was going on?

"What are you doing?" Rayleigh demanded to know.

"That's a…that's a good question," Takeru stuttered, swinging around to face the rest of them. "Anyone?"

Mari couldn't even begin to think of what could cause such a thing, instead simply gawping at what was happening. The third round of sniper shots did exactly the same as the first two, ceasing to be before they even made contact with their opponent in a wave of red data. Was this something to do with Chaos?

"Chaos, is this you?" Takato echoed, eyes rising.

"**No but I wish it were. Look at how annoyed Rayleigh's gotten – priceless!"**

And sure enough, he had, the black-haired Acting Prime Minister now pounding his hands on the wall, one which had so kindly been put up by an unknown benefactor. Who was doing this? Ryder? Surely not – he really didn't have these sort of powers, and, besides, he was dead.

Right?

She was wrong on at least one count, as, sure enough, he was back on his feet over by the hideout, frozen somewhat in shock at the sight. Pausing only to grab her discarded gun, she scrambled up the steps towards him, coming to a stop alongside and preparing herself for the sight.

"_It was such a nice place too," _she mused, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. He still felt locked though, not making any movements of his own. "Ryder…it's okay…we're all alive…someone helped us…" She could still hear Rayleigh cursing whoever it was from behind them.

"I know…it's not that...that's worrying me."

He raised an arm, pointing squarely down into the centre of the ruins, fires burning around the most bizarre sight.

At first, Mari thought she was imagining things, and rubbed her eyes against the illusion she was getting, but, sure enough, she was not. The light pouring out from it was immense, but faded and rose again, pulsing randomly in time with its own clear instability.

It was a white orb, an orb with no sides or, indeed, sense to its existence, but there it was. Or, at least, there it was for now, as along with the light pulsating it additionally shook from side to side, having what she could only describe as a 'fit' as the yellow aura ruffled dramatically.

"It's like it's…failing…"

"Then what are we waiting for?" she asked, Ryder looking up to her, still loosely, before nodding and kicking some sense into his mind. Both span round, quickly greeted by their respective partners who were deeply thankful for their survival. Over them, they could see the rest of the group uneasily drawing up on them, bullets still flying past and making it clear that this wall only extended around them and the steps up to (and including) the hideout.

Someone wanted them to go this way. The thought, oddly, left Mari with some unease, looking over them all. Whoever they were, she just hoped they were friendly, and would make their identity known soon before the mystery drove them insane.

"The portal's here but it's not going to last long by the looks of it – hurry up and get through!"

"Wait…what?" Izzy exclaimed, rushing up the steps before the rest and looking down, eyes wide as dinner plates. "Prodigious, it survived!"

"And I thought I'd kissed goodbye to that word," Tentomon added, quickly buzzing afterwards. Izzy swung round, looking to Tai for some advice on the matter, or, rather, a blind judgement based on no facts.

"Do you think it's safe?" he asked the boy, himself staring down at the portal, mesmerised by the sight of it all. The final pair, Ryo and Cyberdramon, joined their gathering at the top of the stairs, bullets still hitting the barrier, yet even the EMP ones seemed to fizzle out before they could make contact.

It didn't stop Rayleigh shouting though.

"DON'T YOU DARE USE THAT PORTAL! IT WILL CUT YOU TO SHREDS, I TELL YOU!"

"If it involves disobeying him, I'm willing," Yolei said, gesturing over her shoulder as a series of nods swept over the group. Others were less certain, however.

"Tai, are you sure it's safe?" his mother called over to him, the former Gogglehead looking up and instantly having his expression of misplaced glee collapse into remembrance of what was truly at stake here.

"I…I think so. I don't really think we can look a gift horse in the mouth right now."

"Tai's right – we don't know how long this barrier is going to last," Joe reasoned, looking across them all. "As much as an insane-looking portal would normally put me off, I don't think we have a choice right now."

"If it's truly digital, it will either work or it won't," Janyuu added, all of Hypnos knowing the fickle nature of such things, even if overall they were remarkably resilient and resourceful in ensuring their survival.

"Right…all in favour of the big scary portal, say 'aye'!" Terriermon called out from atop his Tamer's head, Henry looking ready to stop him but visibly restraining himself back.

"Aye!" came a mixed cry, some more enthusiastic than others. It made no difference, of course – they had little other option right now. And yet, even though the decision was made, no-one at first stepped forward to be the guinea pig.

"_Being cut to shreds in front of your friends isn't a good way to go."_

Yet, in the end, it was one who had the most to lose who went first – Rika, striding forth in her typical show of defiance and cold courage, Renamon following promptly after. Her parents, Rei and Takato looked shocked, beginning to follow her down through the pile of rubble into the remains of the tunnel. She turned back to face her fiancé, no doubt in her words as he grasped her hand in worry.

"Takato, we have to move quickly."

"But, what if it really isn't safe?"

"Then take care of Rey for me," she added, glancing up the stairs to the baby still in her grandmother's arms. Turning back, she leapt forward, a burst of light making her vanish from sight, Renamon promptly following with but the slightest of nods to those she loved.

After that, it was only a matter of time before the torrent began. Takato was next in, rushing forward as he called her name, all-too-quickly swallowed by the unstable orb into nothing. Guilmon, Rei and Realmon followed, and then came their parents.

Mari stood on the edge at the stop of the stairs, watching almost everyone she knew either escape this world or act like lemmings. There was no going back now.

Regardless, she found herself frozen at the sight, a flash of light every few seconds and her ears almost completely having cut out the complaints from Rayleigh and the bullets still flying. Finally Ryder's hand grasped hers, his eyes brimming with certainty.

"It's our turn," he noted, before she took a quick glance over the remainder. Ryo, Cyberdramon, Natsuki, Jeri, Elecmon, Mimi and Palmon.

"_No, scratch that."_

Ryo, Cyberdramon, Jeri, Elecmon and Natsuki, all now thankfully EMP-less. She swung her head around, seeing the portal go crazy, although whether it was because of the sheer numbers it now absorbed or because of it coming to the end of its life (no doubt shortened by the explosion) she couldn't be sure.

Everything still seemed so surreal. What had happened to that nice day they had started out with, the kisses she and Ryder had shared? What had happened to sense, decency, and comfort? Were their old lives now gone for good?

"I'm sorry, I don't think I know your name," Jeri spoke out above Mari's thoughts, Natsuki like a deer caught in headlights, her blonde hair ruffled and frizzed from tension, sweat and the foetal position she had adopted not long before.

"Nat…Natsuki," she explained, sounding very nervous. Jeri smiled warmly, however, reaching out her hand.

"Everyone else seems safe so far…we have to trust it," she suggested. The blonde gazed over into her eyes, looking so tired and scared as she chewed it over, taking in the face of the kindest girl in their group by far.

"_If she can't convince her, nobody can," _Mari reasoned, hearing Ryder's voice again soon after.

"Should…should I help?"

Gazing back, Mari wanted to say yes. She wanted to say that the boy could fix this, that he could take back all the kidnapping (even if it wasn't intended as such), all the dragging through to a traumatising battle and, subsequently, a different world. But…she knew that he simply couldn't. This seemed like one relationship he wouldn't be able to patch up, as much as he would inevitably try with all his heart.

She shook her head, seeing the sadness in his eyes as she did so.

"_Sorry." _She stroked his hand where it was still in hers, turning back to face Natsuki, finally taking grasp of the brunette's gift.

"Thanks." She mumbled, before Jeri nodded, Elecmon gripping tightly onto her head as the pair made their way down the pile of rubble and into the portal, one last glimpse taken back at the real world before the girl who never wanted to come along vanished to a whole new world.

"You two go now – I'll go last," Ryo suddenly told them, Mari casting a curious gaze over him and his partner. Why was he doing this? Surely Ryder was the natural to go last, since, as much as Mari hated the idea, he would have had the least repercussions from it if it had closed before he reached it?

Ryder, however, seemed to have no qualms, instead nodding at the boy who nodded back, a frown on both their faces. "I see."

"_What did he just see? What is going on?"_

Mari had no time to find out, however, as Ryder instead looked down into her eyes, smiling warmly as she felt his hand clutch hers tightly and led her down towards the portal, still buzzing with instability. And yet, despite the tension, she felt a warm feeling in her cheeks and a strange smile on her face.

"Time to go."

If there was anyone out there who could protect her better, they would have needed to have had a seriously good party trick, for right now, with a boy who could literally take a bullet for her, and live, she felt safer than she ever had in her entire life.

Even if he had a habit of, rather ironically, scaring her to death half of the time.

"I love you," she mumbled, but it went unheard as both were quickly pulled to pieces and compressed into data…

**END OF PHASE ONE**

* * *

Heh, and that's the end of Phase One folks. Well, almost. I still have one short chapter for you, but it won't be a Phase One chapter. Or a Phase Two chapter either, for that matter. As always, you'll have to wait and see.

Oh, and ask if you need me to explain any of the British references (or, indeed, slang) in Ryder and Rayleigh's reminiscing. Ah well, that's what happens when you get together two people who could literally talk for Britain in the Olympics…

Until next time…

B.C.


	24. Transition: Falcomon

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. And thanks to CD95 for being the 200th reviewer.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

**Transition**

_Falcomon_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:01 JST**

Falcomon did not need his observation skills, heightened greatly by a deluge of practice in the past year, to tell that his Tamer was angry.

In fact, angry was perhaps an understatement. Livid would have been closer to being accurate, but even then you would have been very far off the mark indeed. They sat on lower steps of the hideout, or, rather, what were now simply a series of steps leading up to a small crater, Rayleigh spewing forth a great long series of muttered curses, seethed teeth and punches to the concrete. "The…little…bastards!"

He had been like this for a short while now, ever since their prey had escaped and his moment to shine and enjoy had been so abruptly ended. It was rather unusual to see Rayleigh pausing, particularly given both man and Digimon had been insanely busy for the past day or so in dealing with the aftermath of the assassination. Yet, right now, Rayleigh was distracted, both by his anger and by his attempts to fish a bullet out of his leg. The paramedics were well on their way, although they had called to say they were delayed by having to weave their way around the complex barrier of personnel he himself had put in place around the park. The soldiers, meanwhile, were long gone, dispatched back to their bases quickly by the Acting Prime Minister – there was no sense in keeping them there without an enemy to fight. A few soldiers and officers had been sent to scare parents into silence. Only an hour ago, that would've meant death, but now, the moment had passed – he couldn't risk such a thing now that his strategy needed rebuilding.

No doubt the man was depressed about all of that. Night after night recently, he would slam down his laptop in the early hours, a look like a tired madman plastered across his face as he would rave to his partner about everything and how swimmingly it was going.

Falcomon, of course, listened intently to everything he had said. Even without that, it was clear he had put so much thought, emotions and time into this plan, and had taken over a year out of his life in doing so. To him, however, the rewards, both in eliminating that permanent nag on his mind of the Tamers' existence and in the vast sums of money he would have earned in the arms trade with the demand for an anti-Digimon weapon in the light of the Tamers turning out to be traitors. There would never have been another such scheme again – Digimon as partners to humans would've been thrown aside as a concept by the governments of the world. If that hadn't worked, he had plenty of pictures of the body of Chiyo and the remainder of the Zweite incident the previous year when the Tamers became their own enemies to completely wreck their reputation for good.

The ninja-like bird couldn't help but feel, at least back in those early days, like his partner didn't think much of their own relationship either. He forever denounced the moronic nature of Digimon Tamers, and seemed to completely ignore the fact he was one himself. He had explained it away once by saying that he saw them as different – they were equals and friends, even if Falcomon seemed to end up doing the dirty work which Rayleigh naturally couldn't do. The owl felt a certain inclination to help his Tamer succeed too – not simply for the rewards but also to see the man happy. When they had first met, he seemed crushed by the workload of university, of his endless pains against the existence of his mortal opposites and by the high expectations of his parents. It was to be expected, of course, since they had put a lot into trying to make him succeed, but nonetheless it was part of Rayleigh's reasoning for escaping his home simply to get some breathing space.

Falcomon frowned. He had been listening to the whole of his Tamer's 'moment to shine' and watching from afar, making sure he wasn't seen by the snipers. The other Brit, Ryder Stevens, had made quite a point of showing what he knew about the man's past. It didn't seem much more than what one could simply abstract from a news article on the internet about where this newfound Chief Cabinet Secretary had appeared from (or complaining about his lack of age and hence, in many people's eyes, experience and ability at the job), yet Ryder had clearly reasoned from it the exact buttons he could push on the older man. Part of Falcomon knew he should've reviled the boy for it, but in light of being told so many times by his Tamer about the virtues of the right tactics, he couldn't deny that it was a fairly good plan, given the circumstances.

"Finally," Rayleigh snorted, giving up on the bullet as the paramedics, garbed in fluorescent jackets, drew up around the corner.

Falcomon was already gone. He had noticed them but seconds after the glint of that very same item of clothing sparkled through a nearby gap in the trees.

He went for the hideout at first, knowing it was an ideal place to perch and watch, but he quickly realised his error, pausing instead on the nearest unharmed tree to it. Glancing down into the crater, he quickly assessed the damage.

The structure had vanished completely, along with the smoke once pouring out from flames thanks to the mix of dust, explosives and in all likelihood all the food and rubbish that had been buried there over all these years by its usual inhabitant. Rubble lay about the sizeable dip in the ground, brown earth scoured by black soot and concrete dust whilst the previously-detached gates lay against a half-fallen tree nearby, a large dent in their centre. None of it had been built to survive that – it was a redundant storage cupboard for the park, not a bomb shelter.

Most importantly of all (and undoubtedly the thing now annoying his Tamer more than anything else right now), the portal was gone. It had broken down pretty soon after the swarm of humans and Digimon had gone through, before Rayleigh could even consider pursuing after. Evidently, it had survived the explosion far better than Rayleigh had anticipated.

Turning on the branch, keeping his hand on the trunk, Falcomon gazed down to his partner below. The pair of paramedics lifted his leg up as they opened a kit and pulled forth the right utensil for the job, tweezers-like in shape and looking far more effective than Rayleigh's fingers at their task. His Tamer gritted his teeth as the bullet was promptly yanked out along with a fair bit of blood, before groaning in agony as the pain became too much for him to keep silent.

His proudest moment had become his worst nightmare. He had failed.

But Falcomon knew this wouldn't be the end of it. Rayleigh was undoubtedly persistent, and wouldn't be swayed by such simple matters of a let-down like this. Falcomon could already tell he would be back on his feet in no time. He always was.

"Right. Now sir, if you would like to come down the hospital…" the paramedic gestured to the stretcher they had dragged with them. Rayleigh got to his feet, beginning to walk away, pads and towels covering his leg.

"Pah, I'm far too busy – you should know that."

"Sir, I strongly advise that you do this." This was the other paramedic, this one female, neither wavering in their suggestions as they each moved to stand at each end of the stretcher.

"I have important matters to attend to," Rayleigh stressed, shaking his head forcefully and turning away, beginning to walk. Falcomon leapt across unseen, landing on a branch so he could see the face of his Tamer, wrought with pain which he tried to suppress.

Falcomon felt like joining in, telling the man to see sense and seek further medical attention on his wounds. He couldn't bear to see Rayleigh in this much pain, yet the man's pride was stopping him from doing anything.

"If you don't go now, you'll have to lose that leg later," the first paramedic insisted, Rayleigh pausing and exhaling through his grated teeth as the words his home. He turned slowly, grimacing crossly.

"Fine then. But make it quick – I have other business demanding my attention."

Falcomon let loose a sigh of relief he barely knew he was holding.

* * *

**Shinjuku General Hospital, Shinjuku Ward**

**15:29 JST**

The breeze gently wafted through the window of one of the highest specified rooms in the hospital, private from any of the general public and their trivial sickness. A nurse busied herself with checking the chart of its sole occupant (who she could see at least), one Rayleigh Thompson, the Acting Prime Minister no less, something which seemed to take her by surprise. He had been admitted almost two hours ago, and for all that time Falcomon watched from his hiding place, certain that no-one would see him.

"How are you sir?"

"Fine," he simply replied, lying there with his arms crossed as he chewed a lip and stared up at the ceiling, not even bothering to take a glance at the nurse. Falcomon couldn't help but feel down at the sight; the confident, eloquent, enthusiastic Rayleigh had been replaced with this angry, egotistical and depressed shell, even if he did seem deep in thought about how to solve his current predicament.

"Well, your leg should be healed up by tomorrow."

"I'll be checking out within the hour."

"Are you sure sir? The doctor…"

"…has patched up my wounds and bandaged them – all she is waiting for is to see if I develop an infection," he span around, sitting up on the edge of the bed and finally looking the woman straight in the eyes. "But, being the Chief Cabinet Secretary and Acting Prime Minister, I'm sure it'll be splashed over the papers if I do my dear."

"Okay," Her eyes flashed with uncertainty, yet she did not go so far as her paramedic colleagues to ensure he didn't.

"If you'd be so kind as to fetch whatever document gets me out of here…"

"Certainly sir." She bowed, before quickly exiting, leaving Rayleigh alone with his partner, the same partner who was now free to step out from behind a curtain and flap across to land on the man's bed.

"Are you sure sir?"

Rayleigh chuckled, looking over his shoulder and completely dismissing the Digimon's concerns. "I am fine, Falcomon – never better."

"I see sir."

He raised his hand to his dark hair, running his hand back through it and closing his eyes as he massaged his forehead with his palm. "If I am to clear out this annoying ache of mine soon, I can't waste time in this damned place."

"But sir, what happens if you get ill?"

"Then I will take a day off sick and say I have 'man flu'. That would look impressive in the papers, I think not. The shorter I'm in here, the stronger I look and the less people ask questions, so it's in my utmost interests to leave as soon as possible."

"I see sir."

"You sound unsure, Falcomon?"

Falcomon quickly cursed himself – his subtlety in transportation didn't exactly transfer across to subtlety in conversation and emotions, and Rayleigh right now could read him like a book. "I am simply concerned for your wellbeing, sir."

Rayleigh's gaze dropped away as he chuckled, rolling his eyes heavenwards before shaking his head to the Digimon. "I am perfectly fine Falcomon, and we have discussed this so many times – you don't need to be anywhere near that polite with me."

"I am simply accustomed to it. And I am glad for your medical state sir."

"You sound like a robot," Rayleigh mused, sighing and shaking his head, once again having failed to sway how the owl Digimon spoke to something more, well, normal. "Which does remind me, however, of my little pet who I still need to meet with down at Tochō." Falcomon looked rather bewildered by it all. "The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building – they have nicknamed it Tochō and I rather like the name – ever so much better than Hypnos, which, of course, I still need to clean up. Plenty of researchers will start asking questions if I don't assign them to new roles."

"Am I to take it that you have a new plan then sir?"

"Of course, and it involves my pet. Quite simply, I may have a way of bringing them back to stand true justice here."

"I see. How do you plan to address the parental problem sir?"

"Ah, it will be simple enough – even the most argumentative of the remaining parents will be easy enough to scare into silence if I merely threaten what might happen to both their child and themselves if they don't co-operate."

"Are you sure that will scare them, sir?"

"Even if it doesn't, their reputation will be at rock bottom, and without their children they will be far too worried to act. I had considered simply locking them up, but the window has passed for that now – too many people would notice. We will simply cut off their telecommunications, keep them under level one surveillance, and, of course, threaten financial and penal sanctions should they continue to disobey."

"Agreed sir – the plan should ensure the press do not catch wind of your planning."

"Exactly. In fact, this plan isn't actually too much of a divergence from my present scheme in the most part – all I need to do is get Hypnos properly rigged up again. They certainly did me great favours in not doing too much damage to it during my takedown."

"But what will you do about the program sir? Was it not unbreakable?"

"Unbreakable, apart, of course, from the backdoor I installed just in case I needed to use that system again. Sonnet will not be our problem, I assure you."

"Then what will, sir?" Falcomon took a leap of faith in assuming that something else, on the other hand, was. He was pleased when it turned out to be justified.

Rayleigh scratched his chin, pondering as he stared off into space, looking rather uncertain. "I am concerned about the rushed nature of this planning – I quite simply haven't the time to do the level of detail from before."

A smirk appeared on his face, as he seemed to dismiss his worries.

"Then again, it was always playing-by-ear which won them so many battles in the past – perhaps I will have to think like my enemy in order to beat them?"

Rayleigh stood up from the bed, Falcomon looking rather bewildered at the sudden move and its unpredictability.

"Now come, the cogs must start moving or else nothing will ever be done."

"But sir, what about the nurse and the papers?"

"She can contact the Kantei – all my details are there. After all, what's a single nurse's inconvenience when the fate of the whole world is at stake?"

"The whole world, sir? How exactly?"

"Oh, you'll see. You'll see…"

* * *

**Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Shinjuku Ward**

**17:00 JST**

One would have thought it impossible to make a truly impressive entry through a set of sliding doors, but Rayleigh certainly tried, shoulders high, leg covered, and a new suit acquired from a quick trip back to his apartment, one to cover all the stains of the old one. It also covered his bandages, the long ends of his trousers swayed to and fro by his walking, full with intent.

Passing the receptionist, she looked up, standing from her seat and reaching out to him. "Sir, the man who you asked for arrived a few hours ago."

"And did you send him to the room?"

"Of course – he is presently down there. I'm afraid if you want him to stay longer, I will need full approval on a security pass."

"Ah, bureaucracy and terrorism, two permanent thorns in my side. I am afraid, however, that such would be impossible for reasons I am not at liberty to divulge. He needs the full luxury of the Hypnos floors until I say otherwise, and I hope you will be able to arrange that."

"I'll…try, sir."

"Excellent. Carry on. You're doing a good job."

"Thank you…sir." The receptionist seemed surprised at her compliment, gazing over the man with a curious expression at it all which she then forced down.

Falcomon watched from afar as, smirking. Rayleigh turned away, muttering "still got it" quietly and pulling on his suit tails as he strode towards the elevator bank. The owl shifted to and fro, keeping dibs on his Tamer as both reached the lift, the Digimon ducking inside once he saw no others present.

His Tamer glanced to him, looking amused by actions which Falcomon had long pressed into reflex and instinct, never caught by anyone. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled forth a key, pushing it into a slot and turning it, the lift doors closing promptly (and allowing the owl to move away from his hiding place just at the edge) and the elevator beginning to groan as it descended.

Rayleigh gazed in the mirrors as they went down. "Let's see now…no scars visible, new suit, no sign of the bandage underneath…uh-huh. Perfect."

The elevator stopped on the underground floor, and the doors slid aside, Rayleigh proudly walking out with a wide smirk on his face into a rather less appealing corridor than those on the floors above. Wiring and piping were strewn along the plaster-less walls, some falling away above doorways along the hallway, and there was a distinct smell of fans and air conditioning working to ensure this floor was both habitable and possible to experiment in.

His feet clattered against the hard-wearing floor as he strode down, glancing with disdain at the functional décor. "Utilitarian has nothing on this."

Finally, he paused at a pair of double doors, a destination the man had visited many times in the past, not least when this was his normal place of work, stuck in the cellars of Hypnos with all the other lab rats. A sign sat on it, calling itself **Storage Room 29**, but it was far from that. This place, this seemingly innocuous place, was actually simply one of Hypnos' many laboratories, kept well out of sight and mind of the majority of workers here, even if they were to stumble across this floor. Only those in Hypnos and the administrative staff for the building, along with the superiors in charge of monitoring Hypnos, knew of it.

The doors swung wide aside, Rayleigh making no bones about ensuring that his entrance was as grand as possible. The sound echoed in the grand space, not the largest laboratory but undoubtedly one of the most important right now to the Acting Prime Minister. The functional décor continued, unfortunately, the room having a second level on metal raised platforms over along one side, leading down from a set of stairs from another entrance above. Large computers whirred to themselves, linked up across the space by a network of wires and pipes, whilst in the centre were a great number of people, all in white lab coats apart from one middle-aged man, standing there proudly in a black suit and combed brown hair. The technicians gathered around him in anticipation, yet seemed less tense than one would have expected them to, perhaps thanks to the bizarrely calm atmosphere about this particular gentleman, or perhaps the cause of it.

Glancing down to Falcomon, Rayleigh chuckled. He gestured widely at the figure with a smirk on his face, a sound of satisfaction in his voice, and a joy that things were about to improve for his previously-devastated plan, and all for one simple reason:

"Meet the man who will bring down his own creation."

"So pleased to meet you."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Well, this was a nice way to bridge the gap between the two phases and deal with a lot of the things left unresolved last time, as well as delving into the unusual relationship between Rayleigh and his partner. Oh, and a good way to confuse you all as well at the end.

In other news, Dan (BlueIke) has coloured the Donmon image I mentioned before. Head to the Dimensions Wiki (click the homepage link on my profile) and select the 'Dimensions Art on DeviantART' link on the front page. It's in that collection, along with all the other various bits of artwork for the series.

Until next time…

B.C.


	25. Phase Two: Disappearances

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **As we enter a new phase, the format is going to change a bit. We'll still have it from limited perspectives, but now those perspectives will number several per chapter, hence the loss of character titles. It'll be closer to a 'normal' chapter but still with the limited viewpoint. Enjoy!

Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

**Phase Two**

_Disappearances_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Sakura Yuuna**

* * *

**Yuuna Residence, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:29 JST**

With a clunk, the door opened, the Tokyo day bursting into the flat and casting itself across the girl's blue hair. Her eyes gazing in surprise at the new figure creating a shadow at the door, his black hair sitting over his blue eyes like it had simply been dropped without regard to placement.

"Souta, Kohaku Souta, at your service."

"You have no idea how long he's been planning that cheese for." The voice came from a black-bodied and blue-coated demon with red and green gems for his eyes on the ground next to him, pulling a face of disbelief literally with his red nails. "Kuhako 'ere thinks he's some kind of spy."

"Yeah, well I feel like a spy after that stupidly long ride. You hid everywhere!"

"You wanted to be safe."

Sakura finally stopped simply staring at him in amazement that they hadn't gone and arrested him, or worse. The TV made it seem like anyone caught with a Digimon would simply vanish without a trace, and Dracmon was the kind of Digimon you were easily caught with.

Kohaku went to open his mouth again, but was interrupted as arms were thrown around him, the greenish-eyed girl burying her head in his shoulder as he quickly made a sound like he had been winded. She ignored it out of happiness, although let up on her grab slightly, moving her arms down to his waist.

"You're alive, you're alive," she cried, ignoring the rather more fake gagging noises quickly emanating from the boy's partner.

"Geez, it worked too – someone's stupid as hell."

"Still haven't lost the attitude…" Sakura could hear her Floramon mumble.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Alive and 3500 yen down no thanks to this thing," Kohaku said bitterly as he pulled back, gesturing down with his palm to the creature below. Dracmon shrugged.

"Meh, you're not getting any free rides any more – I told you that."

"Free rides? You stopped on a street corner, made me buy you food, and then doubled my fare!"

"Hey, you wouldn't let a horse go without eating, 'eh?"

Kohaku slammed a hand against his forehead, whilst Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, her hands still firmly on his sides as she gazed into his blue pupils. Glancing to his lips, she chewed it over, feeling a great unease at the concept of planting hers against them.

A sold out film.

An arrested chef.

A bowling fall in the foot and the subsequent trip to hospital.

A fire alarm in the mall.

A bioemergence in the park.

Soaked to the skin in the muddy countryside.

Power cut before a kiss at Kohaku's.

Those seven fated dates flashed across the girl's eyes in quick succession. She tried to push them away, leaning forward slightly, but her eye caught it, flowing down the side of his face.

That scar.

Their mistake.

Their bad luck.

It made her feel sick whenever she looked carefully at it – not because it was gory, or gross, or even just grotesque, but just…it brought back the memories, the memories of the Devidramon battle. She could now barely remember what he was like without it, even if the only changes to his actual personality had been somewhat swept up in their burgeoning (as it seemed to have stayed ever since then) relationship and his trials in keeping Dracmon in order.

She tried to press it down in her mind once again, but it was too late. Stuff like that – the scar, the memories, the dates – always put her off kissing, and Kohaku had already moved onto other things, seemingly not picking up the signals from her about her intentions. She sighed internally.

"_What the hell is wrong with us? With me? Everything seems so bland…what happened to the days when we were always at risk __and he nearly d…?"_

She shook her head slightly but briskly. She didn't want him to get injured again; it was bad enough the first time. But…the excitement was well and truly gone. Heck, at least the chance that she would have to save his sorry arse had made her eager that he would be alright after the government had begun its crack-down on Digimon Tamers, but his return had made everything seem so…boring.

The excitement was gone.

"What's wrong? You shook your head really randomly there."

"Nothing." _"Everything." _She could tell he cared about her, wasn't that enough? Or was it nothing compared to those seven dates that forever hung on her mind, those seven marks to their names declaring how much the universe was against their relationship, how little luck they had?

"…okay."

"_Even if I did kiss him, I'd probably do it wrong." _She knew she'd have more chances in the outside world, but she always felt that everyone was watching, scrutinising, condemning their imperfect relationship when their own ones were probably going swimmingly. In her eyes, any relationship could've worked better than this, even those where both partners spent the whole time endlessly complaining about their marriage. _"Lucky bastards...they don't realise what they have…I hate them…"_

She sighed mentally; was this the person she had become? Would Kohaku like her if she were this cynical? _"Should I cheer up?"_

"Are you _sure_ everything is alright Sakura?"

"Yes, it's fine."

"You've been staring at the open doorway for a minute now. I'm sort of afraid of closing it since something outside seems so interesting."

Blushing, Sakura quickly broke from her trance and averted her gaze, wandering towards the sofa in her family's living room. "Can you close it?"

"Uh…okay."

"Geez, she's really gone nuts this t…ow! Hey, what's the big idea?" Dracmon complained, Sakura seeing him trying to glare at her partner evilly yet looking rather unconvincing thanks to his bizarre eyes.

"Shut up."

"God, Digimon really do take on characteristics of their partners. Hey, Kohaku, don't close that door just yet – I've got to get away from ya before I become a crap-faced moron obsessed with bullshit!"

The door clunked to a close regardless of Dracmon's objections, the Digimon simply huffing and rushing across to take up the other seat on the sofa, sitting dead in the middle of the cushion.

"Move over," Kohaku ordered as he reached it, but the 'mon simply stuck out a tongue.

"I got here first – you sit on the floor. You ever heard of equal rights, slave driver?"

"Have you?"

"I saw a TV show on it."

"Yeah, and that makes you an expert."

"Yeah, so we agree – on the floor, Mr Black and Blue."

"Ugh, I thought you'd given up on that nickname."

"1000 yen and I'll stop."

"No way."

"Fine. Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue…"

"Fine, just take it!" Kohaku finally cracked, practically throwing the note at his partner who grabbed it whilst grinning from ear to ear.

He took a deep breath. "Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue…"

"I thought you'd stopped!"

"2000 yen to make me _really_ stop. Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue, Mr Black and Blue…"

"FINE!"

"Woo, 6500 yen!"

"Now can I please have the seat…?"

"That'll be…"

"Oh just have my freaking wallet already," Kohaku groaned, tossing the wallet over to the Digimon who quickly clawed it out of mid air with his sharp claws.

"Hmm, I don't know, this looks like bad stitching…how much refund can I get?"

Getting to his feet, the Tamer simply stared into his partner's eyes, the Digimon having a large scrunched up pile of notes in one hand and the wallet he was inspecting in the other. "Just get up."

"Hmm, and then there's this damage…"

"You caused that when you grabbed it!"

"Yeah, _sure_, like I believe _that_."

Kohaku put both palms out in a begging pose to his partner, the Digimon looking rather ridiculous with how little space he took up on the large cushion. "Please, please, please, just move out of the seat. Please."

"Okiedokie."

"What…?" Kohaku stared on, eyes wide and brows high in the air as Dracmon simply hopped aside and onto the floor, smiling as he sat down.

"You didn't say please before."

Sakura watched as her boyfriend slammed his hand into his forehead in dismay, falling into the seat and rolling his eyes heavenwards. "Why me…?" he mumbled, before she gently placed her hand on his, a light smile.

"It could be worse."

"Yeah, I could have kept the seat," Dracmon suggested.

"I think she meant he could be dead."

"Floramon, don't say it so literally," Sakura scolded.

"Yeah…god Kohaku, she's such a bad influence on me!"

"Dracmon, just…shut up."

"Geez, so impolite. Bad kids come from bad parents, don't you know that?"

"I'm not your flipping dad for Pete's sake!"

"Ugh, that makes you my mom. Gross…"

"_Any_way," Sakura elongated the sound, making it clear she intended to move on from the increasingly odd topics of conversation before a mental image came up that could never be forgotten even with all the psychiatrists in the world working together. "Did you get followed or anything?"

"Don't think so – I mean, if we did, we'd have turned up here like 'pack your bags quick'."

"Yeah, rather than all that spy crap. Honestly, he spent like, the whole trip thinking of that."

"Right, that's the last time I share any of my thoughts with you."

"Boo-hoo, they're boring anyway."

"Did you see anything?" Sakura asked, Kohaku going to reply before stopping up short, putting a finger to his mouth and gazing skywards.

"Yeah, we did."

"Like what?"

"We saw…the Tamers, and some people who I think were their parents. Oh, and some police, who were trying to arrest them."

"Yeah – some cop tried to play hero and ended up just acting stupid. Was like in that film, Cop Academy."

"Police Academy, and where do you even watch these things?" Kohaku asked his partner, Sakura feeling that once again they were off on a tangent.

"I increased your broadband and television packages to the maximum."

"Did they succeed?" she interrupted.

Kohaku shook his head. "No, the police guy was just trying to book them for speeding at first. They almost did get arrested and caught by his backup, but…"

"I swooped in and saved the day!" Sakura was quickly thankful she didn't live with Dracmon day-in, day-out. How Kohaku was as sane as he was she couldn't even begin to understand.

"By blowing things up."

"The means justified the ends."

Ignoring that Dracmon's statement was both incorrect and nonsensical, she continued in her interrogation, hearing a tone of nerves in her voice as she asked "So…are the authorities after…us?"

Kohaku shrugged, before shaking his head. "I doubt it – even with Sangloupmon's display, there was too much smoke and all from the explosion. Since we haven't been pursued yet, maybe they simply don't want us? Seems like we made the right choice not to associate with them."

"So we're safe?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow and hoping dearly such would be the case.

"Hmm…I don't know; this all seems really fishy. Why would they go after their parents but not after us? We have Digimon too, aren't we dangerous?"

"Maybe they just wanted the main group?"

"I don't know. I don't know a lot of things really."

"Yeah, I have noticed."

"I meant about _this_ Dracmon. Maybe we should check online, or on TV? Someone might know something."

"I've been watching TV all the time before you arrived – all that's changed is that there have been arrests, but they won't say who."

"Looks like we're going online then," Kohaku decided, standing up from his seat before pausing with wide eyes. He promptly then slapped himself squarely in the forehead once again.

"What's wrong?" Sakura's voice was packed with the deepest of concern.

"I just realised that I just gave up the seat which I paid like 7000 yen for."

Dracmon grinned from the floor where he continued to count his money, waving it up to him. "Correction: 8029 yen. And a button. And a really, really, really ugly passport photo. Can I burn it? It's scaring me Kuhako…!"

* * *

**Ai Terada**

* * *

**Terada Residence, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:29 JST**

The walls of the Terada residence couldn't exactly be described as soundproof.

Or childproof, for that matter, since, on this particular occasion, it was to play host to a pair of kids leaning up against one of those very same walls, their ears right to it trying to pick out every last word spoken on the other side.

"I think Mom's mad."

"Shush, quiet Mako, I can't hear!"

"Sorry."

Ai was about to shush her brother again, but the sound of the woman on the other side interrupted, continuing to waft very quietly through the corners of the closed door and far more loudly through one of her ears ear. She pressed it more closely to the wall, the air pushed out of it as it almost felt like it was 'sticking' to the surface.

And what was it they were trying to hear? An argument.

Yet, for once, it wasn't simply explained away as 'mom and dad fighting again'. Indeed, it was the exact opposite, they were arguing together, their voices heightened and outraged by the new voice behind the plasterboard, one which didn't seem to sympathise at all with their point of view as it spoke almost monotonously back.

"What's a consequence?"

"Maybe it's some kind of toy, like sequins?"

"Sequins aren't toys Mako, they're fashion." Not to their mother, of course, who simply complained when they were all over the floor and she had to clean them up. Mako simply shrugged, pushing his head so close against the wall that his neck was bending back.

"Why would they be talking about that?"

"I don't know but mom sounds really upset."

"What happened?"

There was a barking back from their father, even though the words were muffled. "…dare you upset my wife!"

The toneless voice replied uncaringly. "…greater importance of…"

"Ai."

"Mako, I'm trying to hear."

"Where's Impmon?"

"He's…"

Ai withdrew her ear from the wall, looking around their playroom and quickly being left stupefied. "I thought he'd be home by now. He's always off around the city. I wish he's take us with him some times," Mako sighed.

"…Impmon's harmless!" shouted their father loudly, coming around the edges of the door with no need at all for 'spying' as the children had been doing.

"Why are they talking about Impmon?"

The pair of seven year-olds still weren't sure at all what was going on. A few minutes ago, their father had ushered them into the room and ordered them not to leave until they were told to, making them feel like they were still little babies. But, of course, the sight of a lot of people in police clothes like those in their toy box coming in as they were pushed out inevitably drew them to snooping. Unfortunately, they still knew very little about what was going on, their limited vocabulary failing them at the worst of times.

"Maybe he got hurt…" Ai mused sadly.

"Impmon's big and brave, he can take care of himself," Mako said, puffing up his chest in an attempt to imitate how he saw the imp.

"Yeah, he doesn't need our help," Ai added, a smile on her face quickly subsiding as her own words took on a new meaning. In spite of their digivice and emotional support, along with a toy gun, they had never _actually_ done much to assist their purple friend in battle. Of course, that was thanks to the Digimon himself insisting that they stayed away until they were older, but it felt rather odd for the world of Digital battles they heard about on the news to still be as far away as ever. "Hmm…" was her saddened addition.

"What's wrong?"

"Well…if something is going on and Impmon got hurt, I want to be out there to make sure he gets better!"

"Yeah!" A glint of optimism was still in Mako's eyes as he wandered across to the purple digivice unceremoniously laid out on the table. "We're not really little kids anymore!" picking it up, he held it high and mocked sweeping a card through it. "We'd yell 'Digi-Modify' and save the day!"

"Yeah!" Ai secretly hoped that she would be the one to do so. They had a lot of arguments in store in the future over who held the D-Arc when they went into proper battles like the bigger Tamers did.

"Hey, maybe we can find Impmon through this," Mako wondered, looking straight at the screen and pushing random buttons as it cycled through a number of pages. Ai stared over, feeling increasingly impatient and annoyed she wasn't getting a chance to use the device.

"Let me try."

"No, I'm doing it."

"But you haven't found anything!"

"There are just all these speckles."

"Huh? Can I see?"

Mako, oddly, despite his earlier issues with giving her the device, now had no qualms as he passed it into her waiting hands. At first she was ready to gloat about how she now had the D-Arc, but the sight of the screen left her confused.

"What is it?"

Sure enough, it was speckled all over, like when they used to put on the television on the wrong channel, only not so much and not covering the whole screen. The 'cool picture', as dubbed by them, failed t pop up above the device. "I don't know."

"Is it broken?"

"I don't know."

Ai turned it over, peering at the white back but receiving no answers from it. Looking back to the screen, she found no change, Mako scratching his head in confusion.

"I didn't do anything to it…did I?"

It wouldn't have been the first time. The peanut butter incident had nearly given their mother a heart attack at the sight of them putting something electronic in the sink to wash it all off, but the D-Arc itself didn't mind at all. This thing seemed to stand up to absolutely anything.

The thought of their mother made Ai glance up to the door, it now swinging open to reveal their mother, her reddened face instantly diverting the children's thoughts.

"Mom, are you okay?" she asked, the woman wiping a hand across her eye and nodding. Albeit being fairly typical in height for a normal woman, she towered over them, her glasses absent for once and revealing her tear-filled eyes below her neatly short cut brunette hair.

"Yes." Her words were stated, not said, as she quickly moved on and left Ai no time for questions. "I have to talk to you two about Impmon…"

* * *

**Dracmon**

* * *

**Yuuna Residence, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:37 JST**

"Wow, your web browser is really different to Kuhako's."

"Really? How so?" Floramon asked, Dracmon making a wide gesture with his hands as an oddly innocent expression filled his visage.

"His is packed with links to p…"

Dracmon squirmed quickly as his air was cut off, his mind beginning to wonder if he even needed it in the first place. He tried to knock the hand away from his mouth by scratching it, all the while glaring up at the owner.

"Never mind!" Kohaku laughed nervously, as Sakura raised an eyebrow, spinning back on her chair to face the screen whilst muttering that she really didn't care to know. Floramon shot him and his partner a dirty glare, the black haired boy simply looking guilty.

"Finally!" Dracmon eventually cheered, Kohaku exclaiming his pain in the form of one simple curse.

"Shit!"

"That's what you get for blocking my airways."

"Bloody hell; don't bite the hand that feeds you!"

"Hey, I have tons of money now – I don't need you to buy food for me anymore!" After all, what Dracmon knew from the beginning of this relationship was that he was going to be in control. He'd seen Sakura and Floramon's little back and forth, and didn't like it one bit. How she could allow herself to be treated like that completely beggared belief for the demon. _"After all, nothing like being a free 'mon."_

"Yeah, tell me that when I come home from school next to find the fridge empty and you begging me to go down the store."

"I can buy that damn store now!"

"With 8029 yen? Someone's delusional."

"Uh…isn't that a lot?"

"To have robbed off you by your own partner: yes. To buy a store with: no."

"Bloody humans, I'll never understand ya." Why wasn't food free anyhow? Didn't they _need_ it? What sort of sick twisted system made one work and pass around bits of paper and metal just to survive?

"It's loaded."

"Huh…what has?" Dracmon was amazed that his Tamer seemed so surprised by Sakura suddenly talking. He made a note not to greet him unexpectedly, lest he have a heart attack.

"_No, wait, scratch that – I want to do that now."_

"The Digital Watch page about what's going on. While you two were bickering, Sakura was actually doing work."

"Meh, she's just clicking a mouse – I could do that."

"Not without scratching it," Kohaku snidely commented. "Still, I have to say, that took a lot longer than I expected."

"I know – the whole website is crawling along. Tons of people must be accessing it."

Dracmon peered over the girl's blue hair from a new position on Kohaku's shoulder, ignoring his cries of complaint when he did so. The screen was rather bare, the website little more than text. Was it always like this? Or maybe it was just being _really_ slow to load? Maybe this was on purpose? Having followed plenty of internet trends in his bored hours running up huge bills on bandwidth at Kohaku's apartment, he knew just how much a Digg mention, or a meme, or anything like that, could overwhelm a website.

The text seemed to stretch on and on though, the bar at the side of the browser barely a pixel high. Sakura started out gradually scrolling down, but had to pick up her pace to even have a hope of getting to the bottom.

Comment after comment was filled with the same view: what was going on? Some said that it was a government conspiracy; others said that they had actually done it and that they had warned them all from the start that something like this could happen. But, as the page scrolled, reports began to come in.

Battles outside apartment buildings. A police confrontation and two frozen cars before an explosion, one which Dracmon instantly cottoned on to (and felt some pride for bringing about). The park being closed off to all visitors, and plenty of soldiers and police entering.

As little as he cared for the Tamers, indeed, as little as he cared for any human or Digimon at all besides himself, he couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity about this. Maybe even apprehension.

"_Meh, I've got nothing to be afraid of – I'm not stupid enough to sit back and let them hurt my friends. I'll run first."_

"This is…bad," Sakura summarised, basically yet accurately. She looked up to Kohaku, Dracmon rolling his eyes. "What do we do?"

"_Like he seriously knows a thing. Geez, get a backbone will ya!"_

"I…don't know."

"_See."_

"Is there any mention of you guys?" Floramon's question made Sakura's brow furrow sharply.

"There might be…but I'm not looking through all that!"

"Ugh, illiterates," Dracmon moaned, before gesturing out sharply as Floramon went to scold him. "Press Control and F."

"Uh…okay," Sakura mumbled back, reaching out as the plant Digimon paused. He stuck his tongue out at her, hoping it would teach her for expecting him to never give any good advice. This was something he was good at.

One of many things, of course.

**Find: Blue hair**

The page flicked up, Sakura looking surprised before she read the references more closely, her companions doing the same. Dracmon scowled – there could be tons of people with blue hair involved.

**Find: Scar**

Again, nothing.

**Find: Digimon**

"Oh come on, there'll be billions!" Dracmon exclaimed.

**Find: Floramon**

No results.

**Find: Dracmon**

No results.

"Can we go any deeper?" Sakura asked Kohaku, the boy putting his hand on his chin.

"_Yeah, like _that_ helps you think."_

"I'm not sure…I can't think of anything else unique. This isn't really going to tell us if the government know about our Digimon either."

"Yeah, but I've looked at this site a few times – these guys are everywhere, even if their reports are vague."

"Right now, they are probably paying more attention than ever," Floramon added to the two Tamers' conversation. Kohaku nodded, gesturing to the page again.

"Is that all?"

"I'm not sure – I'll check the home page again," Sakura replied, the cursor flicking across the screen and clicking once again.

**404 – Error. Page not found.**

"Son of a bitch," Dracmon cursed. "I hate that page!"

"Try reloading it," Kohaku suggested more helpfully.

"No, still nothing," Sakura grimaced as the page simply went blank for a second before returning to the same state.

"Click 'Back'?"

No avail.

"Ugh…looks like the sites down," Sakura sighed, running a hand back through her hair and messing it up somewhat. Even as Floramon spoke, she went to fix it, continuing Dracmon's belief that human girls were far too obsessed with such things. Who were they trying to impress anyhow?

"Was it overwhelmed?" the plant-like Digimon asked.

"Maybe."

"Maybe the government took it down."

Kohaku looked up to Dracmon on his head, an eyebrow raised as he was quickly followed by his girlfriend and her partner in the action. The demon knew that the black-haired boy wanted to scold him, and so also knew that he had thrown him somewhat with yet another good idea.

"_And they all thought I was stupid…"_

* * *

**Hideki Ryota**

* * *

**Tachikawa Residence, Minato Ward**

**13:39 JST**

Trigger, known to all in the ignorant outside world simply by his real name Hideki Ryota (or, in some cases, one of a number of aliases), couldn't help but grimace beneath his balaclava. The indignity of standing in this very apartment was grating heavily on his nerves as every second passed. Why was he assigned to this task? Why would the government train up such an elite, intelligent, charismatic and athletic soldier as himself, and then send him in to talk to the morons on the bottom line?

"Where is our daughter?!" This cry came from one Satoe Tachikawa, a woman who in any other circumstance would probably have looked fairly attractive and pretty but right now just looked pathetic to the soldier's eyes, coursed brow pulling down on her red hair.

"_As if I would give it away so easily." _An unseen smirk crossed his face, it still evident in his voice as he spoke. "That information is classified."

"Bullshit! Where is she?" shouted her husband, Keisuke Tachikawa, a fairly well-built and broad shouldered black-haired man who to anyone else would have seemed like one to avoid antagonising, but to Trigger simply prompted imagination about how easily he would fall to a well-placed punch.

"_Or a bullet."_

"Like my colleague has said, we are unable to divulge that information," echoed Hideki's colleague, although one would've had a hard time telling them apart. Both wore the same uniform, the same face-covering balaclava, and their voices sounded fairly similar, thanks to both being in the army for so long where the only voice levels were whispering and bellowing. "We have orders to ensure you comply with our instructions."

"Yeah, I heard them – what happens if we don't?"

"Then we will make you vanish too," Trigger said coldly as he raised his gun slightly to intimidate them, ignoring the glare that he knew from experience the other soldier would be giving him. This man was one Takehiko Yuu, better known as Slowarse, someone who Trigger couldn't help but feel was rather too 'nice' for the Special Forces Group, the SFGp. This wasn't a place for softies. Either way, he wouldn't disagree with his comrade – after all, they had to present a 'united front'.

Shock flashed across their faces, before Takehiko gave them the slightly more official line.

"Your telephone calls from now on will be closely monitored, and you have been cut off from the internet. You will be observed regularly and checked on at least weekly."

"This is a free society, we have rights!" the husband insisted. Trigger smirked.

"Not in this situation – military law has a habit of overriding all else."

"We should never have left New York," his wife fretted. "We were protected there."

"Ah yes. Well…'except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger.' But, you see, I would count this as a time of public danger…your daughter is a very naughty girl I'm afraid, and her colleagues very much present a public danger. Ah, don't you just adore get-out clauses?" _"Finally, my intellect comes in useful." _Taking orders was for idiots.

"Regardless…" Slowarse pressed on, his overriding voice conveying how he was completely unimpressed by his colleague's way of putting the news across. Yet again, Hideki knew for sure that his words weren't taken well by his colleague. "If you fail to comply, further sanctions, both financial and penal, will be applied. Regardless, you are not allowed to leave this country or make any moves to contact officialdom; your contact will be via a single phone number which is a privilege which may be withdrawn. Do you understand?"

"No…no…this is ridiculous, you can't treat us like this!" Keisuke objected.

"Do I need to quote the loopholes in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? I would like to test my memory," Trigger taunted, before gesturing to the modern television in the living room of the fairly lavishly-furnished apartment, money clearly no issue for this couple and their daughter. "Or would you rather see how low the stakes are for you now? In fact, forget the option – SA, turn on the television."

His colleague's covered head turned to him, before he wandered across to the remote somewhat reluctantly. The television flicked on, quickly bringing up the sight of a news reporter, a pile of papers in his hand.

"**The Japanese government have published a new statement regarding the Tamers, two of whom have been named as Chief Suspects in the murder of the Prime Minister Inukai Keishiro."**

* * *

**DC**

* * *

**13:40 JST**

"**A number of arrests have been made around Tokyo, but the Chief Cabinet Secretary is reassuring residents in the vicinity that there is everything is in order. The majority of suspects are now in custody pending trial."**

"Mommy…what is custard tea? It doesn't sound good."

"Quiet DC."

The black-haired and black-clothed child peered to either side, grimacing at how both of his parents seemed more interested in the television in front of them than in answering his questions. His father looked rather pleased with whatever it was saying, however.

"Finally, the bastards making this city hell are pulled in!"

"Don't swear in front of DC!"

Why did they even call him that? They knew his real name, they gave him it, but his father also gave him his nickname, and he never really understood why they had chosen it. All his friends at elementary school used it – heck, he began to think that a fair few of them simply didn't know any better.

"He'll hear them someday, and besides, he doesn't know what they mean if you don't draw attention to them."

"You know that's not true…the Atsuko child down the round constantly spouts language like that, and his father curses constantly – I don't want our son being the same."

"Mom…"

"Not now dear."

Why didn't anyone notice him? Why were they always talking _about_ the seven year old, but never _to_ him? Even the television continued to bark away on its own.

"**The international community has expressed a mix of surprise and condolence at the news. The USA has announced that it will be reviewing its policy on Digimon and Tamers…"**

* * *

**Lindsey Campbell**

* * *

**Streets of Manhattan, New York**

**00:42 EDT**

For Daisy, one of the famous Monster Makers, at least amongst the security and technology industries, late nights were not uncommon, and neither was waking up late to catch a taxi into work from wherever she happened to be based in that week. Some days she found herself in the friendly office of The Digital Technology Company in Japan, whilst others she was in the not-so-friendly Tokyo Metropolitan Building in that same country. Even there it was only the rather clinical (and hush-hush) nature of the Hypnos department that prevented it from having the same warm effect on her, and there were plenty of familiar faces there she was always happy to see, not least the Tamers themselves.

She had visited plenty of other countries in her time, however, setting up all manner of systems to combat the Digimon threat, yet always encountered the same issue: trying to ensure that the local governments understood that what they were dealing with were living sentient creatures and not the violent beasts they almost universally had expected. Unfortunately, the extent of success was usually rather less than she hoped, and the newly-formed groups were inevitably left to find out on their own what Digimon really were. Usually after a fair few of the unusual creatures were destroyed without a second's thought.

The second most developed country in terms of digital deterrents was the USA, her birth country. It held a lot of memories too for all of the Monster Makers, not least because it was where they had first been involved in the AI project over at Palo Alto at Stanford University in California, their spiritual home in the fifty states and the place where the other main office of The Digital Technology Company found itself.

On the other coast, the SDCO, the Special Digital Control Organisation, happened to be one of the few SIGINT users whose defences against Digimon had been set up _before_ the Monster Makers had truly gone public, since then they had become an unofficial installation team for the systems. As a result, the protocol somewhat differed from that at Hypnos, and despite a high level of cooperation between the two they had not always seen eye to eye. Ironically, in turn, each had to some extent adopted the other's methodology, SDCO looking into employing Tamers and Hypnos adding EMP bullets to its arsenal, even though many of the prominent staff of each had objected to the confidential proposal. Daisy spent plenty of time working with SDCO, all of the Monster Makers effectively freelancers, and had built up a reputation, like all of them, for being one of the most highly skilled programmers in the whole organisation, an organisation with a great deal more resources allocated to it than the rather more refined Hypnos.

Usually, those 'resources' had a habit of going wrong, hence she was used to late night views of New York with bags weighing heavily under her eyes and her suit not sitting right on her bed-ready skin. Unusually (and unfortunately), this was not one of those times, and this trip was entirely of her own accord.

Thankfully, the downtown street gave her no need to look carefully at the road to check the driver knew of the mythical 'brake pedal'. Street lamps, adverts and security lights outside clubs made everything painfully clear, as the car paused for a drunk or two looking rather unaware of what was going on as they staggered out across in front of them. The taxi driver blared the horn and waved a fist.

Daisy sighed. They continued on down the road, gazing up at the buildings on either side as they delved deeper into Manhattan. Lights rose high in the sky, but the novelty was long old for the woman, much time having passed since the days when as a child she had visited the city for the first time and gawped in wonder at the sight. Every building in the city competed to touch heaven itself, it seemed, defining the term 'skyscraper' as they climbed higher and higher with every new incarnation.

Turning the corner, they found a building that was no exception, even if it wasn't exactly a building yet.

Even in the dark (albeit with all the construction lights it was barely so), she could easily make out the twirling form soaring high into the sky, surrounded by scaffolding like so many buildings in the area. They all ranged in height massively, a race to top out for all of the new buildings on the World Trade Center site. The highest one already looked impressive enough by daylight as glass was in place on many of the lower floors, the skeleton of the building climbing out of it, albeit its pace somewhat slowed on occasions thanks to numerous delays.

This was the Freedom Tower, or, at least, that was how it was unofficially known – its rather romantic moniker had been abandoned in place of a rather more clinical 1 World Trade Center. Nonetheless, it made no difference to how it appeared.

Nonetheless, that was not the reason why she was here. The taxi passed around the edge of the site, reaching a complete building, a more conventional straight-up glass block, albeit with a narrow base. This was 7 World Trade Center, officially the first to be finish rebuilding in 2006 thanks to being separate from the main site.

Unofficially, of course, such was not the case.

Drawing up outside the front, the driver peered back at her, an unimpressed look on his face. "Lemme guess…tab it to SDCO?"

"Go ahead," she said tiredly; just thankful she didn't have to pay herself. Officially, she wasn't meant to get free travel from the organisation since she didn't always work there, but it seemed the taxi drivers were now used to simply assuming that anyone coming to this building, particularly at this hour, was heading for SDCO. There was little reason otherwise to come.

The mild night was topped by a wind which brushed past her ankles, making her shiver somewhat and pull her rather thin jacket closer as she wandered over to the main entrance. This couldn't be May, could it?

Alongside the doors was a small panel, one which left security and IDs completely irrelevant as she looked into it, putting her eye close whilst placing her index finger on a piece of glass below, red light glowing out from both as it scanned across. A whir and a clatter left a small white pass below, before writing burst up on the screen.

**ID: Lindsay Campbell. Guests?**

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the wind," she mumbled as she pressed the zero key on the pad, the revolving door clunking as it unlocked.

**Have a nice day.**

"Ugh."

* * *

Glancing about as she wandered along a hallway several dozen floors up, she couldn't help but feel there was absolutely no difference right now to every day here at the office. And every night, for that matter. There always seemed to be the exact same rather large number of staff doing the exact same amount of work. Usually very little, that was. The building had offices, a gym, several cafeterias, relaxation spots, some of the fastest internet around and beanbags.

It couldn't be more different to Hypnos. Well, apart from one respect.

"Want a coffee?"

* * *

Opposite her, hunched over the table of the highest and probably most exclusive eatery in the building with a mug between his hands, was an all-too familiar man. An odd smile contrasted greatly with the worry in his brow and cheeks, a neatly cut flow of brown hair topping his agreeable visage. He spoke in solid tones yet his voice was warm and pleasant, rather like the elusive 'nice boss'.

In other words, completely different to Yamaki.

"I know I should've called before coming up here."

"Never mind that. Did you get any trouble on the way up?"

"No…oddly…I thought everyone here would be at panic stations with everything that's going on."

"Half of them are probably asleep on the job. As for the rest…" the man began, taking a bite from a sandwich which looked rather out of place against the blackness of the windows. "…meditation probably. Just one of our many random clubs."

"This place feels like a university."

"Well, university did make the Digimon in the first place – I figured that was the way to beat them."

"I don't think cannabis and hazing are going to help."

The man chuckled, nodding before raising his sandwich again. He paused. "Sorry, I'm being a pig. I was meant to go home hours ago, but with all this going on doesn't seem like that's an option anymore."

"Never mind."

Finishing the remainder, he spoke as he wiped the crumbs. "So, heard anything from your colleagues?"

"No, the line at their office is dead, and everything else I've tried failed."

"Even with Palo?"

"Babel and Curly are on their way over."

"Remind me to reimburse their flights."

"And my taxi fare."

"I'll post them off to Mr Thompson." He chuckled shortly, before chewing his lip. "Have you heard anything from anything else?"

Lindsey frowned, shaking her head as she could tell what his true concern was. "Nothing from her, no."

The man sighed, frowning even more deeply than she had as he ran a hand through his hair contemplatively. A short grunt was let loose, as he seemed unconvinced by his own words to Daisy's ears. "I'm sure she can handle it herself. I shouldn't worry so much."

"Yes. I'm not so worried about Mari not being able to handle it; I'm more worried about what else might happen with all this going on."

"I heard my bosses have already announced that they're going to rethink, even when we were making so much progress. We had kids lined up, we had ideas and plans…we were even beginning to work out where we'd get the right Digimon from – we were going to move past guns and pain. But now, it's got to the point where the Brits are telling us that everyone's asking them about Ryder, where everyone wants to know just about everything about Mari, and all I can do is pretend that the data will take ages to get out and delay them a bit until the dust clears." The man peered down at the empty packet on the table, crumbs scattered about.

This was such an unusual side to see of such a normally optimistic and inspiring man, and Lindsey couldn't help but feel she didn't like it.

"Right now, I think we just have to take it hour by hour."

Jeff Newman looked up, letting loose a chuckle as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Isn't that always the case in this job?"

* * *

**Kohaku Souta**

* * *

**Yuuna Residence, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:50 JST**

"Maybe the government took it down."

Had Dracmon really just made that suggestion? Kohaku swung round to stare at him in surprise, something he said finally making a lot of sense and being a lot more than just a computer tip. Thinking about it, it did seem quite inane that this website was still functioning, what with all the speculation it had that it was a cover-up. Even if it wasn't true, that sort of thing could've wreaked havoc for the government, so no doubt they had quite some incentive to fake a bit of downtime.

He wasn't about to say to his partner that it was a good idea, of course. He knew he'd never hear the end of _that_.

"I suppose so. In which case, we really don't have an option anymore," he mused, looking out to see Sakura's and Floramon's gazes now fixed on his.

"What do you mean Kohaku?" Sakura's voice had a rather apprehensive tone to it as she pulled on her hair nervously. She quickly moved to reset it, something Kohaku felt was quite cute, but decided against mentioning given the rather pressing circumstances. "What option?"

"If we want to know if we're safe from now on, we're just going to have to risk it now and go searching for what really happened," he surmised, the girl not at all looking pleased by the idea as her eyebrows flew up high.

Was he being an idiot? Maybe he was being crazy?

"What?! That's crazy."

Apparently so. And yet, he couldn't help but feel they weren't being told something here, and that, if they waited for anything official to come through (if ever), they could end up losing their partners, or worse. _"Dracmon's a pain, but he's the most interesting thing that's ever happened to me."_

Reassured of his own scheme, he put his hand on her shoulder, grimacing a lot in the hopes she'd realise the gravitas of the situation through but a frown. "If they won't tell us, we don't have much option. I mean, we want to know what's going on before they start knocking down our doors too."

"Yeah, but…what if we walk right into a trap?"

"Then for an extra 1000 yen I can Black Mind you out of there," Dracmon suggested unhelpfully, Kohaku resisting the urge to cram his hand into his forehead in disbelief. What had happened to the serious, logical side? Or was the government thing simply an extremely bland, bad and humourless joke?

"I'm not paying that, but that would be our safety line if anything were to happen."

"No pay, no save."

This time, lacking any money or even a wallet, Kohaku could only hope that if he just avoided mentioning anything until the problem came up, Dracmon could forget his annoying prices. "I'm not saying you have to come, Sakura – I don't want to risk you if you don't want to, particularly since your parents would kill me." Worst boyfriend ever, for sure. "Where are they, anyhow?"

"My dad's at work and my mom's gone grocery shopping."

"Hmm….I mean, I could send you a message if we _do_ get any real danger so you can get out of…"

He was forced to pause as he felt her hands grip his, her greenish eyes gazing up into his bluish ones steadily.

"I want to come. We've done everything together, and I'm not about to stop that now."

A slim smile graced both of their lips. Sakura leant forward slightly, Kohaku's mind beginning to wander to more tactical measures such as where they could go, what they could do, who might be after them, how they could handle the police, what on earth their parents would say if they were arrested…

"God you're dumb."

"I don't think they'd say the…"

"Just kiss her already and get this crap fest over with. Do you have a litter-box or something I can throw up in?"

Kohaku looked out again, blinking in surprise at Dracmon's unexpected comments. What had happened? Had he missed something? An eyebrow rose, before it hit him like a truck what the demon meant.

Sakura twitched nervously, scratching the back of her head and averting her eyes, now a million miles from his.

"_I should really stop letting my mind wander like that…" _Kohaku mused, both humans sighing as they caught each other's gaze again, the happiness of the moment now faded and leaving only the bland reality in its place. _"Great, so this time it's my fault."_

He put out a hand, the girl nodding as he helped her to her feet with a frown. Glancing briefly to the side, he saw Dracmon staring on incredulously. Was he still expecting them to kiss or something? With a mutter of "I'll never understand humans…" he sank away, wandering towards the door. "Come on, let's go already!"

"Uh, I need to get changed still."

Kohaku looked amusingly at Dracmon, eyes widened in sheer annoyance and irritation at this newfound development, one obviously not yet in his understanding of human culture. "Oh come on!"

He glanced to the girl, still in her pale pink pyjama top and bottoms, gracing her form loosely below her neatened hair. She was clearly having a fairly lazy day on her break from school, leaving him with a sight which once upon a time had left him somewhat agitated but nowadays barely registered in his consciousness. The slightest of smiles crept onto his face, for so many reasons, from the sight itself to the pleasure now in his mind at Dracmon's irritation. There was just something so fun about seeing someone so annoying be annoyed…

"_8029 yen is a small price to pay."_

"Okay, now, you owe me another 1500 for the ride to wherever you're about to go!" the demon ranted, pointing a sharp nail at Sakura. "And if you don't hurry up and get out of whatever the heck you're wearing, I'm doubling it!"

Kohaku's expression fell into one of indignity and embarrassment as he realised the predicament he was in, a sheepish laugh in his voice and a scratch to the back of his head as he turned to the girl, the blush which didn't come from seeing her in her pyjamas instead manifesting now. "Uh…I might need to borrow some money…"

Even if he won a battle, Kohaku knew that Dracmon would always win the war.

"Wow, that's low man…"

Always.

* * *

**Sachiko Terada**

* * *

**Terada Residence, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:50 JST**

Sheer shock manifested on her face as she stood in the playroom, staring around in horror at the sight, or, rather, the absence of one. Toys were still strewn about, books left half open, and a mess of crayon stains on the wall from a few years back with an ill-advised birthday present for the pair of them.

They were gone.

"Ai…Mako…no!"

Had they been taken? They'd complied with what the soldiers had wanted! How did they even get in? They'd gone…hadn't they?

She'd even been in here to tell them the bad news. They wouldn't be able to see Impmon again – they wouldn't be able to even mention it again. Her husband had assured her that they would get over it, even thought the tears also welling up in his eyes made her feel otherwise. The Digimon may have been a pain at first, perhaps even scary, but he was one of the family, and he protected the pair so much. She was every mother's dream – someone who would be as careful with them as she would be to keep them safe.

Her eyes caught on one particular feature, a number of magnetic letters secured to a whiteboard nearby, their multiple colours spelling (poorly) out a message which was all too clear.

**Goone to luk for Impmon.**

**Luve u x x z**

* * *

**Mako Terada**

* * *

**Streets of Shinjuku, Shinjuku Ward**

**13:50 JST**

The compass on the purple D-Arc swung wildly, the boy concentrating his eyes on it in the vain hope that it would settle on something. Unfortunately, in doing so, he failed to pay attention to what he could've been caring about.

The floor gave way under him, and he fell down, Ai crying out to him as his knees hit the concrete.

Tears lashed in his eyes. They had been running as fast as they could – Ai was only just catching up with him, in fact. Gazing down, he saw red across his leg, not as much as he'd feared but still a fair bit.

For a moment, he wanted to go back to his mother, to plasters, to safety, to hugs and ice. Why were they doing this?

His sister paused to look over him, concern flashing in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

Memories suddenly flickered across his mind of all the times Impmon had said those very words. Of the occasions when they hit a Digital Field while out together, when a Digimon became a bit too rowdy for its own good, and even just when he tripped over just like now. They gave him the strength to fight the pain and push himself back to his feet, wiping those tears from his eyes.

"Yeah…I'll be fine…we have to save Impmon!"

It was what he'd have done for them.

Because they weren't babies anymore.

"_We're Tamers."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Heh, hope you enjoyed this glimpse into a fair few lives, and apologies that we haven't yet got back to seeing what's going on with our heroes. We will do in the next chapter though, so stay tuned, or subscribed, or, well, reading. As will become normal from now into the foreseeable future, I'm now going to do another chapter of the rewrite before returning to this. Oh, and, as a heads up – I will be away from Sunday for a week and a half, so there naturally won't be any updates during that time. Hopefully I'll get out another chapter before then, but I've got no promises on that.

If you can't remember who Jeff Newman is, you might want to flick back to Book Four. And every other time that Mari has mentioned him since. Basically, he's her old boss from the days when she worked at SDCO. Also, I invented the Lindsey Campbell name, by the way, since there is no canonical name for Daisy, or Babel too, for that matter.

Until next time…

B.C.


	26. Phase Two: Divided

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

**Phase Two**

_Divided_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Jeri Katou**

* * *

**03:29 UTC**

The familiarity of it all brought back plenty of memories for Jeri, all from a time so long ago and so different yet still so fresh in her mind – the innocent (initially, at least) and cheerful adventures of the first time they had made this trip.

Letters, kanji, punctuation, mathematical symbols, even emoticons, formed and collapsed before one could even get a good look at them. A green eerie light permeated throughout the space, seemingly from a nucleus nearby, but it seemed to move away from the brunette with every step she took towards it upon an unseen floor. Was there even a surface below her at all? If not, then…

Jeri decided against calling either way. Previously, such thoughts had only set them on a very painful trip downwards to the surface, and from a glimpse over her shoulder she could only just see Ryo and Cyberdramon bursting through the warped portal into…wherever they were. They definitely weren't ready to be influenced by such a powerful decision yet, and she decided it wouldn't be her call this time round.

Behind the pair, the portal through which they all came distorted even more than the world around them did from time to time, its already erratic state intensifying before it collapsed in on itself with little more than the slight ceasing of a static noise.

The reaction, however, was far more vocal.

"What happened?" the voice of Davis sounded oddly distorted, yet only slightly, like it was a poor recording.

"We're stuck here!" cried Jun, far more emotive than her brother at the prospect.

"There's no way home!" one of the parents called, a voice unfamiliar to her ears and her eyes averted from the source, still looking back over her shoulder.

"Mommy!" she could hear her brother cry, her father making disapproving noises at what was happening.

She felt something grip her hand tightly, her gaze snapping to the source, the unfamiliar blonde who she had only spoken to a few moments ago. In all the commotion, the girl she led through what must have seemed like a minefield had completely skipped her mind, which quickly racked itself for the name, not wanting to come across as rude. Her fingers gripped back, a warm smile from her lips as she remembered in the nick of time.

"It's okay Natsuki – we'll find a way home."

A movement above pushed a pair loose from her head, as Jeri looked up to Elecmon perched there, gesturing with a small hand. "Yes, this group is extremely resourceful and I don't doubt for one minute that we will get through this."

The nerves remained for her companion, however, as her grimace failed to flip. "Are you sure?"

"Just stick with me and we'll be safe."

Natsuki looked somewhat startled, and oddly uneasy at the suggestion, leading Jeri to raise an eyebrow. "Ryder told me you guys attract trouble like magnets," she explained, the brunette frowning.

"Yeah…but we repel it too."

"That wasn't corny at all," Elecmon noted, Jeri sending a playful glare up as she was met by likewise. Her head fell back down again, however, when Natsuki replied.

"I'll trust you then."

Getting over her brief surprise at the sentiment, Jeri nodded, smiling despite the bleak circumstances. "Right." She felt relief as the other girl looked to lighten up a bit, if not so much that she could be as sure as the rest of the group was.

And it was then that, without much cause for expecting it, she was proved right in being uneasy.

With a sharp static sound, the whole world warped, light flooding Jeri's hazel eyes before she found herself upside down, exclamations of panic and alarm resounding in her ears. She found herself now looking towards Takato and Rika, the latter's mother, sister and grandmother now far nearer her and attempting to 'swim' towards them. Takato's worn goggles firmly gripped against his mop-like hair, whilst a far newer pair of sunglasses covered Rika's eyes. They were practically professionals at this, after all, and prepared for whatever could happen. Well, almost.

"Rika, take Rey," Seiko called, passing across a child almost buried in blankets and tiny clothing, so much so that if Jeri didn't know better from the relieved smile on Rika's face as she looked down, she wouldn't have really believed there was anything inside the fabrics.

"H…hey!" cried a voice nearby, Jeri looking aside to see Natsuki drifting away from her. With a sweeping action of her hand, she floated towards the blonde, grabbing her hand once again and flashing a smile.

"See, I said you'd be safe."

Natsuki nodded, Jeri having a slight inkling at the back of her minds that her words had rather less truth to them now given how easily they were just separated.

"Ugh, I don't want that to happen again," moaned a voice from behind Jeri now, as she glanced back to see Yolei floating past. It would've been somewhat comedic if it weren't for how real it was, all these people trapped in this bizarre space. Gazing about, she could see disbelieving Digidestined, petrified parents, scared siblings, frenetic friends, and, of course, the original Digimon Tamers taking it all in their stride. Amongst the worry, however, was genuine interest – amongst the group of Monster Makers and Hypnos staff, even Yamaki looked ever so slightly intrigued.

"Interesting…I have never come to the Digital World this way before," she could hear Shibumi muse, followed promptly by a series of enquiries from his colleagues about when exactly he did so. Jeri found it hard to hear, however, people floating to and fro and sound breaking in and out. People close sounded far, and people far sounded far, and undoubtedly it would play a lot with the minds of anyone unused to it all.

Rei seemed the most blasé about it all, unimpressed whatsoever by this mystifying location. Her wings spread out wide behind, somehow stabilising her, while her arms were folded across her chest. Realmon sat firmly on her head with her tails securing her in position.

"Guys, can we get serious here?!" the girl yelled, rather loud and in a tone which reminded Jeri of Rika to a haunting extent. She was her mother's daughter, no doubt about that.

"Yeah, like, for starters, how the hell are you still alive?!" cried Ayaka at Ryder with an accusative finger, the boy looking surprised by the question and quickly leaping into defensive mode.

"Is that really our biggest problem right now?!" he exclaimed back, hands out wide whilst Mari next to him broke from her awestruck gaze, about to open her mouth.

"QUIET!"

Rei's bellowing continued, before she was once again interrupted. "Hey, be careful with your shouting – you'll hurt the baby's hearing." Jun argued back, gesturing across to the baby Rey with a sweeping motion of her hand.

"Yeah, well I _am_ that baby, and I can hear perfectly well so I haven't screwed up that much."

"_She thinks she's screwed up at all?"_

"You _are_ her? What? How?" Miki's hands were out in a confused pose, whilst her brow was twisted in bewilderment.

"Oh boy, we have a _lot_ to explain," Kazu sighed, pushing a hand into his forehead.

"Momentai!" Terriermon cheered, giggling.

"For once, I think he's right – let's just all take it easy and not do anything rash," Henry agreed, nodding from where he floated near his partner.

"Yeah; I just want to get my feet on that floor down there before I'm sick," said Kristy, gesturing downwards and not realising the error of her ways.

"Oh boy," Takato groaned, Jeri knowing what was about to happen. This was not good, not good at all, and any tactical or logical thinking on the matter had seemingly been thrown out the window.

"It's that way, dumbass," Impmon disagreed, gesturing in the exact opposite direction within the space of a few short seconds.

Some gazed up, others gazed down.

In retrospect, it probably would've been better to have agreed on the first choice, Jeri quickly alarmed as she felt herself falling rapidly in Kristy's chosen direction. She looked in the same direction her organs seemed to fly, seeing others shooting the opposite direction.

"Stop! Sis!" Henry cried, Jeri's eyes widening in alarm. Upwards flew Matt, Jun, Mimi, Kazu, Kenta, Miki, Ayaka, Suzie, Jaarin and Impmon, all shooting away like darts with nothing they could do about it, Jeri seeing everyone else go the other way.

Except the girl still clinging onto her hand, that was.

Her fingers felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets, as Jeri looked up and simultaneously felt Elecmon grip onto the tips of her hair for dear life, pain wringing through her. Natsuki stared speechless in horror down at her, her legs dragged upwards like by an unseen vacuum as her fellow choosers flew further and further from sight.

"Don't let go," the brunette cried, in spite of every ache calling on her to do otherwise. _"It hurts so much."_

"Sorry!"

"Jeri!" she could hear Henry cry from behind, looking over her shoulder to see them falling away too. Would they be stuck here until they let go? Looking the other way, she couldn't even see the other group which Natsuki had allied with in her decision.

Gritting her teeth, she looked back into the blonde's blue eyes as her hair rippled away behind. "Try and change what you think is down!"

"What?!"

"Try!" Elecmon strained. Suddenly, Jeri felt the weight from him loosen, turning round and putting out her other hand in horror as he tumbled away.

"Elecmon!"

Suddenly, Jeri found herself actually catching up on him. The pain was quickly replaced with a very different ache of being winded in the back by a fast-moving object. She could hear Natsuki's cries; a combination of "it worked" and just a general scream of horror.

Jeri's other arm reached out to grab Elecmon once again, as they rocketed downwards. Henry and the others even came closer into view as the green and dark nature of the bizarre world they had arrived in was replaced with a pale lime grid stretching out for what seemed like an eternity beneath them. Their friends were in-between, whilst the distance between her and them closed with every second, defying all physics and just plain common sense. How could she be falling faster?

Nonetheless, she knew this place hadn't changed at all, even if she hadn't really had much time to look before in amongst her own screaming and horror.

"It's the Digital Plane," her partner said, now gripping firmly to her chest and secured by the girl's right hand. Jeri gritted her teeth and nodded, glancing over her shoulder to see Natsuki again, now clinging onto her hips but pushing her body away as much as she could, a fearful look emblazoned on her visage. She continued to grip onto Jeri's hand, evidently not wanting to get separated from safety again.

"_She must have slammed into me before – either she's heavy, or this she's falling faster," _she thought as they fell through the gaps in the grid._ "I better warn her about what's about to come next."_

"What's coming next?!"

"Brace yourself!" Jeri called back, no time to explain as she pulled her legs up, feeling Natsuki grip even tighter as they slammed into the rapidly approaching endless 'floor' of circuit-boards.

It felt like falling from the jungle gym in the park when she was a kid. Only, as a kid she didn't recall the ground instantly giving way, albeit with some resistance and pain, only for them to fall through with an identical-looking 'floor' below.

"What is…?" Natsuki began.

Too late. They hit it the next one, Jeri closing her eyes even tighter as it occurred to her that she would probably break the blonde's fall, even if she doubted that was the intention. After all, for all her newfound companion knew, this went on forever.

Thankfully, she opened her eyes again to find that was it, but there was no respite, for the ground lay but seconds below, a burnt brown sand stretching off in all directions, and already pocketed with craters and showered in dust from their friends' falls.

"_Here goes!"_

Natsuki's scream was the last thing she heard as they hit the ground, pain covering her, both from the impact and from the girl smashing into her from behind, the ground giving way even more as Jeri felt the nagging allure of unconsciousness tug at the corners of her mind.

"_Just…a little…nap…"_

"A-Are you okay? Jeri…stay awake!"

"Jeri! Are you hurt?" Her eyes blinked open to see the somewhat blurred form of Natsuki alongside Elecmon, both looking rather worse for wear as her vision cleared.

"Ugh…I…think so…" Jeri groaned, pushing herself upwards slightly before she found herself helped by the other girl to a kneeling position next to her.

Worry lines twisted their way across Natsuki's face, as she averted her eyes to the ground. "Sorry…I shouldn't have used you like that."

"It's okay." She rubbed her sore head with her hand, feeling her brown hair to be a mix of frizz and matting above one hell of a headache. This seemed worse than last time, and part of her wanted to blame the blonde for that. _"Although I did use Rika in the same way then I think," _she mused.

"Okay…is this the Digital World?" Natsuki asked, gazing upwards out of the surprisingly large crater they had made. Even together, and with Elecmon too, Jeri didn't think they weighed _that_ much. They were going pretty fast at all, but knowing just how random the sizes were last time, Jeri just put it down as one of the oddities of this place.

She stood up, peeking out of the crater to see others clambering out of theirs, so many of them now covering the landscape like a Swiss cheese. Natsuki copied her, before she placed her hands on the edge of the pit. Elecmon leapt to the surface, distant rock formations and pink spires in the distance making it clear they couldn't be too far from where they had landed the first time.

"Yeah…we're here."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

A shorter chapter than I had planned, but necessary in order get it out before I went away on holiday. The original was meant to have multiple points of view like the previous chapter and continue on past this point, but I'll put all of that in the next one instead now. I hope you enjoyed it regardless, and if all goes well I should get back on track with updating again pretty soon after I return. I can't make any promises though, since school will immediately and inevitably swallow a large part of my time once again.

Either way, I shall return in early September.

Until next time…

B.C.


	27. Phase Two: New Disorder

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

**Phase Two**

_New (Dis)order_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Mari Flynn**

* * *

**Desert Level, Southern Region, Digital World**

**03:37 UTC**

Reddened sand from a cupped palm sprinkled into a stout pile on the desert floor below, no wind to distort it from its path. The fairly mundane sight, at least for one used to living near a beach or, indeed, a desert, was looked upon with awe by a pair of wide brown orbs, blinking. A thumb and index finger soon picked up a few grains, rubbing them together with a soft grating sound.

"It's so…real."

She pressed them tightly together, before the feeling of roughness on her tips faded entirely. Releasing her digits, all she saw was an indistinct blotch or two, drifting upwards before fading from view, much like smoke. In any other case, she would have simply dismissed it as a floater on her eyesight, but, akin to her previous comment, she knew it was far from that.

"It's…data?"

Letting her focus drop to one side, she could see the ends of her brown hair, making short trails in the sand as she moved. She raised it away to ensure it stayed clean, yet found no sand remained embedded in her lengths, and, as she looked to her once-cupped palm, she found no coating of it on her skin either.

"It's all…so…different."

Quick as a flash, she stood up, her eyes swimming about the area for more such weird phenomena. Anything seemed astounding; from the sheer distance she could see filled with bizarre objects like small orbs and huge Tornadoes, her vision pulled by seemingly-endless and random railway tracks to the Swiss-cheese like ground right by her feet. One by one Tamers, relatives, friends and colleagues were yanked from craters, a constant complaint being the rough landing.

"It's so…fantastic!" she raved at the sights about her. It somewhat reminded her of a distant memory, of a trip with parents to such a place, the Mojave Desert, but as the sheer depth of the Grand Canyon crossed her consciousness she blocked it out, not wanting the remarkable sights her retinas could see right that moment to be eternally linked with such a thing. As if by instinct, her hand flitted to the side of her rucksack, feeling the solid oblong within its fabric, and feeling a sense of relief. She told herself it was simply for the fact her bag was still there, and hadn't been lost in the huge, surely-fatal fall, but she knew all along what she was really checking for.

Pressing a smile onto her lips, one that became real once she took another look around at the stupendous sights which met the eye, she grabbed onto her backpack straps. The memory of what had happened scant minutes before back in the real world had thankfully taken a recess. Searching below, she saw a familiar face at the edge of a pit, and, knowing he didn't have the aid of her acrobatic partner to help him out, she wandered over, knelt down and put out her hand.

She couldn't help but notice his expression was a mile from her beaming one, as he took her other hand too and was hoisted from the pit, coming to a land on his hands and knees as she in turn toppled over onto her backside. A giddied laugh left her lips, as she found herself staring straight up at the sky, hearing brushing noises before he stood up over her, that slight grimace still dominating his face. Right now, she found herself rather too amazed to care, her finger rising to point and his eyes following it heavenwards.

"I can't believe I didn't see that. Is that…Earth?"

Was this what being in orbit was like? Even then, she doubted the world would look like that, covered in green and blue boxes and blotches, flows of barcodes, and ones and zeros. Brown blotches, oddly like the craters some of her friends still lay in, turned out to be the source of the pink tornadoes broke free, now looking more like laser beams launched from the planet. Countries and continents were hard to discern, but she had a hunch that the archipelago above their heads was her (new) home.

A slight frown graced her visage as she couldn't help but muse: would they ever go back there? Could they ever go back there? And did they even want to, now the whole world probably was (or would be, once they awoke) of the opinion that the Digimon Tamers were a terrorist organisation?

All the same, it hardly compared to Ryder's expression, his eyes slightly widening as he gazed about but being overpowered by the sheer grimace across his face, one he soon directed down to her. "You okay?"

Mari nodded, pushing down her palms before Ryder leant his hand, it being his turn to do the hoisting. Once she found her feet, she placed her hands on his sides, and beamed from ear to ear as she stole yet more glances at the alien landscape around. "It's so…incredible!"

"Yeah," he nodded unenthusiastically. Just what was wrong with him?

A gust of air swept down, the sound of scales against scales reaching Mari's ears. The source: a rather large red and orange dragon, now clear of his and Ryder's crater and landing alongside his partner with a rather more optimistic expression.

"Cool."

"_Finally someone who agrees."_

"Hey, did you ever consider helping _me _out of that pit too?" Ryder quickly complained, as his brow rose questioningly.

"You never asked," Donmon shrugged, looking his Tamer in the eyes, still with a smile.

"Yeah, but…you landed on me, I had to get out from under you sleeping."

"Meh – I only just woke up, I can't think clearly this early in the morning."

"Yeah, true, I should know that. Hmm…that reminds me…what time is it here anyhow?" His gaze flitted to the D-Vice on his wrist, right now in its smaller watch form. "Twenty to four in the morning."

His head rose upwards, looking at the bright Earth orb and slightly cloudy blue sky about it, before rolling his eyes. "Which it clearly isn't."

Mari looked to her own wrist, sure enough seeing the time of **03:40** emblazoned on her blue-ringed D-Vice. "Maybe it's like the Arctic circle?" she suggested, chewing her lip as she couldn't help but admit this was somewhat unusual. She paused, furrowing her brow and giving him a suspicious gaze. "Wait a minute – it was like, half past midday when we left. How long have we been out of it?" Donmon had been to sleep, or, rather more likely, knocked unconscious by the fall, so maybe he wasn't alone in that. Had they really slept for over 15 hours? Surely they would've woken up? And still, why was it daytime this early in the morning?

"We haven't been to sleep – this place runs on Greenwich meantime. Although I'm guessing you know it as Zulu or UTC or something?"

"Hmm…but, it's still early morning, and I can't even see a hint of a reddish tint to the sky."

"The sun doesn't rise or set here Mari – there are no transitions between day and night," interjected DarkRenamon, gesturing with a sweeping motion across in front of her. "It changes…"

As if powered by her hand, at that moment the demonstration became redundant. The rocks suddenly look on a greenish gloop as darkness swept across them, and yet, it was far from pitch. DarkRenamon was still distinct to see, even against the night, and Mari quickly understood what was meant by 'no sunrise'. All the same, chatters of commotion sprung from the craters about them, only the slight preparation thanks to her partner preventing the brunette from joining in.

"Well that was…unusual."

"This whole place is unusual. Although I guess that did fix things to the way it should be at this hour," Ryder mused, scratching his chin.

"But what was going on before?" asked Donmon, raising a claw to his Tamer.

Ryder sighed deeply, shaking his head. "I don't know, but that's my worry – this just isn't normal."

"So what? If it's right now, then what's the problem? After all, everything else here seems pretty solid," Mari insisted, tapping her foot against the sand and kicking up a small cloud of dust which, sure enough, failed to settle back down on her shoe.

"Yeah, but looks can be deceiving."

Mari chewed her lip, before placing her hands on her hips and pouting.

"Why are you so moody about this? Everyone else new is amazed," she noted, sweeping her palm across the huge number of craters around, dozens of people and Digimon at their edges and staring around with gobsmacked expressions. Even those for whom this sight was old hat looked rather captivated, formerly dour frowns on Kazu and Henry replaced by a distinct fascination at the sight. The air was filled with a mix of thrill and worry, but there was no doubt of the excitement involved.

"I'm not moody – just…I've seen a lot of this kind of thing before."

"You've never been here before though – this place is so amazing. I still can't believe it's real, it all looks like a photograph." Or, perhaps, the sight of a skyscraper far too big to comprehend. The human mind seemingly only had a limited capacity for comprehension of what was real and tangible, namely that within touching reach.

"Yeah, in theory this _is_ brilliant. Don't get me wrong – I couldn't be happier about seeing it with my own eyes. But the fact of the matter is – we just dragged tons of people who aren't even Tamers through to here, without the slightest clue of how we protect them, _and_ the people we need at Hypnos to get home are right here with us."

"But we've got tons of Tamers now Ryder, and we're far more powerful than when the Tamers first went. And there has to be another way home, I'm sure of it," Donmon argued, looking into his Tamers eyes. He was interrupted by another sound and a flash of movement out of the corner of Mari's eyes, of ruffled fabric and an arm rising quickly.

Turning to it, Mari found DarkRenamon pointing across the desert at one of the myriad of pink beams from the planet about caressing its surface, lit up in the night. "Those things are called data streams – anyone caught up in them could be lost to anywhere in the Digital World. This place, if I'm not mistaken, is also larger now – we could never find them again."

Ryder nodded, grimacing. "That's the problem – together we can protect people, yeah, but our group has already been split in two. Even with a small group it's difficult – how on earth could we wake up this many people and move them aside before that thing hits us?"

"But…if it hits all of us…we'll all go to the same place, right?" Donmon asked.

"Yes, true, but I think what Ryder means is that with the size of the group now, not all of us could be caught." DarkRenamon, already having displayed her foreknowledge of this world, took on one of his imperceptible grimaces. "Those things can form and fade randomly."

"Really?" Ryder looked somewhat surprised at this, a far more distinct nod from the Digimon in reply. "I knew they moved fast, but not that too."

"People can log off and onto your world's internet at any time."

"Wait…so that's what they are?" Mari asked, raising an eyebrow. SDCO could never prepare her for this sort of thing, not least because she was the first ever employee of theirs (albeit an ex-employee) to visit this world. It felt strange to consider that it was literally the internet she stood on, and left her somewhat perturbed that such a nowadays-mundane thing had such depth to it.

"The streams are major flows of data down to this world to access what lies on this plane – this area experiences the most data streams of any place in the Digital World, if I am not mistaken. Disruption on the network frequently causes storms as well."

"So there's a big risk of getting separated?" Donmon asked. Mari glanced to those around them, conversations like theirs going on all over the show. No order seemed to have settled down, no commander coming out and unifying their troops. They were sitting ducks, particularly if they did need to sleep.

DarkRenamon nodded, before turning to the male Tamer with an inquisitive gaze. "I did always wonder why this plane experiences so many more problems – do you have any idea why? Surely it cannot just be because of its greater size compared to the other planes in this Region?"

Ryder chuckled nervously, shaking his head and shrugging. "Honestly – if the data on this plane is what I think it is, you just don't want to know."

"Huh?" Mari voiced her confusion aloud before her face flushed red in realisation. "_Ooooooh_…I know what you mean." The dirt beneath Mari's feet quickly felt rather more…well…dirty.

"What? What is it?" Donmon's face looked far more bewildered than the accepting face of DarkRenamon or the blushing face of Mari.

"Basically, this plane contains some…less-than-clean content within its data. As I said, you really don't want to know." His partner looked certain, but confusion still remained emblazoned on the dragon's visage.

"Oh, but I really do!"

"Porn, Donmon, porn. And I guess other things like spam, viruses, internet memes and junk too."

"What's porn?"

Mari, noticing the quick mashing of Ryder's palm into his forehead and the subsequent groan of frustration, quickly decided to help out her boyfriend. "Getting back to the subject – why can't we just go to somewhere less dangerous? This desert can't go on forever, can it?"

"Yeah, but will we survive until then? I can't see anywhere to shelter everyone here or to get home – in the show, they got out by a bit of good luck and a few accidents."

"Oh, right, I forgot you had watched this all on TV. Ugh, and here I thought we really were seeing this for the first time together," Mari pouted, placing her hands on her hips and grimacing deeply. Mentally, she couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious about it – it rather soured all that was before her eyes to know that she was but a new guest to its wonders, to be led around like a toddler past all the pits of fiery magma and snakes. This place was still amazing, but…Ryder's attitude was dampening the mood. Mari found her voice take on a defensive tone. "So what if it was on TV anyway? You didn't see everything, and besides, reality is so different now. This can't be the same Digital World – what about all that catacla-whose-it you were talking about?"

"The cataclysm. I guess so, but still…unless it's changed beyond all recognition, this place would give a Health and Safety inspector a heart attack any day. I wouldn't feel safe even if we did all have Digimon."

His head dipped, yet the sky lit up like fire, light sweeping across the world once again and leaving yet more gasps in the mouths of the first-timers. Even those experienced with such things were surprised, however – the night couldn't be that short. Would it return again just as quickly, or would they have to get used to such erratic and bizarre changes between day and night?

"Christ this place is messed up now," Donmon exclaimed, DarkRenamon putting rather more rational reasoning to her comment.

"Maybe that's what the cataclysm or losing Yggdrasil did to it?

"Maybe it's even more dangerous now?" the First Angel said pessimistically, even when the bright blue sky should've lifted his spirits.

"Brighten up Ryder," she gave a warm smile, dearly hoping he would do the same. Yet, even though he looked straight at her, he still didn't seem able to. "Come on…it's not all that bad...give us a smile."

The smile he made was like that of a bad actor, his mouth slightly ajar and his cheeks not lining up with it at all. "I guess it is pretty impressive, even if my Digital World was a bit safer than this. It's not every day that you see a different sky, after all."

"That's better – you should be amazed."

"Yeah, guess so…"

His words trailed off, and he looked to one side, gazing across their friends and colleagues. Some race giddily about while others merely sat down on the sand away from the craters and talked. No consensus or control took form, but at least they weren't all arguing or holding Ryder or Rei to rights about their powers and lineage. At least, not so far, although Mari, watching, knew the questions would come soon enough, and the only question was whether they would understand and be sympathetic to the complexities of their lives.

She looked up, into his pupils, glazed over in thought. Biting her lip, she had the feeling that she had been barking up the wrong tree the whole time – maybe the danger of this place wasn't his problem? But what was? Was it…what Rayleigh had done?

"Ryder...what's wrong?"

He looked back to her. "Nothing…nothing…you're right, I'm being far too pessimistic about this place." His gaze and his feet began to stagger aside, as he optically and physically tried to leave the conversation.

"Ryder…seriously…it can't be all to do with this place."

"Honestly, it's nothing."

"_What could it be? What's happened? Have I forgotten…? Oh…"_

A frown graced her mouth, dampening it down as the memories of the tense situation but a quarter hour ago came home to bear. She gritted her teeth at them silently – this was not the way she had wanted to end up in the Digital World, with no route home thanks to the ones they needed to get home being right here. But…that…ark…couldn't be their only hope. How did Digimon manage to get here? It couldn't be that hopeless.

The sight of a gun firing flashed across her mind, her head snapping aside from Ryder's eye line. Why did they want to go home? It wasn't even safe, and, as dangerous as the Digital World probably was, they had no life to go back to. It would all have been ripped to shreds, not least thanks to Rayleigh's considerable anger.

What was wrong with him anyhow? Couldn't he leave them be? Her life felt so…right. Relaxing with Ryder at home, talking, reading – sure, _that­_ topic came up once or twice, but everything was relatively quiet and fine on that front. And then, that girl arrived…the girl now standing alone on the edge of a crater near the group of Jeri, Henry and their parents and siblings, gazing out at the world. Sure, it wasn't her fault that it had all happened, but since she had arrived nothing seemed to have gone right.

Was she…Ivy?

But how could she be? Ivy had always come as plain old Ivy – that was that. But…maybe…maybe she was taking a different tack. _"Then again, God knows how hating Ryder and getting him killed is meant to bring him back to her."_

* * *

"Now hurry up – do you know how much parking will cost Ivy with the NHS how it is?"

* * *

He had mentioned _her_. But why? Mari didn't understand a word he was saying. He sounded like he was joking, but she couldn't 'get' the joke for the life of her. Why did he always insist on talking over her head?

* * *

"After all, what does this place even mean? It's not like you're real anyhow,"

"Yep, this entire place is pretty impressive, but it doesn't overshadow the fact that I'm one heart attack away from it all vanishing."

"So go on. Give the order."

* * *

Heart attacks? Not real? Give the order? Mari's mind had swung from confusion to worry back when she had heard them, not least the idea of a heart attack for Ryder. She didn't understand it at the time, and she rued him for it now she knew it was all an elaborate joke.

It was, right?

Why couldn't he just explain things clearly? Mari inwardly groaned: they were a couple, they meant to communicate, to explain, and yet he dodged every question she ever tried to throw about the subject with deftly ease, as if he mocked her for trying. Even if she asked now what he was talking about, he wouldn't explain.

He, the great explainer about the universe, never explained about himself.

* * *

"If it's what you want, I really can't stop you now so we may as well get this whole show over with now. Heck, I normally wake up from dreams when a huge surprise happens – maybe them all dying will free me from all this. And I promise I'll watch whatever bizarre encore you have planned for me in your twisted little corner of my imagination if I'm wrong."

* * *

Could it all have really been a setup? Ryder's tone had been so jokey, so sarcastic, so…harsh. Like…he hated them. She wanted to feel it was fake but…Ryder was a terrible liar, and she could always see through him. But…at that moment, she recalled having seen nothing to tell her that it wasn't the truth, nothing to tell her that Ryder wasn't tossing their lives away with his voice upon tease and his words bitter. He spoke so far from them, as if they hadn't been there – as if _she_ hadn't been there!

* * *

Rayleigh had still looked rather uncertain as he put his hand to his ear, Ryder having taken a deep breath and having turned to wave at Mari, absolutely no remorse or saddening on his face. He had looked rather scary actually, as he had given the worse possible sentiment in that situation.

"It's been great."

* * *

The moments flowed back to her like a floating river, his words seeming so harsh then and plain confusing now. She knew they were a diversion. But when he had said them, it had been so convincing, like he genuinely believed whatever he had been barking on about.

Did he?

How could he not be sad about leaving her? After all they'd been through, how could he drag her heart about only to turn around and say it was a joke?

He had a billion other words he used to fool Rayleigh – why did he have to use _those_ ones?

Where had he even got them from?

Why hadn't the first thing he'd done afterwards be to explain it all?

Why did he pretend he'd done nothing?!

Why did he mock them?!

Why did he decry them?!

How did he...how _could_ he give that most final of orders…?

* * *

"Kill them already for Christ's sake."

* * *

A smack rang upon the air.

Mari took a step back, finding her hand pulled back from Ryder's quickly reddening cheek and her face wrenched up with her teeth clenched. "That's…that's for scaring me shitless earlier!" He had meant every word he had said, right down to wanting their deaths – why? How could he be like that? How?!

A second passed,his hand coming to his sore face, blinking at her in a look of surprise before giving one of guilt, their eyes diverging as he murmured "sorry…"

Mari herself blinked, the past few moments repeating through her head as she found herself as shocked at her own actions as Ryder was at his. She let hands fall away to her sides and she shook her head sharply, her head levelling enough to let her realised what she had done out of pure anger. What was she thinking? If she wanted to know, why didn't she just ask?

But, even with that regret, she knew he wouldn't have answered. He would only tell when he wanted to tell.

"God, no, I'm the one that should be sorry," Mari gasped. She reached out to touch where his fingers did, feeling just as guilty as he looked now. "Does it hurt?" she asked nervously, hoping he wouldn't hate her for her actions -something completely uncalled for.

He didn't. "I guess I deserve that."

"No…you really don't! I…I…was just remembering. All of what you said, I mean. And I got really, really angry so fast." Her eyes wandered aside from his, seeing that the act hadn't gone completely unnoticed, and that one or two people now seemed to be actively watching them. Donmon and DarkRenamon stared on alongside one another to their side, too shocked to even dare to move their lips.

Hoping to make clear amends, not least to those out of earshot, she stepped forward, encircling him in her arms. He, meanwhile, stood more like a statue, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable. Did he hate her for it? She still wasn't sure what had come over her – maybe that was what she would've done before, if she could've without being shot, that was.

"Why…why did you have to scare me like that?" Looking back up into his eyes above, she saw a look of surprise still there en force. He really hadn't been expecting what she did, had he?

"I…I…was trying to save us all, and I thought it'd work," his still-apologetic tone replied, a sigh escaping his lips. At least he wasn't moaning about the Digital World's dangers, but this was far from an improvement, and he still hadn't explained his actions.

"Yeah, and it did…I should be thanking you, not slapping you, I'm so sorry. Just…after all of what you said before, when you used retcon…I wasn't sure whether to hug you or hit you…"

She felt his hands grace her back, finally breaking from their frozen state as he looked down at her, eyes wide again but for a rather different reason.

"So I get both?!"

Mari simply chuckled nervously.

* * *

**Gorou Mizuno**

* * *

"Even the sand closely resembles that in our world." A clump of sand leaked from Rob McCoy's hand as he held it up to his colleagues: the Monster Makers and Hypnos, all staring on curiously. "And yet it doesn't stick to my hand." He opened his palm, the rest of the lump dropping away to the desert floor below.

"Hard to believe that this is the place we fought against for so long," Yamaki mused, taking a glance about at the landscape about them, sunglasses firmly in place. "Not exactly picturesque."

"I don't know – it has a certain charm to it," Riley disagreed.

"Have we got enough water to survive out here?" A nervous edge hung to Tally's voice. "We'll need a lot," she added, gesturing to the rather large group of humans and Digimon on the edges of and in craters, chatter ringing in the air. Shibumi shook his head, recalling the conversations he had had with his fellow Monster Makers and the Tamers about the nature of this world, coupled with his own experience. At the time, he had assumed that it was entirely down to his coma, but in time he had realised that could have simply been a contributory factor to his lack of need to sustain his body in the usual ways.

"This world is based on belief – if you don't think you need to drink, you won't need to."

"How about if I believe we have a parasol?" Janyuu quipped, a slim smile on his face as he glanced about at the craters. "I think a lot of us here would be eager to join that religion."

"Unfortunately, I don't think it's that convenient – if this place is like our world, you would need data to make one from."

"Besides, it's not that hot," Eiichi shrugged. "Tokyo gets a lot muggier than this."

Tally nodded, glancing skywards. "Although without a sun, I doubt any of us have a chance of getting a tan."

"We can't be sure of anything here," Shibumi advised more cautiously, before smiling warmly to the brunette. "So anything could be possible. Besides, if it does get too hot, I'm sure my friends the Mokumon would be happy to transform into a shade," he waved his hand across the smoke clouds, floating silently behind him, purposeless but content. As he did so, they bowed lightly and politely, but his mind still couldn't quite forget what they had done to poor Henry, who he could still see sorely rubbing his arm as he spoke to the rest of his family and friends a short way away. He knew he needed to talk to them about the frailties of humanity. At least they were learning to speak, even if they sounded like a cross between Microsoft Sam and a sped up tape recording, and, of course, were stealing voices from others, something sure to unnerve anyone new to it.

"Thanks."

"…no. Problem," they chirped together, if, of course, one could call piecing together bits of voice a 'chirp'. Tally looked rather off-put by the sound, but still waved her hand in thanks.

"Regardless of keeping cool, our first priority has to be finding a way home," Eiichi decided. Shibumi found himself lightly nodding but at the same time still feeling rather unsure about the idea, something which came completely unexpectedly to him. Riley voiced his concerns.

"Is there a reason to? The last time I checked, we were all wanted criminals."

"We can't stay here our whole lives though," Yamaki looked his girlfriend in the eyes with certain expression, Shibumi chewing his lip. This was definitely a difficult situation – stay and be in constant danger from every single threat he had heard that the Digital World had to throw, and more, or go home and face the music, with probably just as much risk of dying and certainly lasting problems with the media and public at large. "This place is dangerous."

Janyuu nodded. "Exactly – Henry never mentioned a word of how the daylight just changed, and I would think it was pretty noteworthy. The Digital World seems very unstable at the moment.

"We've left our posts too – the city won't stay safe from Digimon attacks forever," Tally added, but Riley looked rather less certain than her best friend and colleague.

"It was Rayleigh's decision to do this – he must have a plan for dealing with it."

"Yes, so until we can return, we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted by worry," Eiichi concluded, his superior nodding in agreement. It was unusual to see – in what little of what Shibumi had seen of Hypnos' newest employee, he had never seen him be truly involved in the nitty-gritty of the organisation – he was a pencil pusher used to public speaking and huge decisions, after all, not a computer programmer spending hours surrounded by constant whirring and buzzing.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, even if it was simply accepting someone new into the circle.

"So we're agreed that we have to find a way home for all of us?" Rob asked, looking Gorou in the eyes for his agreement. He nodded, along with the rest – sure, this place was fascinating and well-worth staying to study under any normal circumstance, but right now it would've been a very poor choice.

Shibumi let out a light frown. _"Such a shame."_

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

"So how much did we lose this time?"

The rather loaded question to her grandmother was not without cause, of course, since a few years before a huge stash of digitised bread had vanished into the Digital ether, never to be seen again.

"Thankfully nothing, although everything in here does seem a bit squashed."

Rika pressed two fingers to her brow and nodded as the frustration of what was going on began to ramp up. This was something she never expected to happen – talking to her grandmother in such a remarkable setting, one the redhead had of course seen before, for all its dangers and wonders alike.

But, she found herself not as worried about the older woman as she would've been otherwise, and instead rather more worried about the others, those without a defence at all against the terrors of this world. Like, for example, her mother, who currently stared down at the nappies being unloaded from the rucksack by the older woman. Worse still were people like their teacher, Miss Asagi, who currently was stuck between awe and fear. She had to be used to pressure and stress, of course – a class with Kazu in it didn't come without that – but this was unlikely to be in her job description.

Still, she speculated that the woman would survive a whole lot better than any of her snooty private school tutors would've.

But the thing that was frustrating her the most was the constant soundtrack, the constant sound – of crying. A baby's cry. One that, in fact, was the very reason she had left Rey to Takato for the shortest of moments, and had gone to look through the bag with the older woman.

"_What's wrong with her? She doesn't seem to need changing, and I protected her with my body when we landed so there's no scrapes." _Not that anyone seemed to have any more than aches and pains from the fall. This place defied belief so much, even for a girl used to it all. _"Maybe she needs feeding? But not here, of all places." _"Grandma, did you pack a bottle?"

The older woman shook her head. "I'm afraid not Rika."

"**If this place is what it's normally like, she won't feel the need to eat."**

"Yeah, but does Rey know that?" Glancing over her shoulder, to Takato with the girl in his arms, Rika saw the crying was only barely relenting with his, Rejimon and Guilmon's attempts at cooing. She was one of the few people Rika truly trusted with Rey, for obvious reasons even though he could trip over his own feet too much. Sure, at first he had been petrified…heck…there probably wasn't even a word for what had happened. But how that baby had changed him, and so fast…

It felt odd to see a guy who once upon a time had been a random kid with a Digimon now hunched over their child.

The goggled teen and his couple of Digimon seemed to give up on their cooing strategy, and instead started playing with the girl, raising her up as if she were flying. The mere sight made Rika feel somewhat nervous, but she had the feeling that was only natural. Takato couldn't hurt a fly (except in conjunction with his alter-ego or dinosaur-like partner, of course), and he wouldn't even dream of dropping this particular one. And, of course, of all things, dreams were pretty important for someone whose whole life had been founded upon a speck of his imagination, albeit one which turned out to be rather more real than seemed logical, and, indeed, sensical.

This time, it worked, as the crying ceased, the baby simply staring down with her still-huge pupils at her father's face as Guilmon made cheers in celebration. Rejimon was rather more joyous, beginning to bounce around as nearby Realmon scurried behind Rei's legs for protection, the time traveller hunched over a collection of pieces which were once an amazing device. She glanced up mournfully at the sight, before returning to her work.

"Finally," Rika sighed, running her hand through her hair and grimacing. For something had been lost in it all, something rather crucial for saving face.

Her hair band.

To most, it seemed trivial and not something to be worried about, but Rika found herself with a great unease about its absence. On the very few times she had been out in public without it before, she had felt all eyes on her, not least because of the derisive mocking of people like Kazu. Why she depended on such a thing, she wasn't sure, but seeing her red hair past the sides of her head was beginning to get on her nerves.

There was no hope of finding it, of course. Perhaps there would be someone to borrow one from like Jeri, perhaps not. She knew, however, she would feel embarrassed asking.

"Down!"

She glanced up again to the sight of Kristy tackling Rejimon to the ground, Kudamon coming to land on her back in turn with a thump. It could've been worse – one of the many craters was merely inches from where the young girl's head fell.

Raising a thumb to the air, she announced a muffled "got her!" as Takato's parents stared on with the same shocked expression they treated their newfound world with. Seiko smiled, returning the nappies to and zipping up the bag.

Rika face palmed in disbelief. At what point had someone thrown all the sense in her life out the window? She was talking to a disembodied voice in her head about a baby who Takato, of all people, was the father to, whilst watching her sister she had never had before and her paradoxical partner chase the baby version of the partner to her daughter. That same daughter who currently sat on the floor, in a time-travelled teenage form, reassembling a time machine with her partner, a mini version of Kyubimon. Meanwhile, her teacher, a whole host of parents and staff of a secret government organisation, an immortal boy from another world, the Digidestined and a number of Angels, who she, as half-God, was co-creator of, all stared in amazement at the Digital World about them with the Earth floating in the sky.

Oh, and they were running from the forces of the Chief Cabinet Secretary turned Acting Prime Minister turned Madman, all armed with advanced anti-Digimon weapons and with the framed murder of the Prime Minister of Japan (an assassination blamed on her and her partner) held above their heads by the populace of Japan, and, in all probability, it world.

Someone on high had to be, well, high, she had no doubt about that. But then again, being as she was half of that 'someone on high', albeit rather more grounded to earth, that would have to be her. Which, she found made her head hurt even more.

Sometimes it simply was not worth taking stock of the situation. This was certainly one of those times.

"Hey, Rika," she heard from behind, the familiar female voice making her swivel round on her toes to face the first of her two supposed creations, after the whole universe, that was.

"Ryder, Mari," she nodded to the pair, one of whom had significantly wider eyes, and the other of whom had a Digimon trailing alongside him. She noticed a faint red mark on his face, raising an eyebrow for a moment before deciding against raising the point. "What's up? Other than the obvious," she asked, unconsciously moving her hair uncomfortably. It felt so out-of-place, so uneasy, so…wrong.

The boy grimaced, raising his arm to show the full version of his D-Vice, screen plastered with an error triangle and message. "Looks like this isn't going to be an easy job."

What was wrong? Wasn't it working? The D-Vices worked last time, didn't they? Hell, this was where she and Takato had got their D-Vices to start with. At least, the Digital World was.

She glanced down to her own, raising an eyebrow as it expanded. It seemed to be fine, which simply begged the question "what's the problem?"

"They seem to work okay normally, but I tried sending a message to a friend back in New York." Mari explained. Rika briefly mused on who exactly she was referring to, but their American friend had mentioned so little of her old life, other than that her parents had died, that she hadn't the faintest clue. Still, she wasn't particularly worried about anything sinister – as much as the country had been blasted in the past over heavy-handedness over things like Digimon, she was sure that, whether the allegations were true or not, Mari would've told one person everything: Ryder.

And, being a Gogglehead (at least in former role), if there was something really wrong, he inevitably would've blabbed. They weren't typically the best at keeping secrets.

"No joy with just sending a message to a girl right next to me either," that same boy sighed. "As I said, so much for an easy job in the Digital World this time around." He glanced about at the horde of people about them, a deeper frown on his face. "Even if that was already rather obvious."

"Come on Ryder, cheer up," Donmon urged, tapping the boy on the side of his leg with a claw.

"Yeah, remember what we talked about. After all, even if it's going to be a difficult job, this place is still amazing. It just feels so…alive."

Rika couldn't help but long for some of that enthusiasm Mari had, enthusiasm in spite of all the stories she was certain the brunette had been told about this world, not least by her boyfriend. It unnerved Rika how the boy treated this like he had been with them all along on many a journey to this world. Even having been in the position of watching a TV show turned-reality herself before, she still found it odd to now be the one on the other side of the glass.

"_**It's a shame that enthusiasm probably won't last more than an hour."**_

In their case, Leomon's death had hammered that particular point home. It was a sad home truth.

"_**Thinking of which, I can't help but notice this is your longest time away from Rey for a while too – at least when you have had a choice."**_

"_Thanks, I really like to be monitored. I was sick of her crying and wanted to see if Takato had any of his usual bright ideas, okay? Call me a bad mother then."_

"_**Rika, you're far from that – you've done so much better than I expected."**_

"_You suck at compliments Harmony."_

"Rika…Rika…"

The redhead quickly became aware of a hand clicking on front of her face. She opened her mind to the world again, Ryder withdrawing the limb with a slight smile of amusement. She felt like getting at him for doing so, but right now she knew that, in front of her parents and all, it wasn't the time.

"How's Harmony?" Mari asked, Rika finding it somewhat off-putting that it was so obvious.

"**I'm fine thank you."**

"Hey, Rika, what happened to your hair?"

There it was, the first of a number of such questions she was sure she would receive today, this one from none other than the bat-like Digimon on Ryder's shoulder, innocently raising a hand to point.

"The hair band fell out, okay?!"

Ryder gestured to his partner as he went to reply, stopping the Digimon in his tracks. At least that was one benefit of him having seen her on TV. He knew when she would be irritated.

"Rika," interrupted another voice, again from behind. She turned to look, a pleased smile on her face as she saw Takato walking forth with a silenced Rey. The child let out tiny little breaths as she slept, while an equally calm Guilmon walked alongside the father and daughter. As she reached out to stroke the girl's cheek, Mari and Ryder peered over, the former still more optimistic.

"Aw…I can't believe just how much she's grown so quickly."

Rika still found it hard to agree with people who said that. Having spent practically every single day with the child since the birth, it felt far from 'quick'. And yet, she found herself unable to regret it either, or feel it was time wasted.

Sure, it had been a mistake to start with (and there seemed to be no point in the long run of not telling her daughter the truth about it all, not least since she would find out anyway), but she wouldn't replace Rey for the world. She meant so much to her, and would naturally change her entire future. Perhaps she would restrain her life and ambitions somewhat, perhaps not. She knew that, either way, she would receive so much support from her family – their families – that she would have the freedom to do as she wished.

Glancing to her finger at the ring shining in the invisible sun, she knew she hadn't planned all this, and she had no actual plans either for where to go from here. She wasn't wrecking any plans just as much as she wasn't making any. She would wait and see what happened.

* * *

"Whatever happens."

* * *

She mentally cringed. Why were those words so cursed? Every time they were uttered, something bad would happen. Even if, like Rey, it turned out alright in the end.

"Did she survive the fall okay?" Ryder asked. Why were his questions always so much more technical and clinical? Not that Rika found herself particularly minding – she found it tiring when people repeated the same woolly sentiments over and over again about her daughter.

"_She's a baby, get over it." _

Still, Ryder did seem rather unusual. Rika had had the feeling from the first time they had met that he was different somehow, and perhaps not trustable, even though since he had shown no evidence to back up her suspicions. In fact, with his immortality, he seemed pretty dependable (since a less honourable person would surely have exploited such ability at least slightly), so it seemed bizarre she found herself unable to entirely feel comfortable with his presence even after more than a year, particularly considering his purpose as her co-creation. It was also remarkably odd compared to her quickly formed bonds with Renamon, Takato and other people she shared a class with, even Kazu who she had begrudgingly learnt to rely on after his quick-thinking with Guardromon had saved her arse in a bioemergence a long time ago.

But…Ryder words when facing off against Rayleigh had brought such musings straight back to the forefront of the redhead's mind. Just what had he been talking about?

"Yeah, I think so," Takato replied, nodding to the other boy. "She was probably just crying because she was scared," he added, this time looking at Rika as he finished, searching for confirmation as he erred on his syllables.

"Yeah, sure." Rika's voice lacked certainty – was it just a simple case of fear? This was the baby surrounded by monsters, after all, who had stayed silent during the confrontation with Rayleigh and during the whole of the fall, and who seemed to cry far less than any other. Still, it looked like whatever had been bugging the baby had been overpowered by Takato's games, something Rika was greatly thankful for.

"This place is frightening enough for me, and I'm supposed to live here," Donmon chirped up.

"Fantastic – I was hoping at least one of us wasn't a coward," Ryder said down to his partner, who simply grinned back.

"Hey, Takato," loudly whispered Guilmon from the Gogglehead's side and evidently thinking no-one else could hear. "I missed out…what happened to Rika's hair?"

"Uh…couldn't you just ask her?"

"I would, but when I look at her like that she keeps glaring back." The dinosaur's golden eyes were held back slightly, looking ready to duck behind his Tamer's legs at a moment's notice.

Rika heard a laugh from behind her, glancing over her shoulder at Renamon whose expression was as neutral as ever. Either it was the sand, or Renamon had regained her composure nearly instantly, not impossible for a Digimon who most were unable to tell the emotions of.

"I lost it in the fall, okay?" she bit back at Guilmon. _"Stupid dinosaur not knowing when not to ask q…"_

"You know, you look sort of cute without it."

Rika blinked. Takato's mouth, his hand over it in horror at what he had just said, broke free with another far more amused voice.

"**Well done Takato for another case of compliment Tourrette's."**

Still…cute? Cute? Really?! Of all things, Rika had never heard herself related to _that_...word. At least, aside from random people in the street a long time ago at the peak of her fame (if being the winner of a trading card tournament could be called that) comparing her to Kari. Attractive…maybe…but…cute?!

"Uh, Takato, why has your face gone white? I thought it went red when stuff like this happened," Guilmon asked.

"**It's 'cause he's scared crapless that Rika's going to kill him."**

"**Quiet Chaos…"** In spite of the hiss in it, Rika could feel the suppressed laughter on her lips as Harmony took hold for those brief seconds. They were worthless brief seconds too, since Chaos continued regardless.

"**God, you'd think three years, an unfortunately unforgettable night in the sack and a child would've let you summon up the bravery to call her cute once in a while, huh?"**

"Hey, Rika's gone red now."

"Shut…up…"

There it was, Renamon laughing again. They'd been here scant minutes and Takato had already made an embarrassment out of the pair of them. Even the pessimistic Ryder tried to withhold his laughter.

The boy subsequently grunted as he was elbowed by Mari. "See, at least they don't have any problems saying things like that."

"How doesn't _this_ count as a problem?"

* * *

**Davis Motomiya**

* * *

"I was right; they're train tracks! See Davis!"

"Hey, when was the last time you saw a railway in the middle of a desert?"

"We saw dozens when we went to Colorado."

"Apart from those."

"We saw one back in our Digital World too."

"Hey Veemon – don't hurt my case!"

Yolei put her hands on her hips, smiling triumphantly as she put one foot up on the seemingly random set of steel tracks going from horizon to horizon across the plane, every sleeper a carbon copy of the next. "Mirage my arse."

"Oh come on, why would they build a railway here?"

"Maybe it goes between cities. Don't you remember Domain city?" Ken suggested as he calmly joined the pair of Tamers and partners. They were only a quick walk from the craters, and an even faster run for the energetic duo of Yolei and Davis.

"Strange…I didn't recall any railways ending there," Hawkmon mused, putting a wing on his chin. "Although I do recall we were somewhat occupied at the time."

"That's where we first biomerged Davis," Veemon quipped cheerfully. "That seems like so long ago now."

"I wonder if that place is still intact," added a bug sat atop Ken's shoulder.

"Hmm…even with the Cataclysm, this place still seems relatively similar to the last time we came," Ken noted.

"Yeah, but it's still not as nice as our old world before the Cata-whatever," Davis complained, kicking up the parched dirt and sending a light scattering of it over one of the rails. "Whatever happened to that world anyway? Why couldn't we land there?" And of all the places, why a desert? Even if it wasn't boiling, there was absolutely nothing to see. How far would they go before finding a way out?

He dropped down to perch on the edge of one of the rails, no sight of any trains on their way to worry him, and placed his head on his elbow.

"This place sucks."

"Come on Davis, this is still _a_ Digital World! Where's your sense of adventure gone?" Yolei had a bravado in her voice that Davis knew meant she was being far too confident for the situation. He'd heard it before, and only a few moments later she and Hawkmon had almost been eaten alive by one of the Digimon Emperor's Dokugumon.

"Yeah, but we fought so hard to protect that place. Plus, I'm betting our families would be a lot safer there than this place, or even at home right now."

"Look on the bright side – maybe Jun managed to get there?" Veemon suggested. Davis grimaced. Leaving his parents back in a hostile real world had been difficult enough without losing his sister to god only knew where else in the Digital World too. Sure, she was a pain in the arse, and he would normally insist to her that she was 'old enough and ugly enough to take care of herself', but right now he hadn't a clue where she was, and he could only fear the worst. Hoping for the best was just hoping that she was still with the others who had flown her way, and had been lucky enough to reach that old Digital World. The beautiful landscapes, the generally safe populace and homeliness felt so far distant to this world, even if they shared the same name.

Ken put his hand on his chin. "I think Izzy told me before that Hypnos thinks all four Digital Worlds became one huge one with four parts."

"Ryder called them regions," Yolei added, nodding. "So Jun could be somewhere out there. I know you're worried about her Davis, but she'll be fine."

Davis looked up, that old sibling rivalry and denial resurfacing as a dark grin crossed his face. "When did I say anything about worrying about her? I'm worried about the Digital World. There's no knowing what she'll do to it."

"She'd kill you for that, you know?" Veemon noted.

Davis stood up off the rail, chuckling as the dust on his trousers fell away without complaint. "Well, guess it's a good thing she's not here then." Placing his hand above his eyes, he cast a look along the endless tracks. "But I'd rather look for her soon…so where's the train?"

"Maybe there isn't one?" Wormmon suggested.

"Who'd build tracks without a train?" his Tamer asked, coursing his brow as he gestured to the rails with his palm.

Hawkmon gave an amused smirk. "I think you're forgetting – this is the Digital World."

* * *

**Sora Takenouchi**

* * *

How were they still alive?

They'd been chased, shot at, nearly blown up, and, to top it all off, had just brushed off a fatal fall.

Not that Sora was complaining, of course. Still, it seemed remarkable that everyone was gathered here now, all in one piece. The worst that had happened was that some people, particularly parents and younger children like Jeri's brother, were now rather…shaken.

"You okay?"

Sora gave a light smile, turning to her mother who, in spite of being one of those now still in a state of shock, still had that instinct that all parents had of looking out for their young as best they could. She nodded.

"Yeah. How about you?"

"It's all too much to take in."

Sora chuckled again, glancing over her shoulder from where she, Biyomon and her mother sat on the edge of one of the shallower craters, shoes nearly touching its floor.

Tai was busy talking to Kari and Takeru, a concerned look on their faces as they surveyed the scene about them, pointing and counting. Reassuring words passed between them, and Tai turned away, his head sinking and a sigh leaving his lips as he wandered towards his girlfriend. Agumon trailed sadly behind.

Sora took a deep breath and clambered to her feet before asking the difficult question of "how many?"

"Over a dozen – we've lost Matt, Mimi and Jun, that Kazu kid and the other one, those two girls they brought with them, Henry's sisters and Impmon, and all their partners too."

"I'm sure they're alright Tai – Matt alone could take care of them."

"Yeah, I know that, but what they all got split up?"

"_We_ didn't," Biyomon noted.

"Yeah, but we might've been lucky. And even if they're together, it's not like we'll find them. And how do we even get home?"

"We'll find a way Tai, we always do," Agumon reassured. Tai gave a hollow nod, grimacing.

"But then what? My dad's still out there at home – they might have arrested him, or worse. I know he'd put up a fight, but…"

"Tai, calm down," Sora's mother interrupted, frowning. "I'm as worried for my husband as you are for your father, but I know he can take care of himself, as much as he has a habit of being engrossed in his research." Her daughter nodded in agreement, remembering when Yolei had told her that his research had been a hot topic when they met in Kyoto, although that was probably more to do with the appearance of a great number of Digimon there than anything else.

"Yeah Tai – I never imagined you'd let this get to you," Biyomon agreed.

Agumon nodded. "You never normally give up so soon."

"This isn't normal though. There's no enemy Digimon to fight, no control spires to destroy and no darkness to get rid of. The real world hates us, this world might kill us all and I have no plan for what to do."

"It's easy…we just have to…uh…uh…Biyomon, any ideas?"

"Uh…yeah Agumon, but…I want to hear from Sora first."

"Um…hmm…ugh…sorry…I've got nothing either."

"See what I mean?"

"Wait a minute: why don't we just try to find the others?"

"But we don't know where to start looking."

This wasn't Tai. This couldn't be Tai. The Tai she knew would've laughed at the mere idea of a plan and just picked a random direction to walk in. Was the loss of his father bugging him that much? Or maybe…maybe he was just growing more contemplative as he matured? After all, after the first week of university, they'd learnt that their grocery shopping was…well…in need of some thought. Of course, even so, that thought had been brief, and followed by a trip to buy more beer, or, as Matt and Tai had dubbed it, the 'brain drink'.

The memory made Sora smile, but she held herself back. Now was not the time, there was no reason to smile, for those days looked like they would be lost forever.

And there it was. The truth. The very reason Tai was afraid, the reason they were all afraid.

There was nothing to hope for. They had been rejected by their own world, a world which hadn't stood up to the acts of Rayleigh with outcry, a world that had just sat back and let it happen. The soldiers they had occasionally fought aside and the public had shown their true colours.

"We can't really start dragging all these people all over the world, can we?"

This was reality. Reality had hit home for Tai.

They had gotten this far on their usual luck, and Izzy's move, whilst nearly being fatal, had actually saved them. It had given everyone a goal: the hideout. But, now, in this new world, they had been given a chance to think, and realise just how dire things were.

Even if Rayleigh vanished, there wouldn't be some fantastic welcoming party this time if they went home. No celebration. Not even a hint of appreciation in a sceptical populace.

Worse still, the Chief Cabinet Secretary's words had made it clear that this was far from over. He was intent on eliminating them from every plane of existence, and, with Hypnos in his grasp, he could exact so much power over the Digital World.

If he found a way to chop, change, maybe even delete the Digital World, what would happen to them? The power of their mega levels would be worthless compared to the power of the delete key.

It was strange: for all of Sora's life since she had become a Digidestined in those distant days back at summer camp, she had been used to the Digital World being constant. It was simply another world to their own, with its own strengths and weaknesses but just as material. The twisting of it by the Dark Masters had been stark, but conquest and shared misery had been their goals, not pure destruction. Even MaloMyotismon merely wanted to spread darkness across everything. Evil villains had little to gain from annihilation, except perhaps escape.

But that twisting into the colossally high Spiral Mountain was nothing. For, in spite of all that time they had spent there, it had been many years later until Sora began to really see what 'data' meant. Data was in flux, weak, disposable and replaceable. Those who had died back in that old world had been replaced like-for-like in Primary Village. Nothing was lost.

As a result, when she had heard of the death of the Tamers' Leomon, the idea had torn open all those old cracks. The Digital World, once a playground where death could be reversed and goodbye didn't have to be permanent, was now far more like home. Leomon's return had been through technology and luck, not routine.

The Digital World too could die, it seemed. It was just data, and, like she had learnt for so long, data could be destroyed. The reason she could still stand here was because no-one had yet put proper investment into doing so, into removing the Digital World. Did the technology exist for such a thing?

And so, the world she was once used to being so much of a safe constant where permanent death was impossible had now become a harsh world, possible to delete from right under their feet.

It was just…data.

"We can!"

Sora blinked, surprised by the level of insistence in Biyomon's voice.

"We've taken round so many people before, and we're so powerful now. We managed so much in the past through working together…are you saying that all I've ever fought for falls down now? All you've ever told us…"

She seemed so passionate, fighting her corner even against the heavy combination of pessimism and impossible odds. Her relatively quiet partner was making a stand, looking Tai right in the eye. This was the other side of Biyomon, one seen so rarely by Sora in all their years together.

And in that moment, she found herself appalled at herself. After all of these years, how could she even think of thinking that data was still so…temporary? So…weak? So…helpless?

Tai stared down at the ground for a moment, chewing his lip before his head shook vigorously. It shot up, a familiar fiery grin plastered across it. "You're right!"

The smile spread through Sora and her partner, through Agumon and even into Sora's mother, a woman who knew so little about the extent of Tai's previous words, his rousing speeches and reassuring leadership.

"'Cause if we don't know about this world…then there's as much chance there's a way out of this crazy situation out there as there is anything else!" Tai clenched a fist gallantly.

"And we can find Matt and the others too!" Agumon agreed, mirroring his Tamer. Tai span around, looking across to the greatest mass of people nearby, all gathered in a large and unruly group as the vast number of smaller groups began to gather together.

"This group needs a proper leader again, or we'll never get things back to the way they were," he decided, Sora feeling relieved to see that he was back on form again. "If we're going to beat a guy who's organised an army against us, then we need an army of our own."

"Right!"

"_I just hope this doesn't start going to his head," _Sora thought with a smile, beaming down to her mother and Biyomon. "It worked," she said to the latter, who nodded.

"Yeah…I'm really glad too, that sounded so unlike me."

Sora chuckled.

* * *

**Tai Kamiya**

* * *

Attempting to push through the crowd with a combination of his hands and liberal use of "excuse me", it became clear for the first time exactly why it had formed.

"How on earth are you still alive?!"

"What were those wings about?"

"What do you mean, you're the baby? How did you time travel?"

"Why is Rayleigh attacking us?"

"What are we going to do?"

"What were you talking about before Ryder?"

"Why did we come here?"

"Is it dangerous?"

"Mommy, I'm scared."

"Will we ever go home?"

It wasn't a mob, no, it was far from that. But it was a rather unwieldy gathering nonetheless, a gathering both of parents and children trying to explain things that simplify defied explanation. All faced four people, all standing with looks of surprise and irritation on their faces.

Ryder placed his hands up in the air, trying to ask for silence from a panicked group. Tai wanted to be shocked, but found he couldn't – he could easily sympathise with all those from the toughly-built form of Jeri's father right down to the frightened-looking Henry's mother. The Monster Makers stood far more patiently, but even they seemed to be seeking answers from the brunette and his friends.

Alongside the dimension-traveller stood Rei, a small bag in her hand with a strap poking out the top, while Rika stood with gritted teeth and crossed arms. Takato looked bewildered by the sight of parents and others demanding answers, even in spite of their children trying to rationalise things.

Tai pushed through finally, reaching the front of the crowd and looking upon them. They didn't seem to actually be trying to attack the four, but they seemed worried enough that they wanted someone to blame, someone to answer their questions, and ultimately, someone to take charge.

"Hey, quiet!" he yelled, putting his hands in the air like Ryder had. Agumon raised his snout straight upwards.

"PEPPER BREATH!" he cried as, like a shot from a gun, a small burst of flame shot up, fading from sight as it flew into the sky.

That did it.

"Okay, okay, everyone, just calm down – this is getting us nowhere."

"Tai's right," added an all-too familiar voice, and he felt a hand gently link into his. He smiled to Sora, before looking back. "We need to work together if we're going to get out of this."

"Then get them to answer our questions." That was Jeri's father. Tai could already tell he would be wonderful to work with.

"Allow them a moment to speak," interrupted another voice – Cody's grandfather and Kendo tutor. He coughed before he continued. "They are as worried about this as we are, and we would not be helping them by haggling them."

Jeri's father looked to Jeri, tapping him on the shoulder, before quietening down. Tai nodded.

"Thanks," he said, looking specifically to the older gentleman. "So, Ryder, I think it'd help us guys a lot if you started from the beginning."

The boy looked rather concerned, but let out a deep sigh, taking a step forward as the great explanation began.

"I'm pretty sure this'll turn everything you've ever known on its head, but...basically...I can't die…"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Right, sorry for the amazingly long delay with this – the product of writer's block, shed-loads of school work (forget anything I ever said in the past about having had hard work – this is a whole new level) and doubt about how to actually write it, particularly with the number of characters. So, apologies if it seems a bit odd in places. I'm looking forward to next time, in any case, and I hope it'll come a lot quicker than this one did!

Until next time…

B.C.


	28. Phase Two: Decision

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

**Phase Two**

_Decision_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Miki Nakajima**

* * *

"Hey – down there! Are you okay?"

The voice awoke the girl from her drowsing, the world a blur of earthy browns and creams. Raising her hand to her head, she felt a trail of something solid run down her wrist and arm. She opened her eyes a crack to see specks of mud and dirt easily falling off her as pushed herself up to her knees.

Finally, she looked up to the source of the voice, a fairly tall blonde man at the edge of the large crater about her. He looked older than her by a few years, and fairly attractive for it too. She searched for his identity in her frazzled mind. They had never spoken, had they? Where did she know him from?

A smaller creature drew up alongside him, white yet patterned with yellow and blue. Right now, her eyes were too blurred to try and work out what it was. But, still, this was a sure sign that the blonde was a Tamer. That didn't refine things much.

A caramel-haired girl appeared on the other side of the opening, looking worriedly down. "Miki! Are you alright?!"

The events of the past few moments began to register on the girl's mind, as she recalled herself falling. As her mind's eye smashed through digital layers and hit the ground, she drove into a panic, checking herself over for bruises and scrapes, horrified at the idea she could've been badly injured.

Her panicked breath froze.

Nothing.

No cuts, no bleeding, nothing.

That was impossible, wasn't it?

As she searched herself for even the slightest scratch, she realised something her clothes weren't even ruined by the mud she lay in.

This wasn't normal. This wasn't real, was it?

Or…

Was this…the Digital World?

The people above stood above a bright blue sky, the kind of bright blue sky laboured over for hours by a professional photographer. A few lines coursed across it, not clouds, but thin, almost-dimensionless forms, like a pair of scissors had cut through the heavens themselves.

Suddenly, the world began to warp and flow, a blue filter over it. The sense of weight in the girl's body lifted, as the familiar feeling of lying down on ice returned, the smooth sides of the heart-shaped bubble providing no hand-holds.

Before she knew it, a popping sound rang around her and she found herself lying on the ground, several pairs of eyes looking over her.

"Are you okay?" asked Kenta, MarineAngemon coming to float next to him.

Miki pushed herself to a seated position, a smile on her face as she looked to the boy and his partner. "Yeah. Thanks MarineAngemon."

The creature chirped and nodded as the girl clambered to her feet, swinging her head around to look at the world around her. Yet, as she turned, she realised she had no need to, for she stood upon a seemingly endless plane of grass, topped by a perfectly blue sky. No trees, no plants, no rocks – the only sign of anything not swaying in the gentle breeze across the undulating hills were distant shadows and imperceptible silvery-grey trails across the land. Even thinner coloured trails lay across the sky.

That, and, of course, the dozen or so people and Digimon spread around her, many looking as bemused as she felt as they stood next to craters just as deep as hers.

"Is this the Digital World?"

"Yeah," replied the blonde from before.

"It's…so…big."

Miki cursed herself for stating the obvious, but she couldn't help it. Was this what a desert was like? In her entire life, the furthest she'd gone from Japan was a holiday to China when she was six, and they had barely left the centre of Beijing. Even on Earth, this was an impossible sight. She could, for starters, see further than she knew was logical. Wasn't there meant to be a horizon?

"Gee, state the obvious why don't ya?"

Glancing down, she came across the form of Impmon, a rather more cynical look on his face than hers, one of wonderment and awe. His arms were crossed, yet he made no attempt to explain his displeasure. It didn't matter though: Miki had a pretty certain hunch that it was because of being away from his partners, those same partners he had run away in an attempt to save.

The first hint of a frown found her face, as she recalled those harrowing events. She hadn't seen Impmon much, but from even that slight experience she had been able to work out that he didn't take losing very well, particularly not when it came to those he cared about. _"It must've killed him to be beaten like that."_

"Yeah, but either this place has had a bit of gardening and rain, or we're in some different place altogether," Kazu, hands in pockets, mused.

"And do not forget Kazu, the Earth orb has vanished as well." Guardromon seemed all-too-pleased with his observation.

"Well then, we're obviously not in the same place," Ayaka decided. Kazu shot her a look.

"Hey, this is the Digital World – crazier stuff has happened here before! I don't think we can rule anything out."

Miki took another glance around at the relatively featureless plane. She'd heard so many stories about this place; it seemed so strange to see it with her own eyes. She half-expected it all to vanish in an instant and be replaced by something even more insane.

Alas, and thankfully, it didn't.

"Either way," the blonde from before jutted in before the pair could begin arguing. Even not having known them, their raised tones seemed to be enough for the boy to tell. "We've been separated from our friends."

"Who have we got then?" Miki wondered, turning to look around. Along with the blonde were two other girls looking to be about the same age, one pink haired and wearing clothes that looked to be worth more than Miki had ever had in her account, and the other, a brunette, rather more simple and homely in her styling, a brownish jacket over a black and white striped top. She cursed herself for still not recalling the names: she had seen these people so many times on the news, with her friends and mentioned in passing conversation – how could she not remember?

"We've got Mimi, Palmon, Jun, Kenta and Kazu and their partners, Henry's little sister and Lopmon, Impmon and…I'm sorry, I can't remember your names," Matt said, Gabumon next to him tilting his head at her.

"Are you friends of Takato and the others in Shinjuku?"

Ayaka stepped forward, nodding. "My name is Ayaka Itou, and this is Miki Nakajima."

"Don't forget my big sis," Suzie said enthusiastically, pointing up to the older girl above her with a grin. "Jaarin Wong!"

Jaarin smiled and nodded, before letting lose a brief frown as she gazed about at her. "I'm afraid we've lost mom though Suz."

"Don't worry; she'll be with Henry and Dad!" Suzie didn't seem to have a worry in the world about all of this, in spite of what had just happened. Lopmon, on her head, looked rather more serious, yet said nothing to hinder the girl's excitement. "Come on, we're in the Digital World! Let's explore!"

Miki nodded, smiling. "Right. I've heard so much about this place – for once we get to be involved!"

"Aren't you worried that it's dangerous?" As Ayaka spoke, Miki could see true worry in her best friend's eyes, far more than she had seen from simple schoolyard fears over the years. Yet, her words carried a sense of it being a minor problem, a slight hindrance that could easily be avoided.

"I can't see anything dangerous here," Jun interrupted with a shrug. "In fact, I can't see much at all. Davis always made this place sound busy and brilliant, but I should've guessed it was just another of his lies."

"It normally is like that Jun," Palmon rebutted. "We just seem to have landed in the quiet area."

"I wouldn't go calling it quiet just yet: we don't know what's out there." Matt had a point, while he seemed to share Ayaka's lack of enthusiasm. Miki couldn't understand: her Tamer friends all spoke at home of this place always filling them with wonder and joy in spite of all its troubles, but right here right now even the usually-boisterous Kazu was subdued. "Plus, we don't know how long we could survive out here. I think we need to find supplies as soon as possible."

"I'd pay even Digitamamon's prices right now," Mimi said.

"This isn't like the old days, you know?" Kazu interrupted. "Hey, wait – you guys weren't with us when the whole Daemon business went down, were you?"

Matt and Mimi shook their heads, the former grimacing. "Why, what'd we miss?"

"Like, everything about how this place has changed!" Kazu exaggerated. "If this Digital World is anything like the world I know, you don't have to eat, drink, pee or nothing if you don't want to."

"Yeah – everything here works on perceptions. If you don't think you'll need to go, you won't," Kenta added. Miki rolled her eyes. Why had the conversation suddenly become solely about going to the toilet? Was this the most important thing for guys?

"You can even breathe underwater!" Suzie cheered, smiling widely.

"If there were water here, you could," Lopmon added.

"It could rain," the girl suggested, looking up at the dog-bunny on her head. Miki looked skywards, half-expecting to see brooding clouds overhead, and, out the corner of her eye could see that just about everyone else was doing likewise.

"Hey, bozos, for the love of whatever don't go trying to make it rain!"

Whether it would've worked or not, the quick snapping back to reality of the whole group by Impmon's comment stopped the idea in its tracks.

"But wait…Henry and dad were always saying this place has changed even more. Maybe it doesn't work like that now?" Jaarin asked, a cautious optimism in her tone. "I don't think I'm a fan of the idea of pathetic fallacy almost constantly on us."

"Uh…pathetic-what?" Impmon said, looking absolutely horrified by the words.

"Sorry, I've studied too much literature. It means when the scene matches someone's mood or thoughts, like it raining when a character is down."

"Ah, right – I just call that my luck!"

"You've got a point there though," Mimi noted, frowning. "I don't think any of us know what to expect here."

"Right, so we've got to keep our eyes open, okay?" Matt called to all.

"Right!"

The gaze of all, in turn, quickly settled on Kenta, Matt raising an eyebrow in bewilderment as the boy stuttered to explain himself. "Uh…well…in the show, whenever someone said something like that, everyone would reply at once, and...well…no-one else did."

Miki let lose a short chuckle at the sight of the poor boy trying to explain himself. _"Aw…cute."_

* * *

**Rei Matsuki**

* * *

"And so…basically…I'm from the future, and that's me too." Rei shifted uncomfortably on her scuffed-up trainers as she gazed over the rather large group, a group more like a mob to her at this very moment. She had given the same story she always gave, however, even if it had been over-simplified and had bits left out that this group needed to know even less than Rika and Takato did. All they really needed to know was her link with the baby right now in Takato's arms, the one her finger was pointed squarely at.

She glanced over to Tai, the boy who had started this whole 'explanation session', hoping he wouldn't ask for 'any questions'. She didn't want to answer any, no matter how pressing they probably were to their audience.

Thankfully, he took the hint, stepping forth again. "Right…I think what we have to do next is sort out what we're going to do next."

"**Wait, what we're going to have to do next is work out what we're going to do next? Now, I'm not one for paradoxes, but…"**

"**Chaos, you're not helping!"**

Eyes glued to Takato and Rika as 'they' spoke, before a hand was raised by Jeri's father. Not raised to request to speak, alas, but instead to point at the sight. "How can we move on when we've just learnt all this? They're some holy god-things, he's immortal, and she's a time traveller?!"

"Yeah, I have a fair few questions I'd like to ask about all this," Matt's father added. "Like, if you're both gods, then why is this all happening? Why can't you fix things? Why didn't you see this'd happen?"

Rei frowned, knowing this was an inevitable question. The image of gods in human culture was far from that of the real gods: the real gods, the real Goddramon, was far from a perfect, benevolent and omnipotent being – together, the mere existence of Harmony and Chaos in that form risked the stability of the whole world, and the creature itself had been forced to separate for being at odds with itself. Chaos was far from nice, and Harmony was the same – she could be self-righteous to the point of dictating right and wrong. It was good in fact that the pair in their human forms had no way of accessing the sheer power they once had, for if they did, all those battles over the years between them could've easily eradicated everything in existence without a moment's thought from either in their bloodthirsty pursuit.

Humans, of course, wouldn't easily accept this. The gods were meant to bring an easy way out, a literal deus ex machina, their abilities not crippled by the binds of humanity. To know they were on the same level would cheapen them, perhaps even taking them away from their definition, in spite of their past wonders and accomplishments.

Even she, the daughter of God and the closest being alive to the endless march of Destiny, had no ability to correct all this. Even in her time travelling, she knew that she could so easily either screw things up and make them worse, or even have no effect at all. The frustration from not knowing which was the case was a constant bugbear.

"Well…we…just…can't." Takato's explanation was clearly just going to deepen curiosity. No-one liked to know that something was simply impossible. Everyone wanted to know _why_.

"Listen, this isn't going to get us anywhere," Sora interrupted, putting her hands out as she came to stand next to her boyfriend. "We'll have time to talk about this later, but right now we need to focus on getting to safety and finding the others."

That made Matt's father stop and frown. Rei did likewise: the absentees could be anywhere in the Digital World, or maybe somewhere else entirely, and there were no assurances they were all there together.

"Yeah, and once we've done that, we can get back and fix things. I think I want to have a word with that Rayleigh!" Tai exclaimed. His fists noticeably clenched and making it clear that 'word' was rather more than just vocalised.

There was a chorus of agreement from the group, some more keen and rowdy about the idea of violence than others.

"He's been playing us for so long…we can't let him win by fighting each other." Tai's head hung low and he wore a frown on his face. "I know you guys are all worried for your parents…I'm worried my dad's out there and that they'll get him. But I also know he won't go down without a fight, and that he wouldn't want us doing so either!"

Rei couldn't help but let lose a slim smile at the rousing speech of the great Tai Kamiya. She'd never had a chance before to be truly witness to the words of the man who defined leadership from his first day in the job, someone who had a habit of pulling all together when they were split apart. Sure, he'd had his off-moments, and Davis, Takato and Ryder had served as leaders in their own times, but all had learnt from his school.

That didn't mean he was the best at thinking, of course, but he was well backed-up in that department. "Any ideas?"

Rei was half-expecting a wave of face-palming from the sudden switch in tone and confidence, yet she only saw such from the boy's sister, Kari galled at the sight.

"There are so many of us," Henry interrupted, putting his hand on his chin as he stepped forward. "I don't think it's a good idea for all of us to just walk endlessly like we've done in the past – we need to have an idea where we're going."

"Easier said than done Henry," Terriermon chirped. "And what's wrong with walking endlessly? Always did us well!"

"Yeah, but you weren't the one doing the walking."

"Hey, Henry!" called out a new voice from the crowd, Davis grinning widely beneath Tai's old goggles. "How 'bout Veemon and I go take a look around?"

Rei shook her head in disbelief. It seemed that, regardless of how much thought people like Henry and Izzy would put into things, it'd always be people like Davis and Takato who came up with the daft ideas they actually used.

"Me and Renamon'll go too then – there's got to be something out there," Rika agreed. "Plus, Davis can't possibly cover that much ground on his own, even if he insists he could."

"The more the merrier," Veemon chirped.

"I want to take a look around too," Mari added, raising her own hand. Rei saw her glance briefly over at her partner, the Digimon nodding with the imperceptibility that took a close knowledge of their kind to see. "DarkRenamon and I'll go."

"Right!" Tai agreed, grinning.

"Don't stray too far," Ryder warned Mari, Rei passing a gaze over the pair with a frown. Was he that afraid of this new world? Knowing what she knew of his future, it seemed so bizarre to see him so apprehensive about all this.

"I'll be fine," she insisted, as she drew a card from her bag, kissing him on the lips, before turning to her partner with a wide smile. "Time to Digivolve."

"Fantastic," DarkRenamon replied with a smile.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Digivolution Activate!"

Rei smiled as light burst over the group from three places at once, two foxes and a thunder horse rising from shells of data to stand proudly next to their Tamers. She looked down to her own partner by her leg, part of her wanting to join in the search but the rest of her wanting to make sure everything went right here. Their group was so large, and such a target, that the hairs on the back of her neck seemed constantly up.

Seeing her arm, she frowned at the lack of the time device, it now stashed away in its various pieces in her various pockets. She was just like the rest of them now, in that she lacked something oh so important.

A way out.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Yeah, another long wait, but, still, hopefully I'll get moving with this again. I think I'll be moving towards shorter bursts of chapters rather than the epic ordeals of the past, since although it'll mean a higher chapter count (something I wanted to avoid) it may be necessary to get me to, well, not see some of the events ahead as far too large a task for the time I have available.

Anyhow, I think I'm going to press at this for a few chapters, given it's my most popular fanfiction, and then do a bit of Curiosity and the rewrite. Yell if you disagree, of course.

Until next time…

B.C.


	29. Phase Two: Discovery

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

**Phase Two**

_Discovery_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Kenta Kitagawa**

* * *

Of all of the beautiful yet inherently bad sights to see, storm clouds would rank fairly highly. And yet, aside from that, the ones Kenta found himself casting his eyes upon had another quality that made them especially impressive.

They sat alone.

Like an island in the still-bright sky, they cast a shadow, almost perfectly, over a town below. Drizzled buildings, tall and short, made in brick and weaved between by brass pipes, stood in stark contrast to the featureless meadow they had crossed.

The view had come upon them so suddenly, as the gentle hill they tiredly strolled up gave way to the vista below.

Kazu had been the first to exclaim. "Whoa! Talk about bad luck with the weather."

"It does appear they are making the best of it though," Guardromon noted, gesturing towards a rather large funnel placed over the highest point in the town.

A lightning bolt crashed into it. Kenta back-footed.

"Won't keep being much good if that happens," he said, taking an anxious look aside to the older trio, Matt, Mimi and Jun. The blonde scratched his chin, staring down with an analytical gaze, while Jun looked as apprehensive as Kenta felt.

"Are we going down there?" Suzie sounded off-put by the idea, still hanging close to her big sister for protection. Even Kenta, once used to getting wet as a child by water fights and splashing in puddles (the former continuing right to the present, if Kazu acquired a water gun in the middle of summer, that was) didn't find himself much of a fan of heading out of a nice, dry, calm area and into the midst of a storm.

"I don't quite fancy the idea of getting my coat wet," Gabumon mused, looking up to his partner with a concerned gaze.

"I only started trying out this dress two hours ago," Mimi complained. It was an oddly expensive garment to wear on such a long distance trip, that much was certain. Ayaka wore a similar look of discontentment.

"I didn't come here to get soaked."

"Geez, you're all such wimps. Lil' water won't hurt ya!" Impmon moaned, taking a step forward. "I'm tired of this boring place anyhow. Need some excitement and variety in life, not some endless meadow. Am I right?!"

"This may be a stupid question, but is it normal in the Digital World for weather to be like this?" As Jaarin spoke, Kenta was somewhat reminded of her brother's curiosity. Between it, his father's programming knowledge and Suzie's natural enthusiasm and intrigue, their family rather had a habit for intellect, rather more than the boy's own mother who would have preferred a soap opera over a documentary any day.

He grimaced. His mother would be so worried right now, and his father would be too. They would raise hell to find him…only problem was, would Rayleigh see fit to silence them?

The boy gritted his teeth. It was rare for something to make him genuinely angry, but he found the reaction unavoidable as memories of that laugh, that grin, that manic clown who had systematically wrecked their lives and futures, all flashed across his mind. His hands clenched unconsciously.

The feeling of fingers gently pressing against his right hand made them relax, yet his shoulders tensed in surprise as he looked out to see…Miki?

"Are you okay?"

He looked up to notice that MarineAngemon had noticed his actions too. Shaking his head dismissively, he noticed the slight frown on the girl's face when he said "I'm fine."

She nodded nonetheless. "I want to go down and see that place. It looks so interesting – I've never seen a town like it."

Kenta looked out. For all he had seen in the Digital World, he had to agree. Far from the traditional homes of the Tibo Village or the sparkling skyscrapers of the City of Domain, this place didn't really compare with anything earthly. Their colour was that of brick, but their stature was erratic, while those brass pipes…were they drainage? They flew from building to building randomly, larger pipes spewing into swarms of little pipes, becoming invisible at such a distance. All shone in the unseen sun. What did they carry? Maybe that was what was the was funnel for? Were they really collecting rainwater? Did Digimon need to drink?

Looking back to Miki, he saw the grin on her face. She was genuinely enjoying this – much more than Ayaka was. He had never seen so much eagerness in her eyes, well, apart from when he had first introduced her to MarineAngemon. Girls seemed to always obsess over how 'cute' his partner was. Emasculating as it was, he had to admit as he was growing up that he liked the attention, even though most of it went over, or, rather, above his head.

Her hand still loosely touched his. Kenta hoped neither Kazu nor Ayaka saw…he would have been teased for all eternity. Miki seemed to notice, but rather than pulling back, she merely gripped his hand completely and pointed out. "I think we should go have a look," she said more loudly to the rest of the group.

"_Damn," _Kenta thought as he saw a mischievous grin on the visor-wearing Tamer's face. Ayaka looked happier, but in a very worrying way.

"I can't see many other options," Matt sighed. He sounded fairly pessimistic in general, even though Kenta had noticed that everyone was looking up to him as their de facto leader. Why was another question, but his fairly tall stature and history as a Tamer probably helped somewhat. "Let's go."

* * *

**Ai Terada**

* * *

The small, short wall was too stout a seat for many a passer-by, but for this particular child it was a godsend. She breathed rapidly, her face flustered as her eyes ran ahead. "Mako!"

Her brother practically skidded to a stop, turning about on his heels clumsily and wandering back towards her. "Are you okay Ai?"

"I'm tired," she moaned, frowning. "And we haven't found Impmon yet." She felt disheartened, so disheartened. In her mind, that valiant step out their front door was a panacea, meant to solve all their problems in but an instant, but all it had done was create more. The shops and tower blocks leered over them, and it hit her painfully that, without their mother, father or Impmon to help, they were well and truly lost out here. "Where can we look?"

"I don't know. We've got to save him!"

"Where is he?"

Mako looked down to the D-Arc, still spinning wildly, and stared at it with a look of confusion. "It won't say."

"Let me look," Ai said, practically snatching it from his hands as he moaned in annoyance.

"Hey!"

She ignored him. "Maybe one of these buttons does something." She began to jab at whatever she could – something had to be the right one. The screen on the purple-ringed device swung from left to right to left to left and back to the right thrice more, as her finger wandered back and forth. Nothing changed, the compass never fixed, and, apart from the time, the other screens seemed mostly blank. How were they….?

"Move!"

After the shout, she saw her brother grab her, pushing the pair of them over the wall and into a (thankfully soft) bush behind, rolling down onto the soil and lawn of an apartment block. "Hey!"

"There's a cop!"

Ai's irritation ceased, as a curious look filled her visage and she poked her head up. Not once did it occur to her how odd it would've been for any passer-by to see two children's heads peeking out of a bush, but, alas, the area seemed fairly quiet. They were not into the furious heart of Tokyo yet, but it beckoned further on down the street.

The police car drifted along the road, lights lifeless and sirens silent. After it vanished from sight, Mako wiped a hand across his brow and exhaled. "Phew. If they caught us, I just know they'd take us back to mom and dad!"

"How do we stop them seeing us?"

"We'll be like spies! Or ninjas! Really stealthy, and then, when we find Impmon, hi-yah!"

Ai smiled, seeing her brother's actions and nodded. Perhaps when older, she would find such moves embarrassing, but right now, the idea seemed perfectly valid to her. Mako waved his hand over the short wall and out into the great land beyond the bush.

"Let's go find him."

"Right…if he's looking for us too, we'll find him in no time!"

"And if he's not, we'll save him from the bad guys! And he'll digivolve, and he'll be all pow-pow…"

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"Pah, how long is this path?!" Impmon's arms were firmly across his chest as he stomped ahead, loudly moaning. "It just gets further and further!"

Matt rolled his eyes at the impatient imp in front of all of them. The rain hadn't started yet, but he was sure that the creature's complaints would let him know in advance. Either that or Mimi's inevitable cry about her dress and clothes. _"Different digital world, same old Mimi."_

"Aw, it's so cute to see those two holding hands." That was Mimi at his side, a wide smile on her face as she pointed ahead. Kenta and Miki skipped in front, hands firmly interlocked.

Even from here, Matt could tell Mimi wasn't entirely right in what she said. "Looks more like she's dragging him to me."

"Aw, but he's just embarrassed because his friends are laughing at him." Mimi shot the sniggering Kazu and Ayaka a glare, but they didn't seem to notice.

"Meh, they're probably just jealous." Matt was only half-listening. Mimi had a habit of becoming too engrained in sappy romances, perhaps a knock-on effect of her year or so in the US and all the soaps and sitcoms she said she watched.

"Yeah. We cared so much back in our day about relationships – we wouldn't laugh!"

Matt was certain that they would've and did. Unfortunately, he left that part silent, and said the other thing which came into his head. "You sound like an old lady."

Mimi huffed, hands on her hips. "I'm not an old lady."

Despite his mix-up, Matt's expression only turned to a slight grin, the first genuine smile he had made since arriving in this new land. "You moan like one. And besides, I'm pretty sure we would be doing the exact same thing as they are."

"What, holding hands?" Mimi's voice rose in surprise.

"Laughing."

"Yeah, well, if they can't even have a relationship of their own, they can't laugh at someone else's attempt." She huffed again. "Anyhow, that Kenta kid doesn't seem brave enough to ask on his own…it's such a shame, so many guys are afraid of making the first move."

"How would you know that?"

"I pay close attention – I've been to my fair share of bars."

"Yeah, same, but I'm normally focusing on the drink. And, you know, the ladies."

"Yeah, that's the problem – everyone who approaches me is always so arrogant."

"I'm surprised the pink hair doesn't put them off." Matt knew that wasn't the case. Mimi was well known throughout their campus for her 'style', usually in-fashion but occasionally trying to get one step ahead of it.

"Yeah, maybe. I'm thinking of having it dyed again."

"What colour this time?" Even if just for a day, Matt was pretty sure he had seen every conceivable shade on Mimi's head since he had first met her all those years ago.

"Hmm…I really don't know. I might just let it grow out. Natural hair colours are coming back in fashion."

How she knew that was a total mystery, but, in any case, Matt seemed content to humour her. At least this conversation helped clear his mind, a mind fraught since they arrived with one simple question. What could they do?

"Oh come on Matt, smile. You look so worried."

"I am."

"It can't be as bad as it seems."

"I know well enough that it's always _worse_ than it seems. And I can't quite shake the feeling we're walking into a death trap here."

"I know what you mean. Normally we'd be walking _away_ from the big broody town."

Matt nodded. "Even though it was Miki who said we should go, I still feel responsible for us all."

"Huh?"

"I'm the oldest guy here and the closest to Tai; I'm a substitute Gogglehead."

"Can't a girl lead us?"

"Be my guest – I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Tai and Davis fit doing this like a glove. Heck, even someone like Izzy or Henry would have the strategic thinking to come up with something, and we don't have a Monster Maker either. No-one here has any real technical experience for me to fall back on, or any of that stubborn Gogglehead-ness."

"Kazu and Ayaka seem pretty stubborn to me."

"You know what I mean."

"Okay, so you're not Tai. That doesn't mean you can't lead us."

"I never said I couldn't. Hell, we're actually luckier than the others: at least everyone here is under 25, and most of us have a Digimon too, so worst comes to worst we can run for it. And that's the problem: I haven't got any other ideas of what we can do. If this place is useless, all we can do is just keep walking to the next place, and the next place."

"Come on Matt, think optimistically! What if this place _isn't_ useless?"

"Well, then I won't have to lead us all anymore. But I really doubt we'll find a way of finding the others."

"We'll find them eventually, they have to be somewhere in the Digital World."

"Yeah, and us Tamers don't stay quiet for long," Palmon added.

"Yeah, next thing you know it, you'll be hearing of them building a giant telescope to look for us."

"I'd think you were kidding me, but I can already imagine them trying that," Matt facepalmed. "It's better than what I can come up with…the Digivices haven't shown us a thing."

Mimi smiled, nudging him in the arm. "Come on Matt, we've got plenty of creativity between us all."

"Just you wait…we'll have plenty of insane ideas soon enough!" Palmon added.

"I'm gonna hold you to that." Matt found an edge of optimism to his voice, yet he mentally asked why it was. Friends had a certain way of cheering one up, it seemed.

"Go ahead."

Matt mentally sighed, although didn't let it show on his face. Of all things, the worst had to be the knowledge that the rest of the group could truly be anywhere. Without their digivices to help, Matt couldn't shake the worry that they could easily just miss them, even if by a few hours, and that was assuming they were even remotely nearby. How large was the Digital World now?

As for their personal safety, this town could be a haven, or trap. A way perhaps to find their friends, or a complete waste of time, and perhaps their lives too.

Still, it was better than the endless meadow. He could tell simply wandering wouldn't yield them any results any time soon, and the group was beginning to grow very tired of…

"So, how's your love life going?"

Matt was snapped out of his thoughts by that voice, that tone taken on by someone gently nudging another. Mimi had a look on her face, a cheeky look of slightly-raised eyebrows. Was she intentionally trying to distract him from his worries? Or was it just a fortunate coincidence?

After a briefly pause to compose his thoughts, Matt shrugged. "Same. I've met some girls in bars, gone on a few dates…nothing came from it though. But hey, in a city Tokyo's size, it's always worth searching."

Matt knew his tone lacked sincerity. He couldn't help but notice the dearth of non-Tamers as partners to Tamers. They were a different section of society, ones who knew far more than they should've about the workings of the world.

"I've been focusing on my studies lately anyhow."

That cheeky look was well-gone from Mimi's face, the girl probably expecting a better answer. Matt knew why – he was known all over campus for being a fairly attractive guy. Having been in a band before helped rather a lot too, and he knew that he was pretty high on most girls' 'would-date' list. Such were benefits of being so close to many girl friends, able to pass him on news of what the university thought of him behind his back.

"Hmm…so you haven't really had a proper girlfriend since Sora then."

Matt shook his head yet chuckled. "Thanks for pointing that out. That must've been…I'm not even going to try working it out."

"For a guy like you, I find that pretty surprising."

"Meh. It's difficult, you know. It was nice being with Sora…I don't regret us breaking up, but I do miss having a girlfriend I could talk to about the Digimon and all. Now, I'm worried so much that some girl is going to see Gabumon and run out screaming. That's not a morning-after I really want."

"They might think I'm cute Matt," Gabumon chipped in.

Matt chuckled. "I'm sorry, but you're really not – at least, not to most girls. I'd say it's the horn that scares them."

"Aw."

Matt smiled widely. "Hey, you're still the coolest Digimon around."

"And that fur coat is hard to best," Palmon added.

"See, now that's all of what I mean. We can talk so easily about it all, we're used to it," Matt's tone became rather disheartened. "But do you really think a girl would want to go out with a guy who risks his life alongside a talking dinosaur?"

"It's brave and dangerous – why wouldn't they? Plus, you're one of the good guys."

"Yeah. So long as you pay attention to her feelings in amongst facing every enemy Digimon coming along, you'll be fine."

Matt raised an eyebrow and turned to face a newcomer to their chats, the unforgettable Jun Motomiya. "Uh…will do Jun."

"Like, oh, I don't know, not leaving them behind while you go camping," Jun teased, a smile on her face making her ever-so-slightly bitter comment have a strange edge to it.

"Huh, what?" Matt racked his mind for what she was talking about, as her eyes stared him down. "Oh, right," he finally got it, cursing the girl for her obscure reference. It had been a while since they had had a conversation, in fact.

"Oh, I worked it out in the end. You guys didn't want me to come at all, did you?" Her tone was like a detective coming to her grand conclusion, or a conspirator unveiling their master plan.

"Don't you remember? They really went to the Digital World, so we couldn't bring you along. Sorry."

"Hey, you had to pay for the bus ride back, so we're already even. No need for 'sorry'. Besides, with that and seeing you go to save Sora at the concert, I was completely over you like that." She clicked her fingers.

In spite of her accomplished tone, Matt could distinctly remember Davis passing on the news that she had been heartbroken for days after that and slouched around the house. At least, of course, until she began chasing Joe's brother. Regardless, he decided against pointing _that_ particular bit out. "Okay."

"Good."

This truly was dredging up the past. At least he could have a normal conversation with her now, far better than that fangirl crush she had long-ago held. As they wandered in an uneasy silence, Jun began to drift aside. She had probably just realised that she'd interrupted their conversation, and was the reason no-one was speaking.

Matt looked ahead to the settlement ahead. Just how far was this town? It grew larger and larger the further they got, and with it the funnel grew to an enormous proportion, more and more railway tracks leading in from all directions. Was it a town? Or a city? Were they individual buildings, or a huge complex? Were they friendly, or…?

Something occurred to Matt, something nagging, and with the quietest of whispers he spoke across to Mimi. "Wasn't that cataclysm thing that Rika and Takato did meant to stop them remembering?"

"I don't understand it myself," Mimi shrugged. Yet, Matt quickly learnt that his attempt at whispering was somewhat of a failure, a voice creeping over from behind.

"Did you say the cataclysm?"

Matt swung his head around to the eldest member of their group, Henry's sister, Jaarin. "Yeah, why?"

"Henry told me about it."

"_Huh? I thought we were keeping it a secret."_

"He talked to me about it once. I can't say I really understand it, but…maybe there wasn't much need to erase the memories? Maybe they didn't overlap? I'm not really sure how it all happened, but it did get me by surprise."

Every person merged with every other version of themselves. That was difficult to explain on its own, let alone work out the specifics of it all. Matt wondered regularly whether there was a parallel him thrown into the present him – if there was, he couldn't tell.

Mimi shrugged. "Don't ask me."

"Yeah, it's easier to leave that sort of thing up to Izzy."

"I'm surprised Henry told you," Palmon chipped in.

"Normally this kind of thing is top secret," Gabumon added.

Jaarin chuckled. "My brother has a habit of letting these things bug him though. When we were younger, he spent a month pining over accidentally killing an ant. He just tries to be too good and think things through too much. I always thought it was adorable."

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," Matt noted.

"I miss things being really simple," Mimi sighed. It seemed so long ago that they had first landed upon the Digital World, and faced so simple choices and events by comparison. Sure, phone boxes on a beach were confusing, as was a trolley car without rails, but at least they knew who was good, who was bad, and their most important goal of all: getting home.

The latter was still true, of course, but now, good and bad were thrown out of whack more often than not. Almost every decision seemed to be a dilemma nowadays. It didn't help that their main enemy was human, and the age old rule of 'no human deaths' was long-broken.

It was then that Matt noticed Jun, the distance closed without him noticing. She waved a hand in greeting. "Hey. What are you guys talking about?"

"Never mind."

Jun scowled, clearly not liking being left out of things, and cast a suspicious glare across all of them. "Fine."

An awkward silence fell, as Matt felt an irritating nag in his mind telling him to explain something to her. They dragged her all this way to a world she had never wanted to come to, and now they were leaving her out of talking about it. It wasn't like she could talk to the younger children, after all. As much as she didn't say it, she looked pretty lonely wandering alone.

"We were just talking about that place up there and what it might be," Matt lied. He had thought about it, but he hadn't said it. He could hardly tell her about the cataclysm and all. Nonetheless, she for a brief second looked pleased to be spoken to, although she quickly settled into moaning regardless.

"Ugh, I just don't want to get wet. This world isn't all that special – I can't see why you guys are so interested in it."

"It's not normally this empty," Palmon insisted. Matt couldn't tell exactly, but he was sure he heard the slightest tone of offense in Palmon's voice. Rubbishing the home of all Digimon when surrounded by them wasn't exactly a wise move.

"I think that town breaks up the monotony too," Jaarin added. Matt caught a brief glance across from the girl to her sister, wandering while lost in chat with Lopmon and Impmon. The latter kept his teeth firmly gritted, still angry about being dragged all this way.

"I really hope so," Jun sighed, looking across to the tallest guy. "Hey Matt, do you think there'll be a way home there?"

He shrugged. "Don't ask me. I hope we just manage to contact someone, anyone. Right now, Gennai would come in handy."

Jun looked rather curious and bewildered about the name, but shrugged it off. "Do you think we'll be able to find my brother and the others then?"

"I really don't know." Matt was sure that Jun appreciated his endless inability to give a clear answer, or indeed, any true optimism. This girl lived with Davis, after all, and as a Gogglehead he would be able to find hope in even the direst of cases. Takeru would too, but he himself found it harder to ignore the facts than his brother. To put it bluntly, the Digital World was huge. Too huge.

"I'm sure they'll be looking for us too," Mimi added.

"Let's just hope we don't just miss each other," Jaarin sighed, looking ahead to a parting in the buildings, now towering on either side. Matt frowned. It was nothing on Domain, but the elegant brasswork and brick gave it its own imposing charm. They were beginning to attract attention too, a smattering of Digimon looking towards them uneasily.

"We can still try," Gabumon tightened one of his small claws defiantly.

"Yeah, no matter how big the Digital World is – we've found each other before and we'll do it again."

"Go Palmon! Now that's the spirit I like!" Mimi cheered, smiling widely as, like an infection, the briefest of smiles appeared on Jun's gloomy face. All the while, Matt found even that hard to match.

"_Just wish I could be as optimistic."_

So much responsibility he felt on his back. Every important question seemed to be directed his way, everyone (literally) looked up to him, and everyone was relying on him for ideas should things go wrong. Whether he liked it or not, he found himself as the leader.

A gear-like Digimon flew straight towards them, looking as nervous as Matt felt.

"_Here goes nothing."_

* * *

**Ryo Akiyama**

* * *

"Monodramon, stop it."

Those firm words were ones Ryo never wanted to have to say. "Cyberdramon, stop it" he was used to, but having to say the same to the innocent, jokey rookie form too? That was something he didn't want to have to deal with.

It was hard, but he had managed to lead the Digimon away from the others, to a short rock nearby, just enough to sit on with a slight jump, and, more importantly, just secluded enough for no-one to overheard.

Part of him wished Ken had noticed and followed, but the rest of him was glad. This was his problem, and he didn't want to worry anyone else about it until it escalated. There had to be a way to deal with it.

Monodramon's snarling stopped, leaving Ryo breathing a sigh of relief.

It was short-lived.

"I have subdued the beast on your behalf. Be grateful."

Ryo gritted his teeth. Monodramon's mouth moved, yet another horrible voice came from it. "You caused it."

"We discussed this Ryo, did we not? I cannot believe you are under the impression I would be so…uncivilised."

"You'd sink to whatever depths you need to. Now let him go! You can talk in my mind, why are you doing this?"

"I am doing this to clear your mind of these prejudicial ideas of yours. Bless you, my dear Ryo, for you have become so embroiled in your lies you fail to see what is right in front of you."

"I'm not falling for whatever psychological trick you're pulling. And speaking of tricks, how are you even back?"

"Do you really believe that, after seeing that foul beast of yours, I am possible to subdue with a mere evolution? I always thought you were a smart boy, Ryo, but if you still cannot understand the scale of my abilities then I must change my opinion of you."

"What do you want?"

"Has the fine art of conversation died on you?"

"Tell me."

"I shall have to lecture you on the power of manners. You still have not thanked me for saving you before from that brute and his soldiers."

"I figured that was your doing. Why are you protecting us?"

"I believe it is foolish to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"It's not when that gift horse has soldiers inside. Now just tell me why you did it."

"Be patient for once – it will serve you well. And I feel I hardly need to explain. I did it to protect you, my Tamer."

"That wasn't my question. You protected all of us…you have to have a reason for that!"

"Does a good deed require explanation?"

"You're planning something."

"Whether or not I am planning something, do you really believe I would simply explain it to anyone who asks?"

"So you are then."

"I did not say that. I would appreciate if you only heard my true words."

"If you hurt anyone…"

"If…if?! Every 'if' that spews from that jaw of yours is negative. How about this one: if I truly did become good, would you ever notice? Or is your mind too far blighted with this ridiculous notion of good and evil, light and darkness?"

"I haven't yet seen anything to say otherwise."

"I have saved you twice in but the past few hours, and all of your friends too, and I have subdued this beast you insist on calling your 'friend' and 'partner'. I surely have done more than enough to prove myself."

"That's because he _is _my friend and partner."

"That will only make it more painful then when the truth comes out."

"What?"

The voice was gone.

Monodramon looked around, bewildered, and it became clear to the boy that he was aware of the verbal sparring but moments ago. Perhaps it was not even that – perhaps Milleniummon was manipulating his mind?

"_He never answers anything until it's too late. Milleniummon! If you can hear me, I'm telling you – I'm going to stop you before you hurt any of my friends!"_

Ryo heard a snatch of laughter from the corners of his mind, one lasting but an instant yet staying on his memory for far longer. He felt a lump in his throat, as he knew that things could only get worse from here. Milleniummon was clearly planning something, something huge.

But what was it?

* * *

**Jaarin Wong**

* * *

"Hello…and...uh...welcome to Bolton."

Even for all she had seen of her brother and sister's partners, the sight of a brass and steel gear talking to her still made Jaarin raise an eyebrow. This somewhat surprised her, given that just in front of her was a large equally-mechanical Digimon, Guardromon, and so she thought she would be used to such things by now.

"_Still…I'm acting like this should all be normal. My friends would've already gone insane at the sight of all this."_

"Hagurumon, Virus Type, Rookie Level, attacks are Cog Crusher and Command Input." Jaarin glanced down, seeing her sister with her D-Arc out, a holographic image of the Digimon upon it.

The gear looked rather worried by the odd device. "Uh…who are you? And what's that thing?"

"My name is Suzie Wong," the girl chirped. "And this is a digivice."

"Digi…vice?"

"Yeah, we're the world-renowned Digimon Tamers!" Kazu exclaimed, raising his D-Arc proudly in front of him. "I'm sure you've heard of us."

"Uh…" One of the two smaller cogs, like a hand, went to the Digimon's face as he looked upon them all. "Am I meant to have?" He seemed to have a permanently startled expression, although given his size compared to even the smaller humans, it was fairly understandable.

"Really? You haven't heard of us?" Palmon asked, a look of bewilderment crossing the group as they looked to one another.

"Maybe you just know a different name…Digidestined?"

The Hagurumon stared on at Matt blankly, as if his words were like a foreign language.

"Chosen…uh…people? Special people? Saviours? Anything?"

"Morons?" Impmon asked.

"What about humans?" Ayaka interrupted.

"Humon? I've never heard of that Digimon before."

Jaarin let out a quiet sigh. This was getting nowhere – the Digimon obviously hadn't heard of them at all. Behind the gear, she could see other Digimon drawing up, a strange mix of similarly-mechanical beings and more organic ones. The town simply seemed to spew them from its various alleyways and random doors, the fizzling-out seen in reality of tall buildings into the suburbs into the countryside just not there. Where the bricks and brass stopped, the meadow started. Indeed, where the bricks and brass stopped, the rain did too, although you wouldn't know it were it not for the plink-plonk sound from the huge brass funnel above.

Not a single Digimon looked wet. Neither did the buildings. The storm clouds loomed high overhead, but for all Jaarin could see, the rain from them was collected perfectly by the funnel, the vast brass surface reflecting light down into the town from…something. There was no sun to speak of. Neither was there the 'Earth orb' her brother and sister told them about.

Feeling the flames of curiosity, Jaarin had to ask. "What does the funnel do?"

Hagurumon looked rather confused by the change in subject, but his presence was quickly ruled obsolete in any case.

"It uses the storm to harvest rainwater and power our city." These words came not from the gear, but from one of the newcomers, a large white wizard-like hat upon his head. He was humanoid, although not of a normal human's height, and garbed in white and pale blue robes. His large blue and black glove-held sceptre looked cold to the touch, a few specks of ice sat on it. Perhaps that funnel wasn't as leak proof as it seemed?

"Sorcerymon, Vaccine Type, Champion Level, his attacks are Crystal Barrage and Aquarius Fill," Mimi read from her D-Arc.

"That's one precise storm," Jun noted. "Is your weather always like this?"

Sorcerymon nodded. "That is how it is meant to be. But there are more pressing matters…just who exactly are you all?"

"Have you heard of Digimon Tamers? Or Digidestined? Or even just humans?"

"I have heard whispers about humans, but not enough to truly know. What exactly are you then?"

Miki let out a wide smile, her eagerness unchecked by the gathering Digimon and increasing wariness of the creatures they spoke to. Hagurumon was already on his way back to the city. Jaarin didn't blame him: this was like first contact with aliens, only these ones didn't come down from the sky. Well, at least not in a spaceship.

"We come from this other world, the real world. There are tons of us there…but only a few Digimon."

"I have never heard of any of this." This was another Digimon, a green and red vaguely humanoid one covered in an array of mirrors, a flat pair of red lips upon one which loosely resembled a face in its placement. The lack of eyes left Jaarin more than a little put-off.

"That's Mercurymon, Variable Type, Hybrid Level – his attacks are Dark Reflection and Offset Reflector," Kenta whispered across to their group. He looked somewhat surprised when he turned his head back to a straight-lipped Mercurymon, his voice becoming cautious and stern.

"Can we believe them Sorcerymon?"

"I am not entirely sure. They do not seem aware of our city."

"Hey, you can trust us," Mimi insisted.

"Yeah, we're the good guys," Gabumon added.

Mercurymon's head turned, eyes not moving but his 'painted' lips seeming to chew, a long "hmm" noise from them. The mirror looking straight at her, Jaarin felt even more uneasy, frightened perhaps. Suzie looked unfazed. _"I thought I was meant to be the brave big 'sis."_

Finally, the Digimon smiled. "I think we shall. We are a friendly community; we can't have such suspicion going around."

"They seem harmless too," Sorcerymon added.

"_They're talking like we're not here."_

As if hearing her thoughts, the mirror turned to face them again. "I must apologise for the fourth degree, but it is wise to be cautious," Mercurymon gestured across them. "Welcome to our fine city of Bolton. My name is Mercurymon." He raised out a hand.

Matt glanced aside before stepping forth to shake it, still looking uneasy. "It's good to meet you, but why is it so good to be cautious here?"

"These are troubling times," Sorcerymon explained, and with a frown he glanced over to the horizon. "Strange events have been occurring; the Digital World is not quite so stable as she once was. I've heard news from the South as well…a vast tragedy is fast approaching."

"Like what?" Miki asked, a troubled expression replacing her wonderment.

"If I knew, I would say, but…it is like this world is diseased. Every day, we receive less and less messages. Digimon go out and do not come back, no matter how many days we wait."

"Do you think there's something out there?" Matt asked, looking to the same horizon Sorcerymon had looked to.

"_And if there is, are Henry and the others safe?"_

"Hmm…it is strange."

"Yeah, strange in a world that seems to be at threat ten times a day," Impmon said, rather more cynically. "Bet it's just some new Digimon up himself again, and I know the antidote…bada-boom!" he tossed a fireball down to the grass, roasting a small patch of it.

The lips upon the mirror shifted. "Perhaps that could be the case, but…if that were so, it would surely be in a specific direction that fate befell us from?"

"Huh?" Jaarin wondered. Mercurymon did not seem to be the easiest Digimon to understand.

Sorcerymon gestured circularly. "It does not matter where; the Digital World seems to be losing Digimon every day. This place…we used to receive so many messages from afar, but now we sit idle for day after day."

"Yggdrasil's demise merely worsened our situation," Mercurymon added.

"Wait…why's that?" Jaarin asked.

"Bolton has so much power - we could send messages to almost anywhere. Yggdrasil bestowed a decree upon us for the Royal Knights to use our services. It kept us all very busy, and in response Yggdrasil provided us with protection and importance," Sorcerymon explained.

"You can send messages?!" Ayaka exclaimed, eyes bursting wide. "Like, to someone else in the Digital World?"

"Allow me to restate that: we 'could' send messages to almost anywhere."

"These days, the equipment lies dormant. We have no-one to send messages to and the only messages we receive in return are from the few remaining stations nearby," Mercurymon clarified.

"Stations? Like, train stations?" Suzie asked.

Mercurymon shook his head. "The great Lord Yggdrasil cast upon this world a vast network of message stations; we all served such importance and prestige. While the rest of our world was disconnected and animalistic, we were proud and civilised. Alas, with his destruction most of the stations fell by the wayside: they had no power. With much trepidation for the future, built the Weather Machine so we would not do the same."

"The…weather machine?" Ayaka asked, glancing up at the rainclouds. "So that's what's causing…?"

"It does exactly what it sounds like. It generates a constant flow of rain, enough to power both itself and our proud city. We are a beacon of civilisation in the Endless Meadow."

"_Endless Meadow? Bolton? Weather Machine? Henry has never mentioned any of this." _There was no denying it; wherever they were, it was far from what any of them had experienced before.

"Isn't that impossible?" Jun asked, an eyebrow raised in bewilderment. "That's perpetual motion, right?"

"Perpetual motion?"

"You know, energy cannot be created or destroyed. There's no way that machine can both power itself and give you any power for the city too."

Jaarin quickly found herself re-evaluating her first impressions of this girl, and she could tell that Matt was doing likewise, a shocked expression on his face. Jun looked him straight in the eye.

"I took physics, duh!"

"Even I knew that," Mimi added from behind.

"Yeah, I did too," Gabumon agreed. Matt looked down, before slamming a palm into his face.

"Great..."

"I'm not surprised; it's not like you've made any effort at all to know me these past few years. But, who cares…the point is…that thing shouldn't work. It's basic science!"

For all her attempts to explain, Mercurymon and Sorcerymon simply stared on at the non-Tamer with straight, bewildered lips. It took a certain imp to break the silence.

"Toots, I'm all for you and your pretty little head learning about the gears of the world and all," Impmon patronised. "But this is the Digital World! Things don't work like your cushy little place here. Hell, I prefer it! None of that dumb-ass 'reality' to bog you down."

Jun looked startled, startled enough that for all she tried to respond, she could only sigh and bow her head in desperation. "I give up…I guess this explains why Davis is so insane."

"Are you kidding? He wouldn't ever think this deeply," Matt jibed, before being elbowed by Mimi, who shot him a glare, one just as bad as that from Jun.

"I am sorry, but who is this…Davis?" Sorcerymon asked, saving Matt from a painful collision of him and Jun's palm. The redhead turned to face the wizard upon hearing the name, a frown upon her face.

"He's my brother."

"Brother? What is this?"

"Uh…we share the same parents?"

"I see. Only recently have we had to come to terms with such a concept."

"_Terriermon's patch, I forgot about that. I was expecting this place to have turned into some explicit nightmare, but…I can't see anything, well, obvious. How did he manage that kind of programming?" _Terriermon was a Digimon, of course, but nonetheless, even with the time he spent at home while Henry was at school, Jaarin never imagined his programming powers would rival her dad's. He had somehow managed to devise a program to patch every single Digimon for reproduction.

It wasn't perfect, of course. Guilmon and Renamon fell afoul of it fairly quickly, even though thanks to Terriermon's lack of knowledge she had produced an egg rather than pregnancy, something that Henry later said seemed like a godsend. Terriermon's mistake had saved his friends a lot of bother, particularly when they had plenty to deal with themselves.

Still, Jaarin couldn't help but admit that what had happened in those nine months had changed her opinion of Takato and Rika, far more at the centre of it all than Guilmon and Renamon. At first, like most, she had been shocked: here were two kids her brother's age engaging in something that at that age herself she wouldn't have risked, and they had paid the price on their first go. To an extent, she had then felt pity, but what she heard from Henry were only sung praises. He thought so much of them, and slowly Jaarin found her way of thinking changed about them. Undeniably though, from what she had seen but a few hours earlier, Takato and Rika had come a long way from the sweet couple she occasionally saw.

She didn't know everything, and she knew that full well. Henry obviously didn't tell her everything, even with their long chats over the internet while she was at university. But…she felt glad he at least told her some things in the past. Now, he seemed so wrapped up in his own mind so constantly, and he wouldn't let on a word of what bothered him.

"…somewhere else in the Digital World. Do you think there's any way at all you could contact him?" Jun asked, hope in her eyes, hope shared by plenty of others around the group. For the first time ever, they seemed to have had a bit of luck, coming across a place designed for communications.

"I am afraid not."

So much for that.

"Allow me to elaborate: all the stations nearby would have told us by now were any newcomers to visit. Doubtless they are already aware of your arrival, and none are further than two linear gigabytes away, but a speck of dust across our vast land. The Endless Meadow only measures a gigabyte by a gigabyte."

"What about all these train tracks? Is there any way of getting a message out? Or we could ride the rails until we find something?" Miki asked, glee in her eyes in spite of all the hardship they faced. She was genuinely enjoying this new world. Jaarin shared a fraction of her enthusiasm, but having heard so much more from Henry she found it hard to entirely empathise.

"The Trailmon's visits are occasional. We have left the network. No one has much cause to come to our city, without Yggdrasil."

This was another of those knock-on effects. Without the ability to breed, Digimon had once begun to die out. Now, they were losing their connections and civilisation. _"This is a demonstration of 'unintended consequences' if I ever saw it."_

"But the equipment still works, am I right?" Impmon asked, promptly receiving a cautious nod, Sorcerymon hearing the leading tone in his voice. "So why don't you just turn it up to 11 and see who answers?"

"I suppose we could try that."

"Then do it. 'cause I don't want to be here a moment longer than I have to."

"Excuse me, but I cannot help but feel remarkably offended by your comments. We are renowned up north for our hospitality," Mercurymon replied, his lips a frown.

"Geez, sorry. I want to get back to my friends and Tamers, if that's alright with you and your hospitality? I don't know about you, but I owe a Gogglehead a piece of my mind! So I hope we can send this message out pronto."

"_Would that be his only piece?"_

"Hmm…we would have to prepare everything. You can stay here until then."

"Well I'm not sure about everyone else, but I'm exhausted. I'm all for that if you guys are?" Matt asked, glancing about the group. Jaarin looked down to Suzie, who for all her optimism couldn't help but look tired from all the walking they had done.

"Yeah!" was the unanimous response.

"Then follow me thus ways." Mercurymon gestured with his mirror-wearing hand towards the entrance to Bolton's streets, his face still leaving Jaarin a little on edge.

"_I hope this is right," _she mused, as they began to follow the pair of Digimon. Other Digimon, a mixture of shapes and sizes, lined their sides, all curious about these new 'Humon' who had come to visit.

This was truly a bewildering world, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Jaarin smiled. She could tell why Henry enjoyed this.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed that. To clarify something I don't think I'll be able to write into the narrative, Bolton is in the Steampunk style. You might want to look it up if you haven't heard of it before. Anyhow, to make up for the dearth of updates somewhat, a preview of what's to come…

* * *

**FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN**

**Dear Mr Yamaki Mitsuo,**

**I would like to first and foremost apologise unreservedly for the acts of my predecessor, and would hope that you might pass that apology down to the Tamers as well. They have taken a great toll from this all, and I would like to invite them for a personal apology if they so wish. All of their transgressions are pardoned, and I have made it my priority to put measures in place so this does not reoccur.**

**I am aware of a number of fatalities from this incident, both amongst your staff and amongst those who were in the Digital World. Funds will be available to the families for a memorial service, and they may be planted in the reserved cemeteries of central Tokyo if so wished. Whilst they are not in a military capacity, they regardless died serving their country and protecting its populace from harm, and they should be remembered as such.**

**I would also like to pass on the news that I will be allocating funds to restore the damaged area of Shinjuku Park. At this present time, our funding looks stretched by the rebuilding work, but I believe that since the Japanese government owes the surviving Tamers enough for their great service it is but a small price to pay. While their most-frequented area of the park may be rather busy for the next few weeks with construction workers, I am certain they will appreciate the gesture when it is finished.**

**In light of the recent events, I am reconsidering the role of Hypnos within the Japanese government, and its remit in terms of the constant Digital threat we face. I will report to you my thoughts in a future letter. Be assured, I have no intention of disbanding or removing your organisation and its connection with those it supports.**

**Regardless, I would also hope that more effective screening processes during recruitment are now being pursued, to avoid a repeat of the same incident.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**The Prime Minister's Office**

**P.S. A detailed report of the damage and the incident as a whole as is apparent so far (229 pages) is attached for your reading.**

* * *

Heh, there's a lot of red herrings and my usual tricks in this, so I wouldn't take anything at face value if I were you. All is not as it appears. Happy speculating!

Until next time…

B.C.


	30. Phase Two: Disconnection

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

**Phase Two**

_Disconnection_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Janyuu Wong**

* * *

"Oh come on Henry, you could throw those things at brick walls and they'd survive! Heck, I'd bet they'd even survive being thrown at Kazu's head!"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai."

"Ugh…it doesn't matter how indestructible they are, it just doesn't work here for some reason…I can't even email Takato sitting right over there."

"It's not working for me either. And Rika's not replying."

This wasn't exactly the most extensive of fault-finding missions the programmer had seen, but Janyuu already had the feeling that such was unnecessary. His son and Takato peered down at their D-Vices while sitting on some short rocks, isolated randomly in the midst of the desert, a million years of erosion in their faces. He knew such was unlikely – the rock had been created that way. How exactly, even he wasn't sure. Programmed, perhaps? Maybe they simply spawned with the Digital World? This entire plane of existence beggared belief, and was a greater mystery than even that of the Digimon and DigiGnomes. It had existed before the Monster Makers had ever been involved, even if it had taken decades for such to become truly clear.

But when had it started? Was there even a way of finding out the Digital World's true age? And how had it formed? So many questions, most of which he doubted he would ever learn the answers to.

"Hey Rei, have you ever seen anything like this?" Takato looked up to his daughter, the girl currently on her hands and knees nearby peering down into a pile of what could only be described as random 'bits' alongside her partner, Realmon. Occasionally, she would lift a piece with her hand, peering at it before placing it back down in another place.

Thanks to this, she failed to react, and Takato cocked his head, wandering toward her.

Realmon finally glanced behind, and a flurry of movement followed. What sort of movement wasn't clear, but the expression on Rei's face…it puzzled Janyuu why she had it. It looked like Suzie when she was younger, stealing sugar cubes from the packet and stashing them in her pockets.

"Yeah?" Rei's voice sounded remarkably like her father's, that tone of naïve denial about what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Takato sounded just bewildered, peering down at the 'bits'. Rei turned, a strange tone still in her voice.

"Just sorting through the bits of my Time Device."

Chaos chuckled. **"You make it sound normal."**

Rei shrugged. "No luck though. What's up?"

"Uh…Henry and me were just trying to email home and it didn't work. Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

Rei grimaced. "The D-Vice isn't invincible Takato, you know?"

"**As much as Terriermon over there wants to throw it at a brick wall."**

"It's got a lifetime warranty though," Henry replied, putting a slight grin on and raising his arm. "Seems that every time we destroy one, we get a better one in its place."

"I can testify to that." There was an oddly resigned tone to Takato's voice.

"**That's an understatement."**

Takato's alter-ego silenced again. His head bowed with his eyes closed for but a second, and then it flew up once again, a determined gaze in his pupils. "Still, there has to be a way we can contact home. Even if you can't teleport there now, there are people to help."

"If their email accounts and telephone lines aren't being monitored or blocked already," Henry sighed. Janyuu began to wonder how long it would take for them to recover their assets, particularly credit cards, phones and email accounts, if they had the luck of actually making it home alive and clearing their names. That was a big if, of course.

"They must have missed someone. They don't know everything about us," Terriermon suggested. "At least, I hope not."

Rei clambered to her feet, Realmon leaping onto her shoulder as she put her hand on her chin. "Hmm…"

"Like who? I think we brought the whole neighbourhood with us!" Terriermon dampened their ideas, sweeping an ear out across the desert. Amongst the various groups standing and sitting around, (an unlikely sight if Janyuu ever saw one) theirs was perhaps the only one doing any visible work. Mari, Rika and Davis, meanwhile, had long vanished into the distance upon their partners. Even the remainder of the Monster Makers were sitting down, a few odd pieces of technology they had gathered from their fellow dimension-travellers spread about them, all with static upon their screens. The situation was far from ideal. Riley and Tally seemed to have opened up one of the laptops, while Eiichi, enthralled, peered in. From all those days of working with the man, Janyuu could easily tell he made a far better politician than technician. Rayleigh, or, at least, Rayleigh's plan, seemed to disagree.

"There are several organisations around the world also concerned with Digimon; Hypnos was simply the first to take them head-on," interrupted the previously-silent head of Hypnos, or, at least, Former Head of Hypnos. Or maybe even the Former Head of Former Hypnos. Janyuu didn't even want to think into the future to that degree right now – Hypnos had given them such an insight into the Digital World and the Digimon that losing it would be losing their research funding all over again. "The Japanese Government's word will not be taken as Gospel by all."

"**You hope."**

"If I'm not mistaken, there is little else we can do right this moment."

"**I know. I was just being realistic. I'd say it depends on what those other countries have to gain and lose."**

"If they're suspecting all Tamers as being threats, we could be out of luck already, and so would all the Tamer programs out there."

"Tamer programs?" Takato asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

There was hesitancy in Yamaki's tone, as he crossed his arms. Janyuu knew why – this wasn't the sort of thing they wanted to say until they knew more about it. "Tokyo and Hypnos have been the unfortunate guinea pigs for whether having children paired with Digimon acts as an effective defence against Digimon."

"Takato, I thought Tokyo was a city. What's a guinea pig?" Guilmon asked, tilting his head as he looked up to his Tamer. Janyuu wanted to smile at the sight, but knew the circumstances were inappropriate.

"Tokyo _is_ a city Guilmon – it's just a phrase. He means we've been used as like, a test run."

"So we're not the only Tamers out there?" Henry looked deeply curious. "Why didn't you let us know this?"

"The program has not yet been put into place properly anywhere Henry," Janyuu explained. "But it is in the preliminary phases in the USA already. They have been recruiting teenagers; they asked for our assistance in finding them Digimon to pair with."

"The Digimon and Tamer bond isn't that easy to manufacture," Rei dismissed, frowning. Her tone was rather downhearted all of a sudden. "If those Digimon and their Tamers aren't as close as natural pairs, I don't even want to think what might happen."

"That's why they were only undergoing a test round in New York." Janyuu realised that perhaps he should've elaborated more about how everything was still rather uncertain; the Americans did not spill everything they did and most of what they knew came from connections. But the risk of there being Tamers out there, or near-Tamers at least, was high. Indeed, not just those Tamers were at risk: the whole organisation was under threat. If Digimon on the 'good side' were able to break through military-grade security, in a government home no less, and in turn betray humanity's fledgling trust in them, they and anyone with them was a threat. It would be a case of 'fire first, ask questions later' if push came to shove.

"Who are they using?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Other countries at least have the luxury of time: our bioemergence rates in Tokyo are far higher." Maybe it was thanks to more concentrated use of technology and the internet? Maybe it was Hypnos' fault for 'opening a hole'? If it were the latter, it seemed to have done little more than speed up the process; bioemergences in other major cities were increasing too. The world needed to be ready.

"This world could be full of Tamers before long," Henry mused, hand on chin.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Terriermon chirped from atop his head.

"Depends who those Tamers are."

"**Listen…I know it's really nice to have the luxury of thinking of others right now, and believe me, it makes a change for me, but for once I think my arse is more important. Oh, and all of your arses too. Maybe not Harmony's."**

"I think Chaos means we have to protect ourselves first," Takato explained.

"**Did I ask for an interpreter?"**

"Takato, what's an…?"

"**We'll explain later Guilmon."**

"Oh, okay!"

"I can't just worry for us though," Henry continued, as if the fact one of their friends was practically talking to themselves was perfectly normal. "What about Suzie and Jaarin?"

"They'll be fine Henry, I'm sure," Takato insisted, a smile on his face. "They've got the others with them."

"Yeah, but we don't even know if they're all together."

Janyuu looked his son in the eyes. "Henry, you've told me time and time again that they're capable." A grimace crossed both father and son's expressions.

"We have to trust them to keep themselves safe," Takato added.

"Yeah, Lopmon may be polite as hell but I'm pretty sure she can pack a mean punch as Cherubimon!"

"And Jaarin's pretty bright Henry, I'm pretty sure she won't just run out in front of a Digimon if she's on her own," Terriermon reassured. "She's not Takato."

"Hey!"

"**Come on, admit it, it's true. You do some suicidal things."**

Janyuu pressed on with the conversation as Takato let out a deep sigh of resignation. Placing a hand on his son's shoulder, he looked down into the boy's eyes. "Just let your mother and I do the worrying about them, so you can concentrate on keeping all of us safe."

Henry looked up, a brief hesitance before he answered "thanks Dad."

"It's what we're here for."

"Aw, isn't it lovely and soppy," Terriermon gagged from atop Henry's head.

"Terriermon…"

"What?! It's not like…"

"Damn."

"Huh?"

The faintest of clicks sounded, and Janyuu turned to see Yamaki standing bolt-upright, an alarmed look in his eyes. Another click, again from the lighter in his hand. "I remembered why I knew we were all in danger from the minute we arrived here."

"**Duh, it's the Digital World! Everywhere's…"**

"No, but this is different," Yamaki turned to face them, pausing for a moment with his hand on his chin while he dredged up the memories. "This area of the Digital World is the one we scan most frequently; over the last year, we've noticed it's started a pattern."

"A pattern of what?"

"Instability," Janyuu added, frowning as he realised he too knew what Yamaki meant. In all of this discovery, it had never truly occurred to him how this place was the product of all the numbers he had seen from Hypnos, whether good or bad. Every random and seemingly-distant statistic he'd heard about it now became a matter of life or death. "It's more than waste data too – this area is becoming more and more corrupted over time, and we don't know why either. In a computer, we'd simply scan the disk and remove all the bad sectors, but here they fester and spread. As the Digital World has grown, this area has become the least stable."

There was a moment of silence, eyes looking about. Takato turned round, staring at the horizon, a few spires of pink shooting down from it. Was it more than usual? "Is that the result?"

"But that's just people accessing the data here," Henry explained. "I haven't seen anything different yet to make me think that…wait…" The boy's eyes shot down to his wrist.

"That wait? Mind finishing your sentences Henry?" Terriermon complained.

"The time."

Janyuu nodded to his son. "This world runs on UTC. It's meant to be early morning, but it's daytime right now."

"**And there was all that weird night-day stuff earlier."**

"Then the instability has affected the time around here," Realmon inferred.

"The situation is worsening as well." Yamaki's mouth was a thin line. "Recently, these patterns have spread to neighbouring zones and regions. Even away from the Southern Region, the Digital World seems to be suffering."

"Why's that?" Takato asked, raising an eyebrow.

Janyuu shook his head at the trio of Tamers and Digimon. "We don't yet know."

"**That helps a lot."**

"Regardless, I don't want you breathing a word of this to anyone else, got that? The last thing we want is a mass panic." Yamaki's voice was harsh and firm, as he awaited their replies. Janyuu caught his son looking him uncomfortably in the eyes, grimacing. "We can deal with this issue later; right now we have bigger problems," he added.

"Fine," Takato resigned. "But I'm worried there might be more problems out there now."

"Even if we know, can we avoid them?" Henry asked, frowning. Janyuu knew what he meant: if this plane was becoming increasingly instable, there was no telling what could happen. The world could warp faster than they could notice. Indeed, what would happen to them? Would it be possible for them to survive, or were they alien to this desert level, like bacteria flushed down the drain?

"We can go up," Rei raised a hand, pointing skywards, before sweeping it across to the horizon. "Or out. The Digital World has regions, and the Southern Region has levels too. We'll be safer there…at least, if I understood you both right?" She looked in Janyuu and Yamaki's direction.

"We'll be saf_er_ at least," was all Janyuu could say.

Rei put her hands in the pockets, frowning as she twisted around to look across the group about them. "Let's just hope Mom and the others can find a way of moving this many people then."

It was that point that her expression faltered in surprise, before becoming the slightest of smiles as a low rumbling began to emanate from the ground. As she raised her finger to point, a wide and amused grin painted itself onto her face.

"That'll do."

* * *

**DarkRenamon**

* * *

"So you came from here?"

DarkRenamon glanced down to the girl tightly gripped in her arms, beady eyes staring up, still in awe at this newfangled world about her. The Digimon's expression stayed more suppressed, as she gave a short "yes."

"I don't know why you would ever want to leave it."

The Digimon grimaced. "This world is dangerous: I wanted more than just losing life and limb."

"So Yggdrasil was a way to that?" Mari sounded rather sceptical, a rather nasty landing making her hold onto DarkRenamon far more tightly. She continued to try and peer out, however, and see the rocks as they flew by, the vixen's feet pounding into the sand every few moments. Nearby, she could see Raidramon and Kyubimon making their own tracks across the desert, making their own searches through a maze of rocks, a perfect hiding place for a perfect way out. Or, at least, so they hoped. Youkomon had de-digivolved upon sighting some of the tighter rocky valleys, deciding she would be more manoeuvrable as a rookie.

"…I was misguided, at least at first."

"But you found us through him."

"Even though it worked out in the end, I still can't live with how much I fell for his words. He manipulated every one of his servants – made us believe he was a god and attacked anyone who got in his way. I was too blind at the time."

"But things are better now. Yggdrasil's gone. You can be happy, right?" Mari smiled hopefully, gazing up at her.

DarkRenamon shot up in the air, before coming to a pause atop one of the tall rocks, both feet touching the ground for the first time in a while. After letting down Mari, the girl turned back to face her, a look of concern at the lack of a reply. She opened her mouth, but the Kitsune quickly interrupted.

"I'd do anything to protect you Mari. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah…why are you asking? We'd do anything for each other."

DarkRenamon went to reply, but paused. How could she explain what was going through her mind? She didn't want to acknowledge the problem yet again; maybe that was what was causing it? Maybe they simply didn't believe enough that it could work?

A hand touched hers, and she found Mari staring back. "It's the bond again, isn't it?"

DarkRenamon nodded, and looked down to where their hands met. "We're so close…you knew exactly what I was thinking…" _"But we can't use telepathy or anything."_

Mari frowned as she realised what had happened. _"S…r…"_

"It's not your fault."

"Come on, it's not yours either. I don't know, maybe we're just…different, somehow? We don't have to beat ourselves up about it."

All of the other Tamers and their Digimon were as open with each other as they were, right? And their bonds were so tight, to the point where they became one so often to share their strength. Even the First Demon had biomerged with his BlackRyuudamon, a Digimon more loyal than any.

And yet, they found themselves more like Chiyo and DarkBiyomon, always clutching for biomerging but never quite reaching it. They were as close as Mari and DarkRenamon; they were as close as any Tamer and partner really. But it had never happened…

"We've always had to fight to be together. We didn't even become partners straight away," Mari continued. "And then you had to die to manage even that. And then, you only became Doumon because I was angry at…Chiyo for killing Ryder."

"So what are you saying?"

"I don't know. Maybe we just have to wait and see?"

DarkRenamon looked down into Mari's eyes, gazing into them as she gazed back, rather more uncertainty in hers. "Maybe something's blocking it."

"Like what?"

"I wish I knew. Hands."

Mari looked briefly confused, before she noticed that DarkRenamon had raised her paws out in front of her, fingers open to grip. Feeling Mari's tiny (by comparison) digits around them, she gripped the girl again, before leaping backwards and down into the nearby canyon.

She went to jump again, but paused, the dust settling around them for a moment, not a single particle sticking to clothes or fur.

"What's that?"

DarkRenamon put her arm out, blocking her Tamer's curious advance forward until she could see clearly what filled half of the canyon they had landed in. What she saw came as a rather big surprise.

"Railroad cars? What are a bunch of railroad cars doing in the middle of the…?" Mari paused to look up and down the crevasse, her eyes stopping on the opening nearby. DarkRenamon could see glistening tracks running out and across the desert, ones that continued back to near where they stood. "Ah."

"That would explain the tracks."

"Yeah, but still….what are all these cars doing here? They look like they're out of the 50s," Mari noted, wandering towards the wood-panelled cars and placing a hand flat upon it. "It feels like it's out of the 50s," she added, knocking the wood. "Feels like it too."

The next sound was rather unexpected.

A snore.

More accurately, a disrupted snore, the sort a bad snorer made just before they were about to awake.

Mari took an uneasy step back, DarkRenamon placing her paws on the girl's shoulders protectively. "What was that?"

"It came from the front," the vixen explained, raising a paw. Mari nodded, freeing herself and beginning to uneasily wander along the length of the train, the locomotive (for that was what DarkRenamon presumed most likely) at the front of the cars not clearly visible from such an angle. Her hand trailed along the side of the cars, only coming off for the gaps between the five or so of them. The Digimon followed behind, bracing herself. This world, even as her home world, was unpredictable, and the lack of light from above yet tons of light from the front gave a bizarre ambiance to the extremely thin canyon. There would only just be enough room for another track in it, if that.

Another snore echoed, Mari taking her hand from the cars in unease as they shook.

"Uh…hello?" she called, her voice as echoed as the snores were. Doubtless their footsteps were louder to whatever it was they saw ahead, making it completely needless to creep. But, care in such a case was still wise – they had no idea whether this was friend or foe. Or neutral, for that matter. Whatever it was, waking it from its sleep could've been a bad move.

They continued their steps, finally passing the front car and reaching the painted-red metal of the locomotive, broken only by an unpainted (and bulkier) section in the middle. Towards the front, a large screw-like object jutted out, and what looked like thick metal teeth began to come into clear view as they continued to walk. The sight made DarkRenamon uneasy, but Mari seemed unfazed, even if she no longer trailed her hand along its side.

"I've never seen a train like this before."

"Just be careful."

Mari nodded, although there was reluctance to it. DarkRenamon was aware that both Mari and Ryder in the past had objected to being 'over-protected' – humans seemed to place a certain sense of pride in being able to handle themselves. Either that or it was Angels who were victims of it, and either way it did little to truly keep them safe. Ryder apparently had little to worry about in that sense; Mari was a different question entirely.

Finally, they were able to look at the front of the locomotive. Above the thick metal teeth, panel lines raised to a pair of shut eyes and a large yellow light, while two rails protruded below. The teeth opened and closed periodically in time with the snoring of the creature.

"That's one odd looking train." Mari raised her D-Vice, DarkRenamon thankful for the feeling of connection with her Tamer briefly going through her. It still alarmed her though that she didn't feel this constantly, the feeling that they shared something, even if right now it was simply using her eyes as cameras and her mind to analyse the sight before them. "DeuxTrailmon, Data Type, Champion Level, attacks are Cool Running and Break Spark. Says here it's like a regular Trailmon with two rails."

"You know, I'm awake, don't you?"

Mari took a step back, and DarkRenamon found herself subconsciously doing the same. One of the eyes had opened, looking out at them as the mouth grimaced somewhat.

"No, of course I don't mind. Interrupting my first nap in 30 turns."

"Sorry…we were just wondering what you were," Mari tried to explain. The DeuxTrailmon grimaced. His voice continued to sound absolutely unimpressed and monotonous.

"Fantastic. The name is Franken, by the way. Who are you two?"

"I'm Mari Flynn, and this is DarkRenamon."

"I apologise for awaking you." The vixen felt obliged to bow slightly in apologies. Perhaps the customs of Japan were rubbing off on her, or perhaps it was just her constant sense of politeness and grace? Regardless, she found herself more and more influenced by the humans around her every day, so the former could easily have been possible.

"I see. Anything you girls need or what?"

The tone of boredom mixed with sarcasm made it fairly clear to DarkRenamon that this would not be such an easy negotiation. On the face of it, however, this would be perfect: enough space for their whole group inside and the ability to travel easily.

"I was wondering if you could give us a lift," Mari asked, but received yet another dulled reply.

"You seemed to get here fine on your own."

"No, I mean…I'm with a few of my friends…okay, a lot, and we're sort of stuck out in the desert not far from here. There's a bunch of tracks near us, and I was wondering if you could give us a lift to the next level up?"

"I'd rather sleep."

"Pretty please."

"Pretty? I don't understand how please can be pretty. It's a word, isn't it? Or do you mean you're pretty?"

DarkRenamon inwardly sighed. This was going to take a while…

"'cause you are a bit of a looker."

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

"She looks so lonely."

"I know. I can't imagine she was expecting her day to end up like this."

Ryder could see Donmon's head turning up to look up at him, but he didn't meet those eyes, instead removing his hand from his chin and sighing.

"I should go talk to her. It's my fault she's here. I'm betting I'm the last person she wants to talk to right now, but I've got to do something."

He took a step forward across the desert, heading for a nearby rock. It was so small it was easily dominated by the girl sitting atop it, her blonde hair glowing enough in the invisible sun to make one think she could be optimistic. Yet, her head was bowed, a foot gently sculpting the sand below, like one would doodle while on the phone.

She kicked the sand. Did she hear him coming? This was a bad move, wasn't it?

Ryder kept his distance when he opened his mouth, a mental block preventing him going any further. She wasn't even meant to be here.

"Hey…uh…Nat."

She barely moved her head, as he just caught her blue eyes rise slightly before falling back to the sand. "Yo," she said, except it was so low she may as well have mouthed it. He drew in closer, falling down to rest on the rock with the utmost of care.

"You okay?"

"Yes."

"_Evidently not." _With her head bowed and her tone monotonous, it was clear such was a lie. Ryder frowned, looking straight out at the desert again and seeing Donmon following after as cautiously as he did. He smiled slightly: Donmon had no reason to be worried, he wasn't the one who had insisted the girl came with; it was just a classic case of like 'Tamer, like partner'.

Or was it?

His smile dropped. Was it just simply his mind? He still hadn't confirmed the suggestions of his recent death fantasy to be true or not. Was this just his mind being lazy and not creating an independent personality for Donmon? Looking at how real the sand beneath his shoes was (or, at least, Digital), it was hard to believe, but on the other hand, there was a lot going for the idea.

If Ivy _was_ by his bedside, maybe this girl was just his mind's way of showing her. And if so, maybe he had to comfort her…

"You don't seem okay."

"Ryder, I don't want to sound rude to someone I only just met, but drop it."

"It's just…"

The venom in her eyes as her head shot up for the first time to glare was as far from Ivy as it was possible to be. "We met this morning Ryder, and already I can see you're nowhere near as nice as Digital Watch always made out."

Ryder put his hands up defensively at the outburst. If this was 'Ivy', then Ivy really hated him right now. "Hey, I was just trying to help."

"You dragged me to another world and fed me lie after lie about why I should!"

"The soldiers would've…"

"Bullshit!"

Ryder gritted his teeth. If this girl wasn't even going to listen to reason, he was going to have to resort to her tactics. "Then why didn't you run when you could? You had every opportunity!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I was so associated with you all by then that they would've shot me on sight! You made me an even bigger target!"

"Then you didn't have a choice at all, so why are you getting at me?! It's not all my fault!" Ryder's palms stayed flat out in front of him. Not that he expected to be hit. "Just listen to me for once. I'm on your side."

"Ryder, I don't even fucking know you. But you know what? From the first time I met you for real this morning, you and Mari have been giving me the eye, so whatever you self-serving freaks are planning, count me out of it!"

"But Ivy, you have to…"

Ryder felt like kicking himself when he realised what he'd said, Natsuki's glare growing harsher than ever before. "Ivy?! Who is this goddamn Ivy? And what does she have to do with me?!"

"She…she…she's no-one."

Pain rushed through Ryder's face. A familiar one from that day so far.

And straight away, he knew he had picked the wrong answer.

His hand rushed to his reddened cheek, a handprint beginning to fade but leaving a deep soreness behind. Natsuki breathed deeply, still glaring, every word dripping in malice.

"You're a nasty piece of work, Ryder Stevens." She hissed, before turning and beginning to stomp away, making pits in the sand with each foot that landed.

"Wait…"

The girl paused, shooting a glare over her shoulder and yelling "shut up! And don't follow me!" before she continued on her way. Ryder found himself alone on the rock, at least until Donmon plodded up to him with a saddened expression on his face.

"You okay?"

It was Ryder's turn to keep his head down now, playing with the sand with his feet. "No."

Clenching his eyes closed, all that flashed through in front of them was Ivy. Memories of her from before he vanished, memories of his funeral, of being with her on the meadow, and of her by his bedside. Natsuki wasn't her, she just couldn't be.

The worst thing was; he thought he had a chance at befriending and making it up to the blonde scant seconds ago. He couldn't help but curse his loose mouth.

Everything was happening so fast today, from being attacked to being killed to the hideout exploding, and then crashing down into a new world separate from the others. Every time he'd had no control over it. It seemed unlike a dream, but all he could always remember about dreams was the helplessness while one was having one, more so than real life. Things would happen without your control, from being suddenly naked in the worst situation, to flying and falling, to saying the wrong thing at the worst possible time. This reality was so much like that. _"Aside from the nakedness."_

"You look more depressed than when you killed C…" Donmon's words trailed off, and Ryder glanced to the Digimon briefly, those events flashing across his mind. How he had breathed once again, seen Mari in danger, and acted before he knew what was going on.

The distant echo of the gunshot bounced around his mind, and he cringed upon hearing it once again.

"_I wish I had missed."_

His eyebrows furrowed, as something occurred to him for the first time since then. How?

How did he fire a gun without any form of proper training, and manage such a perfect and deadly shot from such a distance and such a pose? Not just a deadly shot, but one which avoided hitting Mari and kept the girl alive long enough for him to witness her last moments.

It made no sense. He never managed anything like that normally, not that kind of luck.

Could it be? Like in those dreams, he simply wished for it to happen and…it did? Was he in a coma?

Of all the evidence, he found this to be the most conclusive. Even if he had wanted it so much at the time, wanted to protect Mari, afterwards he had regretted his actions so much. A slightly more tactical aim could've done the same without having to resort to killing again. Maybe that was it, the self-torture that always seemed to come with his dreams forever before.

Gritting his teeth, he found himself looking straight at Donmon. "Tell me what to say."

"Huh?"

"Tell me what I have to say to fix everything."

"I…don't know."

"Of course you do…you're all part of this big game…this giant piss-take my mind is taking! Tell me!"

"I wouldn't…what are you talking about?"

Ryder paused, reconsidering his words, knowing how damaging they would be if it all turned out to be real. He would appear so mad, and that very thought made him hold back his next outburst long enough for Donmon to chirp up.

"Ryder, you're acting really weird. What's wrong?"

A rumbling began to emanate from nearby, much shouting in surprise following. Ryder's head swung round, as under his breath he muttered "how convenient."

"That looks like…a train?"

"Let's go."

Ryder took a step forward, ignoring the bewildered gazes from his partner and cursing himself for doing so. Why didn't he tell the creature? His best friend in the whole world, someone who stuck with him through thick and thin, who would believe anything he said. Couldn't he trust him anymore?

What about Mari? Why hadn't he told her yet? She'd help him…she could even have been the answer. Maybe he had to tell her about it to get out of this coma? Shouting at the world hadn't seemed to help so far.

But that was the problem. It was all "seemed", "could" and "might". Nothing was definite, and so he had no idea if these people and Digimon were real or just part of his sadistic imagination. Was it worth telling them? What would the consequences be, both if it were true and if it weren't? How would they feel to know such a thing?

That was why he had never told them. He couldn't. It was wrong. So wrong.

"Ryder…"

"I'm fine."

"Uh-huh."

* * *

**Takeru Takaishi**

* * *

"He'll have Gabumon and the others with him too; I know he'll be fine."

In spite of his hopeful tone, Takeru didn't believe any of his words. It's not that he doubted his brother's abilities as a Tamer or those of his friends to help him out, it was just…he found himself unable to be uncertain or optimistic about anything right now.

But, to help his parents' fears, he knew he had to put on a brave face. His father nodded, looking to his ex-wife, his words remaining reserved and suggesting rather than firm and assured like their conversations before the divorce. At least, from the conversations he could hazily remember of those halcyon days, that was what he thought it was like. Matt and him rarely talked about it, so he was unable to get a clearer view on things.

"I think Takeru's right…we can trust Matt to take care of himself."

Nancy nodded, yet kept her worried frown. "I know. It just feels like we've lost everything."

"We'll fix it. We've come back from worse." Takeru couldn't think of an example, but it was better to get their hopes up. Sure, they had faced the end of the world before, but they hadn't faced the world turning on them. The rules were so different, and visibly fighting back would only lead to more opposition. All he could really do was rack his mind for an idea, try to survive, and keep his parents safe.

Nothing else mattered right now.

The sight of a brunette out of the corner of his eye, sitting alone on a nearby rock and engaged in a staring contest with the sand, begged to differ. Excusing himself from his somewhat bewildered parents, he wandered over towards her, hearing Patamon's wings flapping after him.

Glancing aside first with nerves he neither expected nor wanted from such a situation, he sat down next to Kari. Smiling in the same fake way he had to his parents, he put an arm round her, his voice chirpy yet just as false as his expression. "Cheer up."

An eye glanced up to him, a slim smile on her face as she sat up. "I've been trying to."

Her hands twitched together, picking at her fingernails. Takeru looked up to the world around them and away from her, still himself a bit in disbelief at how far it went away from them. The Earth orb, as ever, loomed overhead, reminding him of their first visit to this area of the Digital World, before the cataclysm. He doubted they would be able to break through the sky with Rika and Takato's help this time.

Those seemed like brighter times, even if he knew at the back of his mind that the Demon Lords were razing Tokyo to the ground the whole time. They were exploring a new world with the support of billions on their side, knowing they were protecting Earth from huge threats even if at right that moment they just had to regroup.

Now, it seemed the people of the world could take them or leave them. They had been expelled.

"We can't go home."

"We could?"

"We'd be killed Takeru – Rayleigh wouldn't let us talk to him." She gritted her teeth. "I hate that man so much."

"Same."

Her gaze averted, looking out across the desert again with a frown, sighing deeply as she looked to him. Takeru suddenly felt so uncomfortable about the arm on her back, even if it was something he'd done a thousand times before without such worries. He retracted it, before putting up a brave smile.

"We'll come up with something though. We always do. And we've got all the time in the world to do so."

"My dad's still home. What happens if a Digimon bioemerges?"

"Then Rayleigh will deal with it. He had to know what he was getting himself in for when he got rid of us."

"Yeah, and I know my dad's not stupid enough to face a Digimon head-on. I can just picture him now though…in a police cell with no-one to stand up for him. I wish I'd gone to find him rather than just saving myself."

"You saved your mom. And there's no saying for sure he'd been captured."

Kari smiled slightly. "Thanks Takeru."

"Huh?"

"For being you."

"Oh. It's my job, you know." But what did she mean? Was she talking about his 'hope'? He knew it was fake, it wasn't sincere enough to come from his heart or crest or anything. Was it him just being a friend? Being nice? As with so many things with the girl now, he found every conversation just left him wondering more and more about questions he never wanted answered. He didn't want all the hopeful possibilities in his mind replaced with a bitter truth; he didn't want to be awake.

He found himself in yet another moment like that, as she leant her head onto his sadly. Part of his mind yelled she was just being a friend – of all in their group of younger Tamers, they were the closest. The rest…wanted to believe otherwise. He found himself torn between which he believed; what he wanted to, or what he knew he had to.

"Can you hear something?"

"Huh?"

She sat up again, and that blissful moment was over. Her brown eyes danced around, looking back over her shoulder as an eyebrow cocked. "What's that?"

Twisting round, Takeru was greeted by the oddest sight. It looked like a train, yet the locomotive was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It rumbled as it rode the old rails, drawing closer and closer before it rushed past them and screeched just as quickly to a halt near the bulk of their group nearby, smoke filling the air about it before sinking to reveal a set of humans and Digimon disembarking.

"This is our stop," chirped Mari, leaping off the balcony of the front carriage with a wide smile, DarkRenamon in tow.

"I figured. I wasn't expecting another big group of humans around here. You aren't exactly six a dozen around these parts."

The novelty of the talking train was dampened only slightly by its drab and sarcastic tone, Takeru feeling more and more confused by these events. Just where had they found this thing?

Davis and Veemon leapt down next, the Gogglehead grinning widely as he gestured to what they had found to the quickly assembled crowd, all staring on with wide eyes.

"Heh, will this do?" he proclaimed, looking far happier than Rika and Renamon following behind.

"I really can't believe it…Davis found us a way out!" Kari exclaimed to Takeru, climbing to her feet and turning back, hand out. Her smile faltered when she looked at him, before she pressed onwards. "Come on, let's get over there."

Takeru sullenly nodded, taking the offer of a hand and clambering to a stand. "Right." He found his optimism even faker than before. He wanted to be glad. He wanted to be proud of Davis for coming through for them and finding them a way out. He wanted to be happy that Kari was happy. But instead, he cursed himself for his real thoughts. _"Why couldn't it be me who made her happy?"_

* * *

**Natsuki Takara**

* * *

Even with the red in her eyes, she knew she was being insane as her feet pounded against the sand. Why was she running? She didn't even know herself; all she knew is that she wanted to get out. To escape, from everyone and everything that had happened in the past few hours.

She half-expected to wake up any moment and find it was all a nightmare. She hoped such was the case too.

Why was she here? Why did that bastard drag her all this way? What sick self-serving thing did he want?

Every time they had looked at her, there had been whispers. Every time she had asked why, there had been denial and insistence. She'd seen him die and come back to life; was he even human? The sheer abnormality of everything that was transpiring pushed her under, drowned her.

She didn't want to know any answers.

"_I just want to go home."_

The sight of the pulsing earth orb above made her pause, her hands on her knees as her eyes finally explored where she had ended up. She couldn't even see the Tamers any more; they must've been hidden behind the rocks about them, rocks oddly reminiscent of satellite dishes.

This sort of thing didn't exist on Earth, at least not to her knowledge. It was just so…alien. _"I don't think I'd be shocked if someone told me this _was_ Mars."_

The thought made her sigh, as, without even a moment of searching for a seat, she collapsed backwards in exhaustion. Her arms looped around her kneecaps, as she pulled her legs in close. Here, right in the middle of the canyon, she felt so small, so…insignificant. Without a Digimon, perhaps she was.

"_Ryder doesn't think so. Just what does he want?"_

She cursed herself for not asking; when that angry, she could've said anything, asked anything.

A tear drifted down her face, as her forehead fell against her legs, the girl letting out a suppressed scream. She kept her mouth closed; she didn't want anyone coming to check if she was alright, certainly not a Tamer. Why had she been so fascinated by them, their group, their culture?

"_If I were normal…I'd be safe at home right now." _In every novel she'd ever read, from Orwell's 1984 to a dozen thriller anime and manga, anyone pushing their boundaries in what they could know would pay the price at the hands of those in charge. She never expected fiction to become reality, but, here she was now, associated with the Tamers in the most high-profile murder to hit Japan in a century.

Worst still, she couldn't just lay the blame at the hands of Ryder and Mari, even if they were the worst offenders. The whole group seemed obsessed with conspiracy and were embroiled in enough of their own: the session of revelations she had been witness to had taught her enough about that.

"_Not that I believed any of it. Time traveller and Gods my arse. That's just…impossible. Point blank, impossible. There's always a simpler explanation for these things. Rei just isn't a time traveller. I mean, for starters, think of all the paradoxes…"_

She knew, however, that the redhead had been giving her looks that begged to differ. Or at least, she thought the girl had been. Everything right now felt like a dream, floating from one event to another without many memories in-between. But…was she important somehow? Between Ryder and Rei…did they know something about her?

Pausing, she inhaled deeply. _"They wouldn't…they couldn't…I mean, even _if_ they knew, why would they be looking at me like that? They don't seem like…ugh…it's just all so confusing!"_

Her hands slammed down on the sand, pain wracking through them from the roughness of it all.

"Damn it!"

Her teeth stayed gritted and her palms stayed flat, the sand feeling just like every other bit of sand she had felt in her life. Real. Far more real than she wanted it to be, particularly in such a mythical world as this. Where were the myriads of Digimon going to and fro? Where were the vast cities, jungles and forests? Why did they have to land in a desert, empty apart from rocks, tracks, pink spires and sand?

Through her hands, she felt an odd feeling. Something she wasn't quite expecting at that moment.

Movement.

To be precise, more and more movement by the second, as a rumbling began to pick at her ears. Her eyes snapped open, still staring at her legs as she dreaded looking ahead to whatever was causing the din.

Out of self-preservation and fear, she took a glance…and immediately regretted it.

A low dust-cloud swept towards her, shadows bobbing up and down as the rumbling became a shaking, her whole body beginning to move. The trail swept along, heading straight for the canyon…and her.

Her breath was caught in her mouth as she stared on like a rabbit in headlights, the dust drawing ever closer as the shapes became clearer and clearer. Dull brown shapes, broken only by specks of green, and undoubtedly inhuman. Indeed, were it not for the green, Natsuki felt pretty sure she'd have thought a group of rocks were stampeding towards her.

With a cry and a gasp, she pushed herself up, but the shaking sent her tumbling back down again onto her side, giving her a look at the approaching peril.

"_What are they?!"_

She quickly regretted wanting to see Digimon. If these _were_ Digimon, that was. It began to occur to her just how little Digital Watch really knew, for all its insistence on being the 'Go To Place for Digital Happenings'.

Could the Digimon see her? Were they _aiming_ at her?

Her hands scrambled at the sand, but it moved as she grabbed it, violently lurching now. Her mind went into a frenzy, the world slowing down to cope with all that was happening.

The huge rocks nearby, almost like sides of a canyon were it not for the gaps in-between, looked like a haven she would never reach. Every crawl forward made them seem further away, while the horde was but a few metres from hitting her.

"Move!"

She felt something grab her shoulders before her arm was yanked upwards, dragging her away like a rugby tackle. Her shocked mind failed to register anything except for being thrown down again, her hand landing against the rock.

She made it. But how? Who?

"Stop now!" boomed a deep, powered voice, a slicing thump upon the air as dust swept through the canyon. Natsuki put her head down, expecting the creatures to be crashing through, but the dust went alone, carrying onwards even without its creators.

As it cleared, she saw a number large of creatures, indeed shaped like rocks, poking their heads out of the ground like bunnies in a cartoon. Leaved stems formed tails on one end, while their heads had small grey faces upon them. All looked up to the towering figure above with the same expression of confusion and naivety.

A sword had been dug into the ground and a low growl emanated from the lips of the humanoid lion, glaring down at the creatures with disgust.

"_Leomon?" _Natsuki's shock-addled mind wondered.

"Watch where you are going!"

"Uh…you look familiar…" one of the creatures chirped. They did look like Digimon, in fact.

"This happened last time," spoke up a voice from close behind Natsuki, the arm resting around her back and on her shoulder shifting as the figure stood up. The blonde's eyes ran upwards, seeing none other than Jeri Katou, her hair ruffled and her clothes mal-adjusted by the fall. Her hands ran to correct them, a pale green top and pale green bow only countered by a rather darker green skirt and tights below, a D-Arc clipped into the former. In spite of her slightly-less apt attire for such a situation, she went about everything with enough confidence to more than make up for it.

"Yeah, you saved me earlier when we crashed down here."

Jeri didn't seem to hear Natsuki's words, however, as her focus was instead on the creatures. To her embarrassment, the blonde realised it wasn't even her who was being talked to, and, in any case, of course Jeri would remember her. Unless she had the short-term memory of a goldfish, that was.

"Are you the same Jagamon who killed Meramon?"

She began walking away from the girl still hunched over on the floor, making determined paces towards the creatures. _"If they're called Jagamon, then they must be Digimon."_

"Huh?" the Jagamon chirped in unison, all turning to chat to each other as Leomon drew his sword back from the sand. A racket of noises followed, before one by one a portion of the stampede looked back and let out a quick "Yeah."

"Looks like they've had some new additions since last time," Jeri noted to Leomon, who nodded and let out his own rather more pessimistic take.

"And probably lost some of the old too."

Natsuki, all the while, found her feet again, even if she could still feel her legs shaking. She had been so close to being…god only knew what. How much could she be injured in this world? Would it carry across to reality? So many questions she wanted answered, on top of the rather deeper ones which still bugged her.

She took cautious steps towards the Tamer, partner and horde of Digimon, still frightened even though the Jagamon had shown no sign of being a threat so far. Indeed, they barely seemed to realise they were a threat, and at the edge of her mind she couldn't deny they had a certain…cuteness to them. Of course, she had seen plenty of cute things on TV that turned out to be murderous monstrosities.

Reaching the girl, she put her hand on Jeri's shoulder and was quickly greeted by a warm smile, the girl seemingly not too concerned about the Jagamon's behaviour. "I think they're sorry for what happened."

"Yeah!" How they spoke in unison like that was anyone's guess, of course. "We'll watch out next time."

"Even if last time they should've learnt their lesson," Leomon appended Jeri's sentence. The girl let out a shrugged sigh, but Natsuki found it hard to be as confident and forgiving.

"Are you okay? You've gone really white." Apparently, it showed.

Natsuki stumbled on her words. "Thanks…for saving me."

"That's okay. It's what we do."

"You…seem so…used to this?"

"Not this exactly…but I'm used to weird things happening by now. You've just got to keep your eyes and ears open here, and not run off on your own."

The blonde frowned, caught out. "Oh…you saw that, huh?"

Jeri shook her head, gesturing up to the lion-like partner above. Behind, Natsuki could see the horde of Jagamon watching their every move, and suddenly felt pangs of stage-fright. Not that she expected the Jagamon to be analysing them that closely – they didn't seem to have many brain cells between them – but her stomach fluttered all the same as she looked at the other girl.

"No, but he did."

"I saw a shadow run away; Jeri did a head count and we realised you were missing. Whatever were you thinking?" Leomon's disapproving voice did little to help Natsuki's already-hurt sense of self-worth. How could she have been that stupid?

Jeri gave the lion an equally disapproving look, before turning back, still smiling. "Don't worry – it must be really frightening to be out here on your own like this."

At least someone understood. "Yeah…I just wish I knew someone."

"You know me…uh…Natsuki was it?"

"Yeah…but you can call me Nat," Natsuki braved her first smile in a while, Jeri looking pleased by it all as she nodded.

"I'll make sure you don't get left behind, just keep yourself away from any trouble and you'll be safe. And we're all here to help…even if some of us do have a weird back-story."

Natsuki was glad someone was finally seeing her point of view. "You're telling me…a time traveller? Really?! Come on, she's just a drama queen."

"Trust me Nat – that's the easiest thing to believe here," Jeri gently put her hand on the girl's shoulder, chuckling. Of all the people she had met so far that day, Jeri had shown herself to be the friendliest, somehow untainted by whatever was put in the water for the Tamers. Indeed, she was the most normal, even if she barely batted an eyelid at events like what had just transpired.

"But, how do you guys cope? I mean, one of your friends is a God too? And another…" she paused, recalling that particular annoyance bitterly before pressing on. "…he can't die."

"Personally, I think that a level of insanity helps," Leomon noted, Jeri quickly nodding in agreement.

"You'll get used to it," Jeri noted, pulling her hand back. "I don't envy you; I only had to learn about Digimon when I first got Leomon."

Something was putting Natsuki off about what Jeri had said. Was she treating her like she was becoming part of the team? What was she thinking? She wasn't going to be a Tamer! Natsuki didn't _want_ to be a Tamer. _"I still just want to go home."_

It was at that point that the Jagamon began to chirp again, twisting around where they were half rooted in the ground to all face in one direction. Natsuki raised an eyebrow; what was going on this time? She really hoped there wouldn't be any more trouble, particularly not trouble that could get her badly injured.

"What's wrong?" Jeri asked, the Jagamon, once again in unison, raising their short, stubby arms to point in the direction they were looking.

"The ground is rumbling from over there," one of them answered, a worried tone to his voice. Natsuki felt an uneasy tingle in the pit of her stomach, glancing back to where she had sat only a few minutes earlier. She didn't want to run straight into danger like that again.

"It's back where the others are," Leomon said forebodingly.

"Let's go have a look then Nat." Jeri's palm was out, that warm smile still adorning her face, to the point where Natsuki began to worry if it was all it was purported to be. Was she really this optimistic, or was she putting on a brave face? After all, she seemed to have as little knowledge about what was going on as the newcomer herself did.

But, something about her made that same newcomer want to trust her, or at least test how far she could. Uneasily, she nodded, taking Jeri's hand. "Okay."

Oddly, she quickly found herself smiling too.

"_Great…it's infectious now."_

"_Finally, a smile! I'm really glad too; she's been looking at me really weirdly."_

The voice came from the recesses of Natsuki's mind, Jeri's closed-mouth smile unceasing even though the voice was undeniably hers. She turned before her eyes could see Natsuki's face, frozen by the shock of what she had just heard. The blonde could do little but follow where her hand was dragged as they began trudging back towards the base camp, too startled to ask.

"_Either she's a ventriloquist, or I've finally lost it."_

* * *

**Joe Kido**

* * *

"I can't say I haven't had a broken arm before; it's nothing compared to half of the stuff I see."

The words of the existing doctor, spoken so calmly and sensibly, did not entirely reassure the doctor-in-training, as his mind began to wonder what exactly how ghastly that 'stuff' might have been. He pressed the urge to ponder aside, focusing on helping his patient, the victim of a rather nasty car accident not long before which, thankfully, they had both survived. Both now sat amongst the large group of assorted humans and Digimon by a set of railroad tracks. Fumiko held her arm across her chest with a fairly light and temporary bandage, the combination of hers and Joe's efforts, albeit one that wasn't able to hold it in place very well.

"I could try and find something stronger to use as a bandage. Maybe someone brought a better-stocked First Aid kit?" They had only asked a few people for if they had anything.

Dr Fumiko Imai, on the other hand, didn't seem to be a concerned patient by any means. "Honestly Joe, it's fine. Thanks for the help. Besides, even though the painkillers I had with me won't dissolve in water for some reason, I can't seem to feel the pain too much in this world, at least if I don't move it."

That was one thing that bugged Joe about becoming a doctor. With everything he learnt, would any of it ever become useful in this all-too-different world? Sure, researching it would make a good assignment or even a PhD, but the sheer risk of what they didn't know about health in the Digital World worried him. If someone in their group became sick, what could they do? Would the few medicines they had help, do nothing or even cause harm? His eyes caught on her white badly ripped jacket alongside her, one of the victims of the accident.

"That's okay; if anyone gets hurt, I'll try and bandage them up so you don't have to move your arm too much."

Fumiko grimaced slightly, cuts and bruises on her face pulled along with the skin. "Joe, I think you're worrying too much. I've been telling you this all week: part of being a doctor is about relaxing. If you're riled up when nothing's happening, you'll never cope when all hell's breaking out."

"Joe's always been like this," Gomamon added, flopping onto the young man's shoulder and peering out at the blue-haired woman. "He's always been about losing his head when nothing's happening. You should see him when there's an actual battle."

"Gomamon, I'm not that bad," Joe insisted, grimacing. The last thing he needed was his burgeoning chances as a doctor foiled by his quick-talking partner.

"Fine, you've _improved_, but you still need to…oh geez, what does Terriermon call it again?"

"Momentai," Fumiko said, raising the index finger of her unbroken arm with a smile. "Take it easy."

"Yeah, that."

"Besides, I think you should be worrying about yourself too; you didn't fare much better than me."

Those words brought the feeling of soreness back to Joe's body, an all-over soreness that one wanted to ignore as much as possible. He felt similar cuts and bruises on his own face and body, but he concentrated on other things to numb the pain, something far more effective in this world than endorphins and anaesthetic back home. It seemed to be a massive improvement since he had last visited the Digital World all those years ago, well before the cataclysm and the world-smashing events which followed, even if the world around him was now a lot bleaker.

"_I hope it's not all like this." _"I'm fine…I should be thinking more for my patients anyhow." The stinging pain returning to his face was once again ignored as much as possible, but he was forced to scratch his back and feel the pain of opening a cut more in the process. Evidently, Fumiko saw his wincing.

"I think you need to rest too. We had a car accident, after all; most people go to hospital afterwards."

Something else occurred to Joe. Would he actually be able to heal in this world, or would his injuries remain 'fixed'? "I don't feel broken anywhere at all, and most of the injuries should heal up on their own."

Fumiko's mouth became a stern line, and her voice likewise. "Okay, make that doctor's orders then Joe. You need to rest."

The trainee doctor couldn't help but be surprised by this turn in events. Fumiko really didn't see how healthy he was, did she? And, besides, it was his fault that all this was happening to her; she had no reason to be involved otherwise. "If you insist."

"I do." Fumiko glanced aside, evidently looking for a way to change the topic of conversation. "Do you know how Rey, Takato and Rika have been getting on?" She pointed over Joe's shoulder, and he glanced back, seeing Seiko holding a sleeping Rey.

"Fine, at least, as far as I know. I don't go to Shinjuku much."

"Oh. I guess you wouldn't know much about Ryder or Mari then?"

Joe sighed and shook his head. "To be honest, our group isn't as joined up as it always seems on TV. I hear most of my stuff about home in Odaiba through Matt and Tai from Takeru and Kari, and through them all I find out about Shinjuku."

"It's like Chinese whispers," Gomamon added.

"I see. I have to say, I never imagined you had this many Tamers in your group. You're like an army," Fumiko noted, a slight smile returning to her face.

"Or our own soccer team."

"Well, it's a few groups really. You've got Takato's group, Tai's group, Davis' group, and then there are some people who live too far away to always be in a group. It's a nice community, but you can feel at times like you're a bit out of touch with normal people."

"You guys aren't normal then?"

"I wouldn't know; I'm not normal," Joe chuckled, before his mouth became a thinner line. "Anyway, I don't think it's going to be as easy as it used to be to get everyone home from here, but we'll manage it."

"I hope so. This place is fantastic, but…I'm getting worried about what might happen back home while we're away."

"Oh. I never asked Fumiko, but do you have any family?"

Fumiko's expression dropped into a deep frown briefly, before she made visible moves to cover it up. "No…my parents died a few years back. And once, I…you know what, never mind…"

"Oh…sorry for asking…"

"It's okay…I'm used to it now…I'm more worried about my patients and friends not having me there."

Somehow, Joe got the distinct impression he wasn't being given the full story here. Her tone…the way she put her points across seemed to lack any real sadness about her parents death, but hold something deeper. He doubted too that he would be able to uncover that secret. He knew this woman well from working with her and having met her during the various medical emergencies of the past year or two for the Tamers, but that was what it was: a working relationship. It didn't feel right to pry into her personal life.

"Could you ask your friends about if they've had any luck with getting us back?" Fumiko seemed to change the subject quite rapidly, pointing over Joe's shoulder again, this time at a group of what could only be described as 'computer nerds' sitting in a rough circle around D-Terminals, Hypnos PDAs and mobiles, with Izzy's laptop in Shibumi's hands to one side.

Joe nodded, twisting around to his redhead friend, who was currently jabbing at his D-Terminal, a deep frown on his face before the trainee doctor tapped him on the shoulder.

"Izzy…how's it going?"

"Not well so far," the boy frowned, shaking his head. "Everything we've used to try and contact home or the others seems to be full of static without a signal, and the rest of our technology is a bit limited without access to Hypnos or anything. Shibumi and his Digimon are trying to fix that, but Riley says that Rayleigh probably shut down Hypnos."

"There are backup centres though," Eiichi added, interrupting the boy. "I saw it on the schematic when I approved some of Hypnos' plans, back when I was Chief Cabinet Secretary."

"Those being the few plans that you actually have to approve," Gomamon commented snidely. "Hypnos still reminds me of all of those shady government organisations in films if you ask me."

Eiichi nodded in agreement, frowning. "That's something I wanted to work with the Inukai on, before he replaced me with Rayleigh. With his passing and our exile, it seems that we will never have a chance to make such changes."

"You made a good call on those plans though; Hypnos' backup should be accessible through the network," Rob McCoy agreed, before peering back over at Shibumi's laptop. "But we haven't even been able to access anything through our computer yet. This place is as bad as everyone always told us it was for connectivity."

Riley frowned as she added to the problems. "Even if we did, the access codes are huge; this system was designed to be linked once or twice by people with lots of time, computers and paperwork, not hacked in from another world with a university-grade laptop with no knowledge of what they are and a ticking clock."

"Hey, I resent that it's university-grade. I paid a premium for that thing," Izzy objected.

Rob raised a lecturing finger. "Pineapple products are always more than they're worth. Go to Linux already, be a real hacker. If you're not on a terminal, you're not doing it right."

"Depends which distribution though; though anything's better than Windows at the end of the day."

Rob and Izzy chuckled at something evidently unknown to anyone who was a 'normal' user of a computer, Joe feeling completely out of his depth already as he wished for someone to put some sense back into things.

Thankfully, his wish was granted. "Riley's right though; these aren't like usernames and passwords, they're a lot longer and can change before we work them out," Izzy explained.

"You can't blame us for not wanting to be hacked, can you?" Tally asked. "Normally, with every hacker in the world interested in Digimon attacking it, having an advanced security system is good; it's all about cryptography and making things as random as possible."

"Hey guys, any chance of talking in English?" Gomamon asked, heavily confused. Even Tentomon, an electrical Digimon himself, looked bewildered by all the back and forth.

"Basically, we've locked all the Hypnos things in a jail cell with a lock that changes regularly and we have billions of keys on our key ring." Shibumi, normally prone to technical answers, finally spoke and gave a response that Joe found himself understanding.

"Yeah…and if we can open it, we might be able to turn things to our advantage by getting through to the real Hypnos through the backup, or at least finding some data on there we can use to build something to get us back," Izzy added.

"If you guys can get online, my Dropbox has got some of the code for the Ark on it," Shibumi noted, Rob raising an eyebrow.

"You put important data like that on a public server with that sort of rubbish encryption?"

"It's not like it's much use to anyone; I doubt they could even understand what it was. And even without getting online, you guys are forgetting the aces up my sleeve…" The older man looked up, a chorus of eyes rising to look at the floating ghost-like Mokumon.

The pair of which subsequently and to much surprise from all transformed into large arrow-like shapes, straight out of a comic book or a video game, and point behind a confused-looking Fumiko (Joe doubted that technology was her kind of thing) to a rapidly-approaching long shape, tipped by red at the front.

The ground began to rumble with it nearby, an increasing rumble as the shape came closer into view.

"What's that?" Tentomon asked out loud, gesturing with one of his insect-like hands.

"It looks like…a train?" Tally answered unsurely. Joe didn't blame her: it wasn't like any train he had ever seen. Above the railway tracks and its bogies, it became a large red almost whale-like form, with a pair of eyes and a light at the front above a large, menacing set of metal teeth below. Behind, a trail of traditional-looking carriages came into view, clattering loudly behind the sound of the roaring rails and hissing steam.

He raised his D-Arc, as Gomamon trained his eyes on the object. "DeuxTrailmon, Data Type, Champion Level, attacks are Cool Running and Break Spark."

"I just hope he's a really useful engine and not about to kill us!" Gomamon quipped.

"I doubt it. What is he going to do, smoke us to d…?"

Joe was stopped mid-breath as the air around him filled with smoke, the engine whooshing and wheezing to a halt with a clank and a clutter. The five carriages bumped into the back of DeuxTrailmon and each other, and as the smoke settled again the door flew open.

And there, on the plate, was Mari, a wide smile on her face and DarkRenamon behind. "This is our stop," she cheered, leaping down to the sand below along with DarkRenamon. As she leant on the carriage's railings, Davis, Veemon, Rika and Renamon left the carriage too.

To Joe's surprise (although in retrospect it explained the teeth), the DeuxTrailmon began speaking. His tone was monotonous and sarcastic, sounding unimpressed by all that was happening. "I figured. I wasn't expecting another big group of humans around here. You aren't exactly six a dozen around these parts."

Davis gestured proudly on the railings, as Joe could see their group beginning to gather round in wonder. He found himself on his feet, and when he came to look he saw the same was true for Fumiko and most of the 'geeks'.

"Heh, will this do?" the Gogglehead said cockily, grinning widely. Rika and Renamon behind looked less happy as they hopped down, Takato and their families crossing the desert towards the railroad line quickly. For how dispersed they were, they were gathering together fast.

"Wow, a talking train!" Jeri's brother pointed out, it clearly the most amazing thing he had ever seen. "Hello Mister Train!"

"Hey…kid…uh…don't do drugs…and whatever other messages you want me to impart of wisdom to the little kid."

"Franken," Mari hissed, slamming a palm against the Digimon's side, a clattering echo resounding through it. Jeri's mother looked cautiously down to her son, evidently hoping for no further questions on the subject. "Not the best thing," she sighed.

"Franken?" Joe spoke up, now standing closer to the loco with as curious a look on his face as any of the people around him.

"Yes, I am Franken the DeuxTrailmon. I'm a train. Anything else you want to ask?"

"Geez, talk about lack of enthusiasm," quipped Terriermon, drawing in close on Henry. For all its monotone, Franken's voice was still fairly loud thanks to his large booming metallic form.

"Thanks. How about next, I tell you how to do your job, Mr Mongrel?"

"Mongrel?!" Terriermon looked deeply offended as he leapt down from Henry's shoulder, floating slightly on his ears and landing closer to Franken. Even from next to it, Joe could tell the size difference was rather…significant. "I'm not a mongrel."

"You do realise you're a dog-bunny Digimon. That seems like a Mongrel to me."

Terriermon growled, before Henry restrained him with the simple power of his voice. "Terriermon."

"But he called me…!"

"Momentai."

"Aw come on Henry, no fair." Henry, however, seemed to take a tough line with not rising to the bait, something Joe could sympathise with: having a partner like Gomamon or Terriermon could become very irritating sometimes, even if it was nice to also have a partner who could find a way to cheer you up no matter what the situation. "I don't think I like this train," Terriermon pouted, his voice low as he landed back on Henry's shoulder.

There was an odd sense of hushing nearby, all voices dropping as Rika took Rey back into her arms, smiling down in relief at the baby. Fumiko let out a smile at the sight, before she pointed out something else approaching nearby. "Hey, Joe, where did Ryder go?" Not that he was lost, of course, but he seemed to turn up again for no clear reason. Where had he been before?

"Hey, is everyone here too?" Tai called. He was now atop the balcony of the train carriage, looking down on the group. He peered out across them, Joe too trying to do a headcount. It was a tricky one: he couldn't remember whose parents had come and whose hadn't, and when you had to account for those in the other party on top, it was a nightmare.

His eyes caught on Mari and Ryder, the latter looking somewhat glum and the former looking puzzled, before he shook his head and replaced his frown with a smile. She paused on him, before she gestured out to the train. Joe began to listen in, for all he knew it was impolite. "Where? Oh, we found it in some canyon nearby; he's a DeuxTrailmon called Franken. Let me tell you, it was a nightmare trying to get him to do anything; he just wouldn't budge." What was a train doing in a canyon randomly?

"Until…" DarkRenamon hung on the word, hinting.

Mari chuckled, tilting her head slightly and letting her hair fall across her face. "Let's just say, he made a rather perverted comment towards me."

"_What?"_

Ryder looked equally surprised. "What? What'd he say?"

"He said I was a 'looker'."

"Oh, just that, huh?"

Mari pouted. "I needed to get him to do what we wanted, and he seemed frightened enough by how offended I got. So sue me. And besides, it's not _what_ he said, it's the _way_ that he said it."

Ryder glanced to the train and back to Mari, an eyebrow raised before he let out a snort. "I could have that train," he insisted, crossing his arms before chuckling.

"We're going to have to invent a whole new game of rock-paper-scissors here I can tell," Mari replied, laughing, before breaking from her laugh all-too-suddenly and putting on a straight and disbelieving face. "So, what's got you so moody?"

The boy looked put off by her bringing up the topic. Joe had noticed it too, and he couldn't quiet tell why. Everyone else here seemed depressed to some extent; they were so far from home, why wouldn't they be? But the look on Ryder's face when he had arrived…dejection, was it? Donmon had dragged at his side – everything about it flashed up warning signs in Joe's mind. Something was going on.

"It's nothing."

Then again, neither did Ryder ever seem to let on about what was truly annoying him. He was as much an enigma now as when they had first met, in Izzy's home just before some of their group had flown out to New York to meet the UN. He had seemed relatively normal then; maybe even a bit star-shocked by being surrounded by all of the Digidestined from the TV show, which made two worlds which now knew him first from such. It left Joe uncomfortable to consider how much other people he had never met could know about the intricacies of his life, and he wondered how much detail they knew about their adventures. But, it was doubtless nothing compared to how much the concept of having a time traveller, two Gods and an immortal left the group, the latter more than anything else since they had witnessed it personally.

Ryder couldn't die. Joe, becoming a doctor, found the idea both fascinating and deeply disturbing. Death was the one constant in their lives, but here was a boy who defied it, who laughed in the face of medicine and medical knowledge yet still for some reason feared that kiss of death every time it neared.

"_I wouldn't know what to do if I ended up like that." _Would you take more risks, knowing that the consequences were less? Would you try and protect your friends, or would you test what you could do? Joe wondered if he'd still become a doctor, even having lost that one defining link with his patients: their equal fear of death.

"I see Jeri, over there! And that girl…psst…Joe…"

Joe, now leaning against the carriage's fence below on the sand, glanced up from his trance to see Tai. The boy clung to a periscope, as a strange sense of nostalgia flowed over his friend, of a simpler and clearer time. When good was good and bad was bad, at least for a while. "Yeah?"

"What's the new girl's name called?"

"Uh…" _"I really should remember this, but I've had trouble all week with remembering patients names, let alone people I haven't spoken to." _"No idea."

"Her name's Natsuki," Ryder interrupted in a matter-of-fact tone, before turning back to look to the desert from which they approached, a rocky array behind. Mari looked at him, but Joe couldn't from his angle see her expression.

Tai, surprised by the unexpected and oddly-toned source of his answer, pressed on regardless. "Yeah…where'd she and Jeri go?"

"It's weird that they wandered out alone on the desert like that."

Jeri reached the group, smiling widely, something that couldn't be said for the girl holding her hand tightly and looking nervously about. "Hey…sorry for being late…we went for a bit of exploring." That was all the brunette seemed fit to say on the matter. "Is that a train?" Behind, Leomon towered over, looking down on the pair protectively while keeping an eye on the horizon and the new rather-unusual arrival.

Davis marched proudly up, grinning all the way as he gestured proudly to his discovery. "Yeah – we found it in a canyon." There was a cough from Mari, but dense-as-ever Davis didn't seem to notice. "He'll take us out of this desert."

"Its name's Franken and it's a DeuxTrailmon," Veemon explained with a grin just as big as his partner's. "Never heard of it before, but it's basically a big train."

"Thanks. Nice to know I'm still here. And I'm male, thanks," Franken moaned. "It'd make it a lot easier to give you all a lift if, you know, you didn't go around insulting me and pointing out the obvious."

No-one seemed to notice the Digimon though. "That's great!" Jeri cheered, smiling widely as she glanced around at the assembled group. "Is everyone here?"

"I think so…if anyone's not here; could you raise your hand?" Tai called from the balcony, Agumon looking up, slightly bewildered. Rika slammed her hand into her forehead next to him.

"Goggleheads," she muttered, Joe standing close enough to hear and let out a light chuckle. He glanced to Fumiko, who looked pleased by the newfound developments. Her arm was still held across her stomach protectively, and he resisted the urge to frown at it.

Tai chuckled. "Just kidding…all aboard!" he gestured widely forward, a dozen or so nods crossing the group as people began to comply.

A flash of light filled the air as Leomon shrank down behind Natsuki and Jeri, the blonde looking uneasily over her shoulder. Parents and non-Tamers alike gave a similar expression to varying degrees, before Elecmon landed on Jeri's shoulder.

Natsuki's gaze lingered on him periodically, before Jeri pulled her hand forward, Henry stepping forth and asking her a few things as they headed for the train door. Passing Ryder, Natsuki fastened a glare before breaking away again, Mari tapping him on the shoulder. Concerned look filled his visage, but, like Jeri and Natsuki, he just took her hand and shook his head, not giving any answers for Joe who continued to watch closely.

He resigned himself to not knowing. Whatever was happening, it was going to be between Ryder and Natsuki it seemed, if his guessing was accurate.

"Hey, Joe, don't you want to get a move on? They'll take all the seats."

Joe glanced up to Gomamon, peering over from the top of his head, and nodded. "Okay," he said, looking to Fumiko and seeing Izzy and the Monster Makers behind, gathering up their assorted technology.

As he took a step forward, something made him freeze. The ground changed colour as he landed his foot, night-time sweeping over the whole land quicker than anyone could notice. The geeks paused, looking equally surprised, but quickly returned to their equipment, hurrying it onboard as the various bags and spare clothes were ferried to and fro.

"This world is rather unsettling, don't you think?" Fumiko asked, the junior doctor nodding in agreement.

"I've been to the Digital World before, and even I'm not used to this. But, wherever we go next, I think it'll be a lot more interesting than this," he noted, as he watched Ryo seemingly pull Monodramon by the collar onto the train, the Digimon looking uncooperative until he suddenly settled down.

"Come on," the Tamer muttered, as they vanished through the doors. Joe, Gomamon and Fumiko joined the procession of people boarding, the old carriages not designed for so many people. At the other end, the other door had been opened, but it was mainly being used by Tai, Janyuu and Jeri's father to put the various bits and bobs onboard. The amount of stuff they had brought with was actually rather surprising: either people had been prepared for this, or they'd taken a big risk in going back for it. Either way, they hadn't considered much in leaving it in the desert so they had to go back for everything.

In front of Fumiko and Joe, Davis walked with Takeru and Kari, their partners in the air or by their feet. "I'm just glad I don't have to walk," Kari sighed, smiling to Davis.

"Yeah…I wasn't looking forward to that," Takeru agreed, although there was an erring to his voice. As they vanished into the train carriage, Davis made a comment about it being one of the best bits of luck they had had. The lights inside illuminated the sheer number of people, all filling it up.

Fumiko went through first, but Joe paused, glancing behind and finding that, to his surprise, he was the last one. Gomamon peered down at him curiously as he gazed out the barren land they had made their camp. Once like every other bit of the seemingly-endless desert, it was now simply a mix of craters and footprints. How long would they last? Would it be like the Apollo landings, or like a real desert? Would they ever come here again?

He hoped not, but he knew better.

A low long whistle resounded from the DeuxTrailmon, no echo in response. There was nothing here to echo off. "This is the apathy express for who cares where."

"Geez, he's enthusiastic," Gomamon muttered. Joe chuckled, stepping back into the carriage and closing the door as the wheels began to turn.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

And finally, our folks are out of the desert. I'm quite glad actually, since there's some quite neat stuff coming up soon that I'm sure will be both enjoyable and worrying. There may be calm now, but calm always precedes a storm. And what a storm this will be!

Anyhow, hope you also all had a fantastic Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it), a good Children in Need (if you celebrate it) and a happy New Chapter Day (if…ah, who am I kidding, you all celebrate it)!

Until next time…

B.C.


	31. Phase Two: Connection

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading, and thanks for Zandermon for being my 250th reviewer for this fic!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT**

**Phase Two**

_Connection_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Jaarin Wong**

* * *

"First drink's on the house."

There was a satisfying clunking noise as a pint glass of…whatever it was…landed upon the bar counter courtesy of a blue-gloved hand.

"Thanks…everyone seems really nice here."

"Ah, that's 'cause folks are always friendlier up north. Those fighting southerners are always too busy going for power to realise the good things in life: beer, beer and beer."

Jaarin chuckled, pushing aside the fact she was talking to a star, one dressed up rather like an action hero or something, star motifs on both gloves. "I see, but…what do you mean, up north?"

"You mean to tell me you don't know? You're in the northern region, lass."

"Northern…region?"

"You mean to tell me you don't know that either? Ah, I don't blame ya, I've been that drunk once. This 'ere Digital World is split into four huge zones; at least, today it is. This is the Northern one, the one where the folks are nice, the beer is cool and the weather's warm. Except for the constant rain, of course," he chuckled, pointing upwards to the ceiling, a constant plink-plonk noise floating in every window and round every door frame.

"Ah, right, I see – I think Henry mentioned something about that once."

"Hey, do your pals want a free drink too?" he asked, gesturing across the tables in the pub they had wound up in, a rather surreal place given how they had just walked out of an endless bright meadow. By contrast, in here, there was a dull feeling to all even if the bartender, a Starmon, had a warm smile and there were lights on all, even if they were somewhat yellowish. The tables were wooden and surrounded by likewise chairs, while peanuts and stools lined the bar itself. The windows looked out onto a street lit up by the same reflected gold-coloured light as all else, the funnel above their heads blocking out direct sunlight. Most impressive, however, was the vast amount of brass piping lining every surface, including a pipe flying down from the ceiling, snaking across the bar and flowing into the tap, one which rattled when used. It was like so many other pipes in Bolton, a town which had quickly become one of the most curious places she had ever been, perhaps even stranger than those in her imagination. Certainly, the Digital World was far different to what she had expected.

"Uh, I think they're a bit underage," Jaarin chuckled, noticing Kazu and co were being pointed to. "Normally you have to be 20."

"Under…age? 20? What the bloody hell's that?" In spite of his loud voice and words, the Starmon still seemed rather jolly and happy with all. "Ah, never mind, some human thing I guess. I'll pour 'em ones anyway."

Jaarin sighed, nodding. "Fine, but I can't carry them all. And don't pour one for the little girl…" She gestured to Suzie. "Okay?"

"Done and done." The Digimon, blindly fast, filled a line of beers upon the table perfectly as the pipe rattled yet again. He seemed well practiced; even if for all she could see, the bar lacked any other customers. Grasping them all in his arms, he hopped down off a well-hidden stool behind the counter and wandered round and out, dumping the glasses on the nearby table. Kazu, Ayaka, Kenta and Miki stared on in wonderment, briefly going to ask before thanking their luck.

Noting the smiling joked look of disapproval from Mimi, she shrugged and wandered across to her sister. They were outside the usual legal jurisdiction, after all, and she somehow doubted (or hoped) digi-beer would have quite the same effect. From the fact they hadn't turned down the offer, and the fact Kazu was now chugging happily, she got the impression this wasn't their first taste. Starmon, having added some beers to Matt, Mimi and Jun's table, returned to his counter happily. It seemed like such a simple, pleasing life to have, away from the commitments of university and life Jaarin found herself locked up in.

"Hey," she said to Suzie and Lopmon as she sat, the girl beaming.

"We finally made it back to the Digital World."

"Heh, maybe you, but this is my first time."

"Do you like it?" Lopmon asked curiously.

"It's…different. I do appreciate the hospitality though," she noted, raising her pint glass and taking a sip. She had to admit though, it wasn't what she was used to drinking from, even if it had a certain classical quality to it. The only question was: how would they get money to buy their second drinks? She decided to savour the taste rather than find out.

"Aw, can't I have one?"

She laughed. "God no, you go hyperactive on orange juice. And besides, mom would kill me."

"Aww…no fair."

Jaarin chuckled again, before pausing. Her hands clutched around the glass tightly, it cold to the touch, and she stared down into the golden brew. It was a shame there was no actual gold here, actually – if every single bit of brass in this city were gold, it would be worth a fortune. "Listen, Suzie. Without mom or Henry or Dad or bro here," she began, pausing as she wondered where her brother, Rinchei, now in his third year of university, was. Was he safe? Was he…?

She paused, pressing onwards before she let worries overtake her.

"Without them, I've got to keep you safe, okay? I know you have Lopmon, and I trust her, but we have no idea of what to expect now – none of us have been here before."

"Yeah, but Lopmon and I could beat anything."

Jaarin frowned. The message just wasn't getting across. She sighed, glancing down again before continuing. "Yeah, and that does make me feel safer, but I'm still worried, and so will mom. Can you keep out of trouble…for her?"

"Okay," Suzie chirped. Jaarin smiled, mentally breathing a sigh of relief. She was still at that stage between childhood and being a true teenager where one didn't rebel against their parents at every opportunity, and she couldn't have been more thankful.

"Don't worry Jaarin. I will protect her," Lopmon waved an ear gracefully, her voice as solid and assured as ever. She was definitely a good influence on the terror that was Suzie, albeit ageing took away most of the childish cheekiness she once had. The chance to be rid of the torture of Pwincess Pwetty Pants had naturally been an incentive for Lopmon to help her be that way.

Jaarin nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

"Okay, something is definitely wrong."

"Mmhmm…you know, I've never seen how you Americans could just ride the rails for hours across boring deserts like this."

Even through the dulled lighting from the ancient electric lamps, and even out of the corner of his eye, Ryder knew Mari was grimacing at him where he lay along the seats on the other side of the train car. The desert outside was still illuminated by an odd light, with even less of a logic for its sourcing than that seen during the erratic days.

"You're changing the subject – that's how I know." Mari answered the question that Ryder hadn't even asked. He could see DarkRenamon and Donmon glancing back and forth between them and to each other in the otherwise-empty coach, while the train clicked and clacked about on the old rails. How they had aged so quickly, of course, was another question entirely.

For a moment, that was all anyone heard, the solid wood too thick for the chatter from adjacent coaches to waft through.

"Natsuki doesn't like you at all, huh?"

"Uh-huh."

Mari sighed, her voice deadened by the atmosphere and lacking the optimism she had had before. Ryder simply found that to be another thing to blame himself for. "Well, don't worry – Jeri's taking care of her by the looks of it."

"She hates you too. Said we're both giving her the eye."

"Oh. Well, as I said, at least she's got one friend here."

"I feel like I really screwed up this time."

"You were just trying to do the right thing."

"No I wasn't. I honestly brought her along because I thought she had something to do with Ivy."

"Mmhmm. Ryder, you know…"

Ryder cut in before what he knew was coming next. "I want to work out what's going on here as much as you do."

"I thought you knew what was going on here?"

"No, I think I know." Ryder twisted round into a seated position and letting his head fall back against the carriage wall. "At least…I thought I did…everything lately, everything just keeps screwing with me and my ideas. Not that they ever made any sense to start with."

"Are you going to stop talking in riddles any time soon?"

"Give me the benefit of the doubt here Mari; I'm stumped, tired and depressed."

Mari sighed, before wandering across the carriage to be next to him. As he watched her do so, it began to occur to Ryder that so many little things were out of place with all this. Why were the seats along the edges of the cars like a subway train? Where had Mari's enthusiasm gone? Why had everyone been so accepting of their move to another car? Perhaps there were other explanations for such things…but…perhaps his 'dream' simply didn't sink to such depths of explanation? It had always seemed so real before, but with his trust in all this slipping, he found himself less and less convinced by his own reality. His disbelief was being suspended.

"So, what made you change your mind?"

"Crazy, little things."

"You said you had a dream again when you…died. What was it?"

"It was…interesting."

There was a pause, a pause of disappointment, and Ryder found himself pushed down further. That same feeling returned from all those days of wanting to tell Ivy how he felt back before everything changed…the feeling of the words being there but the barrier to saying them being too great. He didn't want to make Mari less sure of who she was…he didn't want to make her, or any of them, simply cease to exist. It seemed so cruel.

Did it matter? If they were just manifestations of his own mind, then…?

He felt her fingers link into his before she looked into his eyes again. "That's all I'm getting, isn't it?"

This wasn't the normal thing. This wasn't what he never wanted to tell. But it was just as bad. It would kill her to know. Wouldn't it?

He didn't want to take that risk. "Yeah."

"I see."

Mari's gaze averted, looking down at the floor, and Ryder felt his stomach drop still further. She had been so happy, even with all that had happened, to see this world. But he had sucked it out of her, all that colour and life gone from her face, the lights of the coach barely enough to let him make out the numbers on her top.

"_Whoever put that on her…whoever chose that set of numbers…they know me too well…they knew I'd notice that…"_

The thing was, that left very few people, and he knew he couldn't discount himself by any means. The only mind twisted enough to do such things to him.

Looking up again, Ryder found her eyes had narrowed, looking straight into his uncompromisingly. "Ryder…tell me this won't harm me…whatever it is, I'm not dying from it…" There was fear, amongst the bitterness, true fear. "If your secrets…if they run the risk of killing me or anyone I care about, I want to know."

Ryder froze. What could he say? He knew they could…but would it count as death? Ceasing to be tangible…it was merely a problem of definition. He took the cowards' option. "No."

"Honestly?"

He resisted the telltale urge to swallow. "Honest."

Mari frowned, sighing and falling back onto the seat in resignation, those hot eyes no longer burning Ryder's. The train continued to click and clack as Ryder stared out the window, before he felt her head fall onto his shoulder. He slipped his arm round, encouraging her to lean into him.

"Mari…what would you do if someone came tomorrow and told you that…um…say…the last few years of your life were a dream?"

"Are you trying to hint at something Ryder?"

"No…just answer the question."

"Hmm…how many years?"

"I don't know, say…three."

"I'd be upset."

"Why?"

"'cause three years ago, I was still a lonely orphan barely scraping independence in a big city."

"Five?"

"I don't know…I'd love to see my parents again…I find it really hard to imagine their faces…or their voices…all our family films were lost in the blaze…one day I won't remember their voices at all…but…"

"But?"

"I wouldn't have met you…or DarkRenamon…or any of you guys…I'd never be a part of all this…"

"What were your parents like?"

"Ryder, don't," Mari said, the first hangings of tears beginning in her voice as she glanced up at him, her cheeks red. "Not right now. I don't want to think of them…sorry."

Ryder wanted to know so much why. He wanted to explore this mystery…find out about why she hid her photo…find out what she wrote in that diary…find out why it struck so much of a nerve so quickly. His curiosity was plagued.

This had to be what it felt like for her, except he knew he was keeping a far bigger secret from her, one about the nature of her own existence. Or at least, he thought so. He knew he could easily be wrong, oh so wrong.

Ryder glanced to Donmon, a long gaze from the dragon fixed on him and the girl under his arm. He could tell the Digimon had so many questions too…about what he had said earlier, about what he was keeping from them, about what had gotten him so riled up and easily-tempered towards his closest friend. He wanted to apologise to the creature, but he knew that both Mari and DarkRenamon would hear, and he couldn't afford to explain everything.

Looking over his partner's face, that question returned. Was this the real Donmon, or a facsimile? He was the only being from his 'real' life who existed here for 'real' too, but perhaps that was just his own imagination.

How could he prove any of it though? If his imagination was causing this, then anything he did would simply counteract itself. He could try to wake up, but he knew he had tried that a thousand mornings before school to ensure he didn't go in groggy and late, and never had it broke him from this coma world.

"I'm just glad I have someone…even if it's me who's normally caring for you." He glanced down, seeing Mari's eyes half-closed as her head lay on his shoulder and into his neck. They were experiencing something worse than any jet-lag; time was lagging and day kept changing to night and vice versa. Right now, with the darkness, Ryder felt the same yearning for sleep, if not to rest up then just to escape from this series of unfortunate events for at least one moment.

"Hey, that's not…okay, it is, but…yeah."

"After that long of being alone, you want to be as close as you can to someone." Mari exhaled, frowning even more deeply as she pushed into his neck. He half-expected her to start snoring any time soon.

"…yeah," Ryder put it down mentally as further proof that this world was simply the product of his overactive imagination. "I really can't believe no-one at SDCO was able to help."

"In the words of Jeff: 'we're not a day-care centre'," Mari made air-quotes and rolled her eyes, looking upwards to him again.

"You're not a four year old."

"Why would I want to talk to a counsellor anyhow? I spoke to a psychiatrist plenty after it all happened…didn't help one bit. Seeing a Digimon again was far more effective, having one of my own is a panacea."

"Maybe that's what would help Natsuki here."

"She hates us for being us, she's not afraid of Digimon."

"Mmhmm…you know, something's odd about that girl, and I can't quite put my finger on it."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's just that Ivy idea I had, but something is still bugging me."

"She seems perfectly like other human beings in all I have seen of her," DarkRenamon noted.

"Maybe it's just a gut reaction then. You know what; it probably is that Ivy thing."

"Then stop assuming everything is related to Ivy," Mari said, half through clenched teeth before her tone became more relaxed. "Just see things for what they are, okay?"

"Aw…I was expecting something more interesting to come from a carriage of you two alone…you guys are so boring!"

"Great…" Mari muttered under her breath, as she sat up from Ryder's shoulder and looked across to the newcomer through the door at the end, a blue haired boy with a bunny on his head. The creature leapt down, chuckling to himself as he wandered towards his fellow two Digimon.

"How do you feel like making a bet?"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai Henry! I have bets on everyone and everything – doesn't mean it'll happen! The more bets I make, the more money I'll earn."

"That sounds flawed to me. And like what?"

"I bet that Rejimon will one day touch Realmon and end the universe, I bet that these two here will get comfortable as soon as we leave them alone together, and I bet that if we get Rei drunk she'll spill everything."

"We're not getting 'comfortable' you sick pervert," Mari glared. Ryder shook his head in disbelief, knowing better than to attempt to correct the creature. Nothing good ever truly came of that – it was such a waste of breath at the end of the day.

"Why do all your secrets involve our friends doing the wrong things?" DarkRenamon asked, her eyes probing the dog-bunny.

"Hey, I'm just being realistic."

DarkRenamon sighed deeply, placing her paw on her forehead and shaking her head. Terriermon grinned as he watched, while Donmon pushed over into their conversation.

"How much money are we talking about here?" A grin began to manifest on his face.

"Donmon!" Ryder exclaimed.

"Aw come on, I can make money off bets I can fix the outcome of."

"Like what?"

"Yeah, that'd be cheating, Donmon…" Terriermon hissed, trying to take the higher moral ground. "And I'm not betting with someone who rigs bets."

"I'm more curious about how exactly you're going to fix these bets. I mean, are you betting against Terriermon or what?" Henry asked, looking rather confused by the newfound developments.

"Wouldn't that be betting against the end of the universe?" Ryder questioned, before noting mentally that, given what he knew, he'd rather bet the other way. _"Would trying really hard to wake from my coma count as rigging the results?"_

"And betting against Rei ever getting drunk?" Henry added.

"And betting against…never mind…" Mari finished, before shaking her head to herself. "Still, it'd be good to earn some cash."

"Hey, what happened to us taking the moral high ground?" Ryder asked, Mari giving the same grin that Donmon had as she sent her eyes skywards.

"Hmm…if I got you drunk, you might spill too…hey Terriermon, what are those odds?"

"_Ah, what the hell…you only live once…uh…" _"What are the odds on me dying again?"

"Suzie dressing you up as a princess again for nostalgia's sake," Donmon suggested.

"Well I'm glad you all asked, 'cause we are doing a special offer today on…"

Henry put his foot down. "Terriermon, you are not being a bookkeeper."

"A bookkeeper?"

"I mean, just quit with the betting."

"Aw…Henry, you're never any fun!"

"Psst…what about bets on Henry being more fun when drunk?" Mari muttered to Ryder, the boy chuckling in amusement.

"I heard that."

Ryder stopped chuckling, his curiosity instead plagued yet again. "So, you visit us for anything in particular?"

"Not really."

"It's to get away from the smell. The BO in there!" Terriermon exclaimed, gesturing back with an ear to the previous carriage.

"Terriermon!"

"Hey, they may be programmers and teenagers, but is a can of deodorant really that hard to use? No wonder you guys escaped to another carriage!"

"It's quieter here," Ryder noted, a slight frown on his face. "Have you seen Natsuki?"

"She's fallen asleep on Jeri's shoulder. Seems like today really took it out of her," Henry sighed. "I don't blame her…this is all way over my head."

"Yeah…tell me about it," Mari's face dampened into a frown. "I need a reset button. I wish your retcon were more effective," she noted, looking to Ryder who shrugged.

"Superpowers always have some kind of problem with them. I did the best I could earlier, but we've still got a ton of crap to deal with before this is all over." Ryder felt a hand land on the back of his, as Mari looked into his eyes and yet again made him sure she could read his mind.

"We'll get her home Ryder. And then we never have to talk to her again."

* * *

**Natsuki Takara**

* * *

The volume of clicks and clacks slowly turned up in the blonde's ears, as her consciousness returned. Cracking open an eye, she wiped back the waters in them…tears? _"Not surprised."_

"You okay?"

Natsuki glanced up, her mind trying to work out how she ended up in this situation, before with a low groan she slipped down slightly where she lay across the seats, her head dipping.

"You make a good pillow."

Jeri let out a light chuckle, Natsuki lifting her head off the girl's shoulder and looking about at the train carriage again. Night still held on tight as the desert sped by, the carriage lit dimly by both the dull antique bulbs within and the eerie sub-light outside. Swivelling her legs around, she noticed the carriage was empty, apart from a small red and yellow dog-like Digimon, curled up on the opposite seat but wide awake. Bits and pieces of belongings were scattered about, and Natsuki noticed that it was the same coach she had fallen asleep in.

"The others had to be really quiet once you fell asleep so Henry and I moved you in herethey shifted along a carriage," Jeri answered. _"Didn't imagine she'd be that heavy though…she's not really fat or anything." _"You fell asleep on my shoulder again though – you were really tossing and turning. You okay?"

Natsuki paused, staring at Jeri's face with an incredulous expression. Did her lips move? Maybe it was too dark. Yeah, that had to be it. _"I'm not going crazy." _"Uh…yeah."

"Having bad dreams?"

"Not at all."

"Probably something to do with the Digital World," the Digimon noted. "This place is still incredibly bizarre for me."

"That's strange." Natsuki put her hand on her chin, trying to think back to all those memories of Digital Watch. They seemed so distant now. "I thought you'd be used to it. Didn't you come from here?"

"Yes, but do you know everything about your world?"

"Uh…not exactly."

"Besides, since I met Jeri I haven't had much reason to think back to those days. But I do know that this place isn't safe."

"Thanks," Natsuki said, her tone wavering. _"Why did he have to say that? Why do people have to keep confirming what I'm thinking?"_

"You'll be fine," Jeri replied, glancing across to her partner briefly. _"As if she isn't frightened enough Elecmon."_

Natsuki closed her eyes, trying to take in what was happening again and again. What made it beyond insanity was she was hearing things she didn't expect to hear from the depths of her own mind…she couldn't even remember the Digimon's name in her half-asleep state.

"Nat?"

She opened an eye, still chewing her lip. "I'm fine."

"_There's something about this girl, and I can't put my finger on it."_

"I'm fine. Completely fine." _"Not going insane at all. Maybe this is just part of the Digital World…yeah, that's got to be it."_

"Okay." Jeri sounded unconvinced.

"This world isn't what you expected, is it?" Elecmon asked.

"Well…I was expecting a lot less sand." _"That was such a stupid thing to say."_

Jeri chuckled. "It's a bit bleak, yeah. It gets prettier on the other levels."

"There's other levels?"

"Yeah. You can go up and up and up until you reach the…Sovereign's level."

"Sovereign?"

"Yeah – Zhuqiaomon, Ebonwumon, Baihumon and Azulongmon are the Digimon Sovereigns," Elecmon answered.

"Ah, like in the cards."

"Sort of. They're a lot bigger and meaner in real life…well, some of them," Jeri recalled, a slight smile on her face that quickly dropped to a frown. "That top level's pretty bleak too. I like the forest level...if it still exists…"

"Still exists?"

"This place got…reconfigured. To be honest, I don't really know what happened, but now none of us really know what to expect here."

"Ah…how'd that happen?"

"Long story. You don't even believe that Takato and Rika are Gods, do you?"

"It's contrived as hell."

"Trust me, hell is not contrived."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?" It almost sounded like personal experience was talking.

"Never mind. Just…all you guys at Digital Watch…sometimes I hear from Henry what you guys think we do…it's not a game."

"Pfft…anyone who's seen the damage could see that. I'm not one of those naïve Watchers, you know? I'm normal." "…ish."

"Good. You don't seem that geeky."

"You should see my anime collection." _"Why did I just say that?"_ Natsuki's face turned while, but Jeri giggled, shaking her head and gesturing with her thumb and index finger.

"So close, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Still…would you ever want a Digimon?"

"In real life? I've always wanted to meet them, but…I see it like, you know, a friend's pet. Fun to play with but I wouldn't want to be sweeping up the crap."

"Yeah…" Jeri sounded unconvinced. "But Elecmon's more than a pet, you know? He's my best friend," she flashed a smile to the Digimon, who nodded back. "We rely on each other…we know each other and complement each other. It's what being a Tamer is all about."

"Yeah, and I get that…but…I don't want to be involved in all this. You guys dice with death on a daily basis…and, as much as I've love to have someone who really understood me," _"…heck, I'd kill for it…"_ "I'd rather be safe and sound. Besides, no offense to you, but the last thing I want to do is become a Tamer like Mari and Ryder."

"What's wrong with them?"

"They keep staring at me! I feel like a science experiment under a microscope. I mean, what the hell do they want?"

"_That's odd." _"They're probably just making sure you're safe."

Natsuki pretended she had seen the girl's lips move that time. "Yeah, well if that's keeping me safe, I'd rather live on the wild side."

"See, that's more like it," Jeri smiled, chuckling, before her smile dampened. "But I doubt you'll get a choice if you want to be a Tamer or not. This world has a funny way of grabbing you whether you like it or not."

"Am I the first not to want a partner?"

"As far as I know. But, if you do get one…appreciate it. I felt so lonely without one."

"You must've felt so much better when you met Leomon then."

"_Re-met him, yeah." _"Yeah."

"_Re-met? Wait…how am I hearing this? And what does she mean?"_

"What's wrong?"

"Never mind." _"So confused."_

Jeri let out a light smile, shaking her head lightly. "Smile. Things are never as bad as they seem."

"Okay." _"But I barely even know what things 'seem' like to start with!"_

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"I think I heard the barkeep say we're in the Northern Region." Matt looked over the rim of his 'beer' mug before placing it back on the table below, a glance paid to the outside through the dirt-encrusted windows. "Guess that explains why this place is so different to what we're used to."

"Not bad though. I can actually drink this." Mimi raised the mug, before noticing a raise eyebrow from the third person at the table. "I can't stand this stuff," she added to Jun, who shrugged her shoulders and took another gulp. She clearly didn't suffer from the same problem.

"Dullest beer I've ever had. I wonder how they make it."

"Knowing this place, it's probably in a river somewhere," Palmon suggested, before Jun mock sighed.

"Shame it tastes so bland then – that would at least have been some reason to stay here."

"You're not enjoying the Digital World, are you?" Gabumon asked.

"Davis always made it sound like one thrill ride after another. He never mentioned the walking."

"Well, personally I couldn't be happier. At least we're not being attacked by some meanie like Myotismon again – everything seems so much more peaceful."

"That's what's bugging me. We haven't been attacked, or fought for our lives, or anything," Matt said, frowning deeply. "We crossed that entire meadow without seeing a single Digimon."

"So? You're complaining?" Jun asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I'd rather not be blown to bits."

"Maybe we're just in a quiet area?" Palmon suggested hopefully.

Matt felt quickly very irritated by all this mindless optimism. "Which just means we're as far from the others as we could possibly be. They always said the Southern Region was an endless hell of fighting and death…I can't see that being any less than a million miles from this!"

"Don't get all stressy," Mimi huffed. "Of all the places we've been, this one is the nicest."

"And the Digimon will help us contact home," Gabumon added.

"You can't seriously believe that bullcrap?!"

Matt paused in his reply and raised an eyebrow. Impmon, once sitting silently atop the end of the table with his back resting against the wall, was now on his feet with a lecturing finger and a mean gaze.

"Are we really gonna be placing all our digi-eggs in this one basket? I mean, come on, who are they gonna contact? Do you think it'll even work? Takato and the others had enough trouble contacting home on a clear day, and they seemed a lot closer to it."

"There has to be other people out there…someone could help," Jun replied hopefully, perhaps over-hopefully. Matt grimaced – maybe Impmon was right. Maybe they were being naïve?

"Right, so fine, what do we do if that fails, huh? Far as I'm concerned, we should drop the ale and find the others…least then we have at least a chance of getting home…and finding Ai and Mako." Impmon paused with a sad frown on his face, before biting back even more bitterly. It was clear what was worrying him, and perhaps making him think such a way, but it didn't make his words hit home with Matt any less. "I mean seriously, any of you guys actually know how to use a computer? Or have one on you? What am I saying, of course you don't! We're just a rag-tag bunch of pineapple heads that were stupid enough to think down was the other way."

"We'll work something out. We've got the time," Palmon insisted. "Don't get your roots all in a tangle."

"But Ai and Mako don't have the time! As far as I know, they're already arrested, and it's killing me not to help them. It's my job. At least you've still got your partner safe and sound with ya."

"They're just kids Impmon…Rayleigh won't go after them," Gabumon noted. Impmon promptly shook his head.

"Ugh, none of you get it," Impmon groaned, before turning and leaping across to the doorway to the pub. "I'm going to clear my head – smell you all around here later."

Matt watched as the door opened and closed before anyone could object, turning Impmon's frustrated face to mere memories on his eyes. He looked back to his alcohol, the froth inside turning ever-so-slowly around, lumps collected at the sides.

Impmon was right. They had to try something else. Heck, even if they did contact home or the others by some miracle, they still had the problem of actually reaching them. In spite of the plethora of railways, during the whole of the walk to and tour around Bolton, he hadn't seen even a puff of a train.

So it didn't matter whether they could contact anyone or not – they needed a way out.

Matt stood up, pushing his chair back and frowning, leaving his mug where it was on the side. "I'm going for a walk," he said to a mystified Mimi and Jun, before, with but a glance to Gabumon, the pair were heading out the door.

* * *

**Nami Asagi**

* * *

"You okay grandfather?"

"That's one cold you've got there," Nami noted, the sound of spluttering and forced attempts to clear the throat reaching her ears as she looked across the busy train carriage to a short brown haired boy and his grandfather on the opposite side. The noise was loud above the chatter, and the man had thankfully pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to avoid the rest of them catching the same ailment.

"I'm fine Cody. I can't think of a year that has gone by without me having something like that," the older man said with a smile on his face, nodding both to her and his grandson. She let out a light smile back, but found it hard to be genuinely optimistic in these circumstances, in spite of the fantastical world around them (which struggled to suit a realist like herself).

"I thought you said exercise helps avoid getting ill?" asked a large golden-shelled Digimon in a southern American drawl, the man chuckling in response.

"I am sure it has put off plenty of worse things than a cold for me. But that would just be my luck," he replied, before, his voice cracking, he let loose another coughing spree into the tissue. The boy's slight smile at his wise words dropped again.

"Sounds like a bad one," added a nearby woman with blue hair, a doctor if the teacher remembered correctly. It was some comfort to know they had medical support, even if the woman did have a broken arm. The whole busy carriage seemed to be staring over at the change in events, but none said anything right at that moment. "Let me know if it worsens."

The man silently nodded.

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

For a group used to having to go via underhand methods to get alcohol, there was a certain joy to being simply given it. While the taste wasn't exactly her favourite, the 'digi-beer' still tasted better than normal beer for Ayaka, and she was long past the point where alcohol was drunk for the taste of it.

Next to her on the square table sat Miki, rather more conservatively drinking, while across sat Kazu, grinning widely as he virtually inhaled the drink in spite of Kenta's momentary reminder that this was a one-time-only offer of free beer. "Aaah," he exhaled, sounding pleased with the bitter substance. "I needed that," he added without explanation.

"Wonder if you'll get as tipsy as you normally do on this stuff," Ayaka said. "That's all we need here." Heck, would the beer work at all here? Or would it work too much? Or something else entirely?

"Hey, I'm like Guardromon – a machine! One beer isn't going to get me drunk."

"Yes, one beer wouldn't get Kazu drunk!" Guardromon echoed, before a quick glare made it clear that Kazu wanted him to once again 'get his own material'.

"But it does make you more annoying."

"Hey, I wouldn't call that a price to pay. I'd call it lovable."

"Oh yeah, it's so fantastic." Ayaka rolled her eyes. Kazu could genuinely be unbelievable at times. For all his maturity, that arrogance remained. Not a jock-ish arrogance, thankfully, but still a certain lack of modesty.

"It just helps me relax really, and with all the crap we've just been through I wouldn't say that's a bad thing, don't you agree? Besides, this is the Digital World, nothing's the same as real life – it probably doesn't make you drunk at all. I mean, I know you're worried that everything will go to hell without me protecting it, but just relax baby. Anyway, if it does, I'd be more worried about Miki here."

Miki looked up from where she unsurely drank the liquid, no-where near as far through it as the other three. "Yeah, we don't have a bucket to hand this time," Ayaka teased, before her best friend elbowed her, scowling.

"I can hold my drink just fine!"

Kazu grinned, pushing Kenta's half-full mug towards Miki. "Prove it."

"Hey, that's mine!" Kenta complained, but Kazu chuckled towards him, nudging him in the side.

"Ebay ay entlemangay, okayay?"

Kenta looked at him in disbelief briefly, while Ayaka puzzled what he said. Miki looked oblivious to all, as a fire light in her eyes. "Fine, I'll drink them both," she bit, before her voice softened completely. "If you're okay with that, Kenta?"

Ayaka couldn't help but mentally giggle as the boy turned red and uneasily nodded. "Yeah, if you want."

"T…thanks," she replied, looking down to the two glasses.

"Damn, I wish we could time this, but our watches are all busted," Kazu complained. "So drink as fast as possible."

"_Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" _Ayaka wondered, glancing behind Kazu to Mimi and Jun behind at the far end. She'd heard some earlier commotion from there, but it had since settled, Matt, Gabumon and Impmon all leaving.

Kenta looked uneasily to Kazu and back to Miki, as the girl picked up the first glass, her five-sixths full mug. "Go on," Kazu nudged.

Miki nodded defiantly, beginning to drink, her face turning all sorts of colours as she clearly despised the taste, particularly at such a rate. Glancing out to Kazu and Kenta, she drank faster, Ayaka beginning to wonder whether you could be sick in the Digital World as her friend paused for breath. Kazu gave her a disapproving gaze, but she quickly continued in order to silence him.

"I don't think I've ever seen you drink that fast," she noted as Miki finished her mug. She glanced to Ayaka, a sickly expression in her eyes, before pressing on. _"Yeah, this is definitely a bad idea. Ugh, Kazu and me together, we're awful…no, I don't mean it like that…"_

As she cursed herself for having to correct even her own mind against what she subconsciously thought, Miki began on the second glass, this one half-full. Kenta watched uneasily while Kazu had a look of pride in his eyes, the girl slamming the mug down when done in an attempt to look mighty.

"Done," she said, before burping and blushing red.

"Well done Miki!" Kazu cheered, grinning widely. "Let's do more…"

"How can we? We only got one free beer each, and I'm sure as hell not giving you mine so you can get drunk again," Ayaka complained.

"I don't get drunk that easily," Kazu insisted. "You, on the other hand…"

"I don't either. I can hold my drink just as well as you."

"Drinking contest then?"

"_Drinking contest? Oh god, this is not going to end well." _"With _what _drink?"

"Did you say…drinking contest?" came a new voice, the four humans looking up to an anthropomorphic star as two new mugs of beer landed on the table. "Up here, saying those words is as binding as marriage."

Ayaka slammed her hand into her forehead. _"Oh god…"_

* * *

"Ooooon your marks. Geeeet set. Chug!"

With but a brief glare between the two combatants, and the hush of the spectators (oddly also given free beers) Kenta and Miki, the drinking began. With but a moment of pondering how exactly the Digimon could afford to dispense such things for free when those two words were said, she lifted the mug to her face. Kazu made the most horrid noise as he swallowed as quickly as possible, but quickly Ayaka came to realise she was doing the same.

"One."

"Same," she bit back, but she knew she was moments behind as her mug landed on the table. "Next."

* * *

**Kenta Kitagawa**

* * *

Whatever his worries about the consequences, Kenta couldn't help but be amused by the sight of Ayaka and Kazu staring each other down through their glasses. They were taking this far too seriously, not helped by each of them being fairly competitive.

He sipped his beer at a far more leisurely pace as the pair finished their second, starting an ill-advised third. How long would they be able to go on for?

He glanced away from the contest to Miki, staring at the competitors with an odd grin on his face. His eyes danced away again before they could look back, looking into his glass, which he had somehow finished without noticing. It didn't quite taste like beer, it seemed a lot easier and quicker to drink. But would it have the same impacts?

Something tapped his foot under the table, and he glanced across to Ayaka and Kazu, still gripped in their contest as they finished their third beers. His eyes flitted to Miki, looking at him with an uneasy smile as she finished a sip.

"Who…do you want to win?" she asked after a pause.

"Uh…I just hope they're still conscious after all this."

"Wow, I underestimated you Humons," the Starmon said with an impressed whistle. "Another beer?"

"Unless Kazu feels like chickening out." Ayaka glared into Kazu's eyes.

"Bring it on."

As soon as he said that, four more glasses landed down. How did this Digimon afford it? The 'beer' couldn't be worth all that much. Although, right now Kenta found himself minding less and less for the bar and more about its current inhabitants.

"Aren't you guys feeling woozy yet?" Kenta asked nervously, MarineAngemon chirping behind him.

"Hey, don't…don't tell me if I'm feeling woozy or not!" Kazu coherently replied. Kenta rolled his eyes and began sipping his beer. This was definitely not a good sign – the beer was hitting him already.

Kazu and Ayaka reached out to grab their new glasses, ready to drink as fast as they could.

Another quarter-pint was gone before a hand rapped down on the table. "What do you guys think you're doing?!"

Kazu and Ayaka dropped their pints and glanced up, clearly peeved by their contest being interrupted. Over them, Jaarin stood, a far more serious expression on her face as Suzie looked worriedly on from the table behind.

"Drinking contest!" Kazu cheered, not helping the situation by hiccupping afterwards.

"Duh. Just stop it, okay? I'm not getting blamed here for what you guys end up doing."

Kazu raised his arms in protest. "Like what?"

Proving her point, having lost his balance, he fell back off his chair, surprise on his face as he stared up at the ceiling. He began laughing, sitting back up again, the eyes of Mimi and Jun across the room now on him too.

"My bad," he chuckled, scratching his head.

Jaarin's palm hit her forehead. "No more drinking contests, got that?"

The Starmon quickly looked disappointed, shaking his head as he wandered back towards the bar, mumbling about the lost days of the 'great drinking contest'. The teens were left staring up at Henry's sister, Ayaka eventually daring to ask the billion yen question.

"Can we finish our beers?"

Jaarin sighed, nodding. "But no more than that. I don't mind you guys drinking, but if you act stupid I'm only going to get blamed or have to deal with what you end up doing." She turned around, wandering away from the group to her own table, glancing briefly at her fellow adults giving stare of a agreement. "God I feel old…" Kenta heard her mumble, and he smiled widely. There was something suddenly so comic about everything.

"Well, now our fun's ruined, what can we do?" Kazu moaned. Ayaka let out a mischievous grin, directed towards Kenta and then towards Miki, leaving the boy feeling extremely uneasy and taking a sip of his beer for strength. This couldn't be good.

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

This was perfect. They were both in one place, and she could ask them everything. There was the potential so much fun with them in any case. This plan couldn't fail.

"Kenta, who do you think has the cutest butt, me or Miki?" Ayaka smirked as she saw both of her friends splutter and swallow in surprise. Kenta looked across to them, horror in his eyes, while Kazu laughed.

"Wha…what?"

"Come on, you had plenty of time to check it out on the way in." Kazu obviously thought he was winking subtly, and Ayaka kicked him under the table. Miki was blushing a bright red, before she audibly bit her teeth together, shooting a deathly glare at her best friend. Ayaka put her hand on her friend's shoulder, grinning.

"Personally, I'd say Miki. I mean, look at it, you just don't get many arses like…"

"Ayaka, shut up," the girl said, hiding her blushing by looking down as she far more sharply elbowed her friend in the ribs and moved slightly away from her on the seat. Kenta looked just more and more nervous by the second, leading the caramel-haired girl to worry that he was about to collapse. She smiled, chuckling.

"Oh come on, it's not like we're little kids any more, I'm sure you've thought about us in that way Kenta. It's no secret that you guys rate us all based on how we look."

"That…that's not true," Kenta coughed up a few words in amongst looking galled. His eyes wandered to Miki, before quickly looking back as he noticed her sharing the stare. Ayaka smirked more and more: it was enjoyable to play with what she knew about the pair.

"_It's cute too."_

"I…I care about personality more," he insisted, looking towards Miki for the hundredth time. Kazu, alongside him, stared on with such amusement. To Ayaka, this was just so much fun.

Ayaka faked an apologetic look "Okay, sorry, went a bit overboard, I'll play fair," she said, noticing the look of relief on both of her 'victims'. "So, tell us, what would your ideal girl be like Kenta?"

"Uh…"

"Hey, I thought you said we were playing fair," Miki objected, a blush still on her face which she visibly fought like the slight slur to her words. Her earlier drinking was having an impact.

"We are – I was asking a serious question. So, what would she be like?"

"Uh…" Kenta mumbled, once again looking to the oblivious Miki as Ayaka inwardly rolled her eyes.

"_Come on Miki, how dense are you? Geez, this'd be cute if it weren't so cringe-worthy."_

"Well…she's got to be…uh…nice."

"Nice?" _"Great description there Kenta."_ "In what way?"

"Um…kind? And…friendly, and, caring?"

"And what would she look like?"

"Well…um…cute? Uh…normal?" Kenta dithered, paying yet another glance to the girl who was the object of his affections. He seemed to try to describe her obscurely, Miki still not realising that the comments were meant to be about her. It looked like it was painful to Kenta to not really get a response, something which was rather touching for Ayaka. So was the fact that Miki looked increasingly irritated at herself, as if she felt she didn't fit the parameters the boy idealised.

"_This is so painful to watch." _She decided she'd have to force them together if they wouldn't do it themselves. "Okay, okay, I understand, don't bite your own tongue trying to think anything up."

"So what would yours be like?" Miki asked, Ayaka's breath caught. Miki had turned her own question against her.

"_Damn it." _"Aah…my ideal girl?"

"Not unless you've got something to tell us," nudged Kazu, raising an eyebrow and tapping her leg under the table

She kicked back. "Shut it Kazu – I'm not a lesbian!"

"Hey, wasn't me that suggested that," Kazu raised his palms out flat, pledging innocence.

He seemed to go from being sober and perceptive to being drunker than anyone else and missing everything that happened – nothing like how he was in reality. Was this part of how the beer worked? Or…was it like everything else here, and just about perceptions? Or was it just Kazu being, well, Kazu?

"Something on your mind, Ms. Denial?" he teased.

"Moron," she muttered, exhaling deeply as she began to ponder. "Well, I guess he'd have to be tall-ish. Taller than me at least, and blonde. Or brunette. I don't really care. And he'd have really deep, blue eyes, and a chiselled chin and broad shoulders…" Her voice slurred more and more as she went on, half by the dreaming and half by the liquor.

"Boy, girls are more obsessed with looks than we are Kazu," Kenta said, disbelief in his voice which snapped the girl from her trance.

"Yeah," Kazu agreed, smirking again as he walked backwards in front of them. "So, this hunk-guy, lemme guess, the brains of a sausage."

"Yeah, well, at least he'd be smarter than to think _with_ a sausage," Ayaka retorted, yet another of their insult-throwing matches beginning as their two human companions looked galled at what was about to come, fuelled by their drinking contest.

"Hey, I'm not that stupid!"

"Oh really?! Then what would you choose in a girl?"

Kazu stopped and paused, putting his hand on his chin and catching her off-guard by thinking more about it. "Uh…well…I guess…" She'd expected a quick retort along his usual lines, not this insightful and pondering look he now carried as he looked into her eyes with a half-there, half-not gaze. "She'd be smart; maybe even more than me…if that is _even _possible." Ayaka rolled her eyes at his usual arrogance. "And not a quiet little housecat either, why'd I want a girl that follows my every word in complete silence? Boring as hell, I'd rather have one who yelled at me twenty four-seven!"

"So basically, you'd want her to be loud and kick your arse?" Ayaka raised an eyebrow, bewildered.

"Uh…well, sort of. Not in a Rika-style way for sure," he shuddered. "Just, someone to keep me on my toes, you know? Life'd be so dull and crap if I was with someone completely mindless – it's more fun when there's someone who knows you really well and knows when you're being an arse too. I am making sense, right?"

Ayaka couldn't help but give a rather impressed and speechless nod at his words, in spite of her urge to insult them. Her mind tried to think of a reply, tried to sink into the tipsiness she acknowledged she had, but the thoughts running through her mind were rather more sobering. This was definitely an interesting side of Kazu – brash but deep.

He seemed to notice her probably unusual gaze with a somewhat startled look, quickly changing his tune with a wide grin to a rather cruder one. A grin that seemed forced…but…had he really been speaking from the heart before? Ayaka still found it hard to believe he could. Not that she didn't think he didn't have a heart – she'd seen the more vulnerable side of Kazu many times, it was just…she'd never really asked what he wanted in that respect before. This girl he described though – she really wasn't Chiyo, well, apart from the arse-kicking (and perhaps the intelligence).

In any case, his quickly-defensive words and movements ended up being pure Kazu, or, at least, what most of the world thought Kazu was, as his gaze lost focus on her and his hands began to gesture inanely about his chest .

"Oh, and, of course, she'd have to have absolutely humongous…"

"Okay, cut it there Kazu," Ayaka slammed her palm into her head, before pushing her fingers in. This wasn't what she wanted. Because, it quickly hit her that Kazu was taking the exact same strategy as Kenta. He was, rather obtusely, describing her.

She glanced down, her mind wandering to checking whether she fulfilled Kazu's rather more brash need, before she bit her lip, telling her mind to silence. She wanted to be happy…that was why the drinks had been nice, a way to get their mind off so many things, but Kazu and Kenta's loose tongues had left them in a bad way.

Did he like her? She'd had her suspicions before, but nothing really concrete. She had to find out…and she had a suspicion of how she could.

She tapped her glass down on the table, declaring a new game. "Okay, let's play 'I have never'."

Her friends were caught off guard, eyes widening, but Kazu quickly chuckled. "Bring it on." Kenta and Miki looked rather more nervous, both glancing to one another but never at the same time. It was cute but depressing. Ayaka had a feeling she could solve all their problems at once with their new game.

"Kenta, you start," Ayaka declared.

"Uh…okay…um…" Kenta took hold of his beer glass, still half-full. There was no risk of them getting too much more drunk it seemed, but that was far from the point of this particular game of 'I have never'. "I have never…pissed off Rika."

Kazu chuckled as he and Kenta took a drink, before Ayaka sighed, doing the same. She turned to Miki, glass still in hand.

"Uh, actually, she didn't like when we had that group project and didn't get your part in on time."

"Oh…" Miki replied, surprised, as she took a sip.

Eyes turned to Kazu, who grinned widely. "I have never…had a crush on a friend."

Ayaka froze, feeling like she was staring down a camera lens at the boy, his beer held out in front of him and all sound at the table ceasing. He had beaten her to the punch, and, worse still, had left her completely confused as to why he had asked. Had he guessed her plan? Was he even aware of himself enough to do so? Was it just an idle, tipsy question, or did it have deeper motives? Was it brought to his mind by their discussion? Was…was he trying to say something?

While mentally shaking off the concept, her eyes met the froth in her beer. Did she need to drink?

She glanced up to Kazu, sitting contently while he met the eyes of a confused Miki. "What?"

"You know the game – if you've done it, you drink."

Kenta took an uneasy glance at Miki, before flinching away faster than ever before. Ayaka knew the dilemma he faced, but she had another dimension to it. In Kenta's case, he had to choose between keeping things silent and risking breaking her heart if she felt the same way…or bearing all and risking a lot of questions. Even if she drank too, there was nothing to say it was for the same reason. But, for Ayaka…in her case she wasn't even sure what she felt about Kazu.

"_God, why am I even thinking of that like it's true? It's Kazu, not some…god, I am _not_ drunk enough for this. Why did I choose to do this?" _She knew she would've been a lot more cautious with her wording.

Kenta seemed to make up his mind, his eyes almost closed as he took a nervous sip. Ayaka's peeled across to Miki, a brief look of surprise on her face before she masked it, doing likewise. Kazu, confidently and proudly, took a gulp, but afterwards his face had broken considerably. Like normal, he seemed to rush in without thinking of the consequences.

Which just left her.

"_Oh to hell with it."_

Unfortunately, on the other side of the careful sip she took, there was an uneasy silence. One which Kazu quickly elected to break.

"So, spill."

"What?" Ayaka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, you guys can't just do that without saying. Quit leaving us on tenterhooks."

Guardromon tapped Kazu on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Kazu, but what are tenterhooks?"

He shrugged. "Guessing they hold a tent up or something."

"Ah. I fail to understand what you mean then."

"You never were that big on metaphors…"

"Those aren't the rules of the game Kazu," Kenta objected, taking a brave stand up to his friend which Ayaka found oddly admirable, particularly considering how normally he followed the taller boy in all of his schemes, no matter how insane or illegal. Unfortunately, his voice cracked somewhat as he said it, and Kazu failed to give the response he expected.

"Yeah, but still…"

He slurred his words. But Ayaka wasn't sure it was genuine. Everything hit her as a sort of act, a fakery beyond all measure. Maybe he was drunk enough to lose his inhibitions, but he was certainly not enough to not plan anything to use that newfound advantage. She knew how naïve she had been in accepting his earlier challenge – she had to admit that he could hold his drink better than any of them.

In which case…he was playing a game. But, if she pointed that out, he'd see she had something to hide. _"Damn you Kazu."_

"How about you spill first?" Miki asked. Kazu had hit a nerve with her clearly, even if all the hand-holding and dragging into the city had made her feelings for the boy perfectly clear to all involved.

Kazu raised his palms, sighing and nodding in agreement. "Fair enough, although I doubt it'll come as much of a surprise."

He glanced to Ayaka, as she held her breath, braving herself for the worst. Was he really going to say it?

A slight frown met his face, yet clashed with a cheeky grin. "Chiyo, duh. I can't believe you guys didn't remember that."

"_Oh." _Ayaka found herself almost…disappointed.

But why?

Kazu was silent for a moment, looking down to his glass, before he snapped out of it, clapping his hands together? "Now, who's next?"

He peered out at her, at Kenta, at Miki, before frowning, sighing and looking down into the glass.

"You guys really don't play ball, do you?"

The slurring was back. Was he forcing it? Maybe it really wasn't real drunkenness? Ayaka herself found her mental perceptions to keep switching: maybe she was as drunk as she thought she was? But how much sense did that make?

But...whether it was the case or not, Ayaka was aware enough of her own sense of guilt at the disenchantment in his voice, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She wished she hadn't had a drink in response to the question, but she hadn't known the outcome at the time. But, with Kazu seemingly harbouring no feelings for her, or, rather, feelings that he would mention (in which case the Chiyo answer was a cop-out), in retrospect she had had a way out, an easy way out.

"_I can't just say 'I was thirsty', can I?"_

"Ayaka. I give up."

"Huh?" _"Didn't he already say his? But wait, maybe…"_

"It's your go."

"Oh." _"Okay, this is insane. Why am I so disappointed?" _It wasn't just her. With that one question, a deathly silence had befallen all of them. Kenta and Miki seemed more interested in their rapidly-reducing lager than each other. _"It's just Kazu. But I feel like I let him down."_

Images from that moment, way back home when she had talked to him in Kenta's dining room, suddenly burst to the front of her mind. That moment, seven or so months ago, which still bled so vividly in her mind. How could she forget…?

* * *

"Uh…what…what's this about?"

"I'm…I'm just a bit concerned."

"About what?"

"You."

The gaze and grin both dropped, Kazu's head falling to stare at the table for a few moments. Ayaka watched his reaction curiously, pondering whether to keep talking or simply wait to see if he would be the one to do so.

An uncomfortable look on the boy's face was replaced quickly by an unconvincing bewildered one. "Uh…why?"

"This whole Chiyo thing…you don't seem to be that okay about what happened."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Ayaka frowned, the boy avoiding her eyes. Was this all she would get out of him? They _were_ friends after all, they were _meant_ to talk about stuff like this. Sure, they argued, but…wasn't that just how their friendship was; how it always had been? Didn't Kazu think the same; couldn't he see past the casual insults, the endless repeats of going-through-the motions?

Or was she reading this all wrong? Had she actually lost her chance at a decent friendship with him, fooled herself into thinking that both of them mutually agreed that their unusual relationship was normal and okay?

He went to stand up, still avoiding her hesitant stare as he looked towards his escape route: the door into the living room. Beyond it, Miki and Ayaka. Beyond it, Ayaka couldn't question him on such matters. Beyond it was escape.

Ayaka had swallowed her fears at that point, and just blurted out what she thought.

"You had to watch a crush die in front of you! A girl who hated you like a lot of girls so you're now scared that you'll never get anyone, and, I know that being you, you are never going to admit to any of this at all if I don't ram it down your throat like this," Ayaka quickly said, throwing out words she would never had said in a tactful conversation. It wasn't exactly the best method of getting him on her side, but right now it was probably her only method. "…right?" she asked, her voice unusually timid.

Kazu froze, staring towards her, before closing his eyes, breathing in deeply and falling back into the seat. His gaze quickly flew skywards, before he finally looked back down to her.

"Yeah," he sighed, pressing his hands together and planting them on the table. "Nice to know I'm _that_ transparent," he said with a hollow grin.

Ayaka gave a quiet chuckle, averting her eyes down to his hands before looking back up to him again. "Well…I spent a bloody long time thinking about it you know."

"Great to know I'm on your mind."

* * *

Kazu could always push a point like that. He always seemed so confident and cocky with things like this. Maybe that was why he was so disheartened with his friends for not taking up the baton…

* * *

The girl's face went to avert again, before it looked up to confront him. "Not like that!" she insisted. "It's just, Kazu, you've been a wreck these past few days but you haven't even talked to anyone about it."

"Oh come on, it's not like I could tell you all anyway."

"Why not Kazu? You've got tons of friends, and we're all here to help. Why don't you talk to us?"

* * *

Even today, she didn't know. Even today, he hadn't told her the full story. What had happened in that park? What had gone so wrong?

* * *

"Kazu?"

Kazu sighed after his long silence. "I really can't say."

"You can. I'm your friend Kazu, you can tell me anything."

The boy frowned, sighing yet again as he looked down at his hands, still clasped together on the table. He lightly shook his head, going to open his mouth before she quickly interrupted, knowing she was losing her chance.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier…and, ever…with the insults, I mean. I just thought they were a game, and…"

"They are a game," Kazu replied with a warm smile. "And it's yet another game I rule at," he quipped with a chuckle. Ayaka simply rolled her eyes, giving a content sigh as she repressed a smile at the cocky boy. "Listen, that's not what's bugging me now, so, you know, don't feel guilty and all Ayaka."

"Then what?"

"It's about Chiyo," he mumbled, looking sadly down at his hands again.

"Aw…Kazu," Ayaka said, a sympathetic look flooding onto her face. "We all miss her," she said, gently placing her hand onto Kazu's linked ones, rubbing her fingers across his skin.

* * *

She tensed up in the present, eyes looking out to Kazu and his hands, his eyes increasingly irritated as they awaited some form of new question topic from her. She didn't even let a single brain cell ponder such though – everything she did concentrated on the memories, ones that had seemed increasingly relevant with every day that had passed since their events had transpired.

* * *

Kazu closed his eyes, nodding in agreement before looking out to the caramel-haired girl again. "Yeah, I know, but…I saw her die, and…I really did like her, and…I've never lost anyone human before either, and other than Leomon we've never lost any friends at all, and even his death wasn't permanent in the end."

Ayaka frowned deeply, listening carefully to his ramblings. "The only person I ever lost before was my grandma, and I was too young to remember her properly," Ayaka said, sighing before pausing in her caressing as a wondering look crossed her eyes, quickly cast up to the ceiling light as if it were some symbolic sign of her. "But, I still wonder what she'd be like now, what she'd say, what she'd think of me...guess that kind of thought never stops."

* * *

Kazu had smiled, memories clearly running through his head. She had thought he was so foolish to fall so hard for someone who clearly didn't feel the same way, but love was blind…it was just how things happened. Life never worked out perfectly.

* * *

"Yeah. Remember when she told Asagi to "go to hell"?"

"Remember it? I can see Mrs' face now. God, I thought she was going to explode."

"I really didn't help by laughing, did I?"

"Did she really give you a week's worth of detention?"

"Nah. Two."

Ayaka chuckled in amusement, her face lighting up as a smile crossed it. She shook her head dismissively in disbelief of the boy's actions and tactlessness. She could only imagine being so forward and confident. Kazu certainly was one of a kind; that was for sure. Whether that was a good thing in Mrs Asagi's eyes, on the other hand was debatable, but having him as a friend, a mate, someone to be the idiot in class and make everyone laugh. That was definitely a good thing, even if he could still be rather immature.

Thanks to their trip down memory lane, Kazu once again began contemplating what he'd say if the very dark brown-haired girl he'd crushed on badly was here right now. All the questions he could ask. Did she really hate him that much? Why did she attack them? Couldn't she resist it? What about her partner? What did she think of Ayaka and the others in their class? Would she be here, stroking Kazu's hand and comforting him?

Ayaka blinked, her eyes widening and a bewildering look crossing her face as she looked down to Kazu's hands, both of them being stroked by hers unconsciously. She blinked again, noticing that Kazu shared her shocked expression.

* * *

That moment still made her cringe. The image stuck, it stuck so fast, and it was more vivid than any other part. Why did it hold so much importance for her? Was it just because it was so embarrassing?

* * *

With much blushing, mumbling and muffled cursing, they both quickly retracted their arms, averting their eyes down to the floor as Ayaka felt very stupid. What was she doing? How hadn't she noticed in all that time?

When she looked up, she found Kazu looking back to her, his expression as neutral as possible. "Shall we...?" he gestured to the door.

"Yeah," Ayaka agreed, wanting to end this situation quickly before she had to answer to her actions. She hurried across to the door, practically leaping at the chance to go through after Kazu pulled it aside.

But she paused, looking back, looking over that creased tablecloth with the oddest smile she had ever worn, so slight but so there.

* * *

"How long do you take to think of something?" Kazu snapped her out of it, clicking his fingers. "Quit daydreaming."

She shook her head briskly, abandoning her stroll down memory lane and taking on a stern expression. "I was _thinking_ of a question."

"Hurry up."

"Fine. I have never…been so drunk I've been sick."

Kazu sighed, rolling his eyes and drinking, while Kenta and Ayaka did likewise. "Fine, good." Kazu sounded bored by the dull question, looking to the girl next to her. "Miki, you."

"Oh…um…"

The look on the boy's face of bored anticipation lasted only so long, however, before he broke out in annoyance. "Oh come on guys, you're so boring. We're never going to have any fun with any of these games if you guys just zip up constantly."

His louder tones were attracting attention from the calmly-talking Mimi and Jun, and Suzie and Jaarin, but he seemed not to care, instead crossing his arms and falling back into his seat with a huff. Miki looked even more at unease about everything, giving Kazu nervous gazes, while Kenta stared into nothing but his drink endlessly. "Sorry Kazu, we'll just fake enthusiasm from now on if it pisses you off so much." The words left Ayaka's mouth, but she regretted saying them moments later.

Kazu's chair shunted back and he stood tall. "I'm off to the toilet."

He left without argument, or, rather, without leaving space for argument, Guardromon following hot on his heels. Of course, it quickly became clear where he was actually going, as Kenta promptly pointed something key out, just as his visor-wearing friend stormed out the front door and into the city outside. "There's no need to go to the bathroom in the Digital World," he said in a down tone.

"He seemed really mad at us," Miki said softly, frowning. "I don't know what we did wrong."

"I think he was just trying to cheer us up," Ayaka frowned like her friend, but for a different reason. "I'm going to go and talk to him," she added, knowing how well it went the previous time as she stood up from her chair. _"Let's…let's just hope we don't end up holding hands or doing something weird again."_

"Oh, okay…do you want me to come too?" Miki asked.

"Kazu will only blab profoundly to one person at a time," Ayaka said, an oddly possessive tone to her voice that she herself couldn't quite understand, as she brushed aside her friend in a tone she would never normally use with the girl. She tried to blame it on the beer, but knew easily otherwise, not least because the veil of drunkenness had cleared at altogether the wrong time. Far from removing her inhibitions, they were now there in full force, and she already knew that she had no idea of what to do the moment she left those doors.

She didn't say it, however.

"I'll let you two know what happens."

The pair nodded, and Ayaka quickly made for the door, a door that seemed much-frequented in the past few minutes. As she left, the world changed, the rattling from above becoming louder and the sound of flowing water increasing. Although, oddly, it was still quieter than she expected, and she could still easily hear herself think as she gazed either way along the street, looking for her friend.

"_It's oddly…relaxing, actually," _she mused about the noise, glancing back through the foggy pub windows to see Miki and Kenta uneasily chatting to each other and sipping their beers. She would've smiled at the cute sight, but right now she had a more pressing issue on her mind.

There.

The large, rusty Digimon, poking out of a nearby alleyway, was a dead giveaway, and she strode over to him, placing her hand on his frame. "Hey Guardromon…"

The Digimon turned round, bewildered. "Excuse me Miss…wait…are you a Humon?"

"Yeah, but…sorry, wrong Guardromon, my bad," Ayaka blushed, backpedalling uneasily back out of the alleyway. She had forgotten how full this city was of mechanical Digimon like her friend's partner, and so, were it not for a shout from another alleyway on the other side of the street, she doubted she would have found the boy at all.

"Wrong city to do that."

She spun round to see Kazu, chuckling to himself, and she pouted back. "You can't blame me," she huffed, wandering over to him as he stepped out, his Guardromon in tow. "Now what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's that I thought we were working together to root out Kenta and Miki's little romance and you didn't help at all?"

"We were working together?"

"I thought we were. And God it was dead in there…we need to cheer up."

"But we're not in the best situation Kazu."

"So? Can't anyone just smile? We were having fun before."

"Then you asked your stupid question."

"Like you weren't aiming to do the same."

"_Damn."_

"Got you there," Kazu said triumphantly, putting his hands on his hips. Ayaka poked him in the stomach, frowning.

"I was going to be more subtle."

"Ugh, okay, okay, fine…so I screwed up. Blame me for everything why don't you?"

"I'm not blaming you for everything. I think the beer's going to your head."

"Like it's not going to yours…" he replied, grinning slightly. Was he looking her up and down? There was something so…confusing about all this. "Ugh, my mind is so messed up lately," he then complained, slamming a hand into the side of his head.

"Being banished from your own world does that," Ayaka said dryly.

"It's not just that. It's just…"

"Just…what Kazu?" _"God help us, Kazu is being cryptic."_

"Okay, now don't get all huffy and mad with me like you always do, but I had another reason for suggesting that 'I have never' question."

"What?" she snapped, adding "spill already!" when he paused for a moment. One more moments later, however, the truth hit her like an express train. _"Crap! Why did I egg him on?!"_

This put Kazu on the defensive, as he changed his tack. "I saw you drink too…you like someone. Who?"

"Not before you explain just what you were playing at. What's this other reason?" _"Come on Ayaka, stop it!" _Why was she encouraging him to continue down this path? How would she answer if…if…

"I like you!"

"_If that happened." _"Uh…"

Kazu looked stunned at himself, freezing up, something she had never truly seen before in him to this extent, not even when they were caught holding hands. He looked down to the floor nervously, before glancing up, forcing on his normal face. "Yeah, I like you," he confronted.

"Oh."

"Shit."

"Huh?"

"Oh crap, I really just said it, didn't I?" Kazu slammed his hand into his forehead. Guardromon looked completely bewildered, staring on and looking between the two humans without an ounce of any idea of what was going on.

"Excuse me, Kazu, but…"

"I honestly don't know myself, and I'll try my best to explain later Guardromon."

"How about you explain to me now?" Ayaka disagreed, putting her hands on her hips. She couldn't understand why she was still doing this, confronting him even when he was being so honest and sincere with him.

"First, tell me if you like me back."

"Uh…I don't…"

She erred a slight too long, his face looking crestfallen and his mouth opening to speak before…

"…know. I mean, I don't know Kazu…I think I might…I…I've been thinking about it too…"

"Well…uh…how would you know for sure? I'd really like to know ASAP." Kazu was far from a romantic, a hopeless laugh emanating from his throat.

"You can damn well wait."

"Well what am I waiting on? Do you like me in that way or not? God, what is it with girls and making things so complicated?"

"_This was not how I imagined this moment." _"I'm not sure what I think about you."

"Great…that's perfect. Anything I can do to help at all? I hate being left in the lurch."

"_What do I say?" _"Why do you like me?" _"Not that."_

"Uh…honestly, I have no clue. I mean, we argue constantly, but…I guess you're just like what I said about my ideal girl."

"So you did what Kenta did and just described the girl you like?"

"Duh. Well, sort of."

Ayaka crossed her arms and chewed her lip. "I can't tell if that's sweet or just plain creepy. Ugh, why did you have to tell me all this now anyway? Like we don't have enough to deal with."

"Hey, it took a lot to 'fess up, don't crap on it."

"Aw, brave Kazu can't even tell the mean nasty Ayaka how he feels," Ayaka said mockingly, a grin on her face in spite of the surreal conversation.

"Come on, you'd be doing the exact same in my shoes."

"I'd be jumping off a bridge if I were in your shoes. You annoy me so much Kazu, you always have – how are we meant to go out?"

"My parents annoy each other constantly, and it doesn't stop them."

"So you _want_ a dysfunctional relationship?"

"I just want something, period. I mean look, out of my troublesome threesome, Takato's got Rika and Kenta's one drink away from telling Miki how he feels. And those two were the ones who would always blow milk out from their nose if they laughed while drinking it! I'm the only remotely normal one here – I should have girls falling over each other for me," he grinned idiotically, as Ayaka resisted the urge to face-palm.

"Do you ever hear _anything_ you say? You're not normal, Kazu. You're arrogant and insane, and I'm pretty sure you're so far up your own arse that your head is actually in the right place. And all the time, you rush in to whatever threat or game or lesson you face with some of the most stupid plans and battles I've ever seen – I've seen a four year old come up with better ideas."

"Seems like somebody's been watching me just a little too much," Kazu put his hands behind his head, a smile on his face that drove Ayaka up the wall. Just how could he irritate her anymore?

By winking at her, it turned out.

He glanced aside, his smile dropping as he looked to the city streets around, clicking his fingers where they were interlocked behind him. "Besides, modesty is overrated – the meek wouldn't even speak up enough to inherit the earth. You know, unless you're Takato – he'd accidentally do it."

"I think you're acting."

"Huh?"

"You just act like this to push my buttons. No-one could really be that big of an arse."

"Well…if I am…did it work?"

That grin returned, a smarmy, cheeky one which made her want to cringe so much. She sighed deeply, wanting to roll her eyes.

The next thing she felt was her lips against his, her eyes opening briefly to see the surprise on his face before she mentally cursed herself for what she had done without thinking.

"_Damn it…stupid subconscious…"_ she thought, as his arm wrapped around her back. _"This was _not_ how I imagined my first kiss."_

But she somehow couldn't bring herself to deny it was still a nice one.

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"Matt…"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure you don't want to talk any more about things? I'm always here to chat, you know."

"You know what's bugging me Gabumon, and I don't see how anything can really help, unless you have some idea of how we can contact or reach the others."

"I'm more of a caring 'mon than a 'mon with loads of ideas."

"No offence Gabumon, but I wish we had more of the latter."

"None taken."

"I just wish my D-Terminal worked. This is the one place you'd think it would…"

Matt sighed, coming to a stand on yet another of the brick-lined streets of the city, the brass pipes (carrying god-only-knew what) losing their gleam somewhat this deep into the centre – the reflections off the humongous funnel overhead were unfortunately not enough to completely illuminate them in their usual splendour. He briefly wondered how he would find his way back with everything looking the same, let alone find the accommodation that Sorcerymon had arranged for them for however long they needed here, but decided against worrying too much.

He had a nagging feeling he'd been walking in circles in any case, what with the majority of turns he took being rightwards. He had seen no sign of their hosts, or the attempts at communication they said they would make. He began to ponder if it would've been better to stay at the pub and wait for them to arrive, but dismissed the idea – that place had a depressing air to it, not helped by the small windows letting even less of the already-inadequate light in.

He paused, putting his hands in his pockets. "This place is still pretty amazing, even if this sort of darkness would get to me after a while."

"At least it's not pitch black."

Matt nodded, as he looked about the barely-visible skyline. The city was virtually flat, dropped onto the slowly undulating meadows, and so all he could really see was where the funnel touched down in the centre, and, near it, a large yet somehow flimsy-looking tower, skeletal sides quickly tapering to a metal ball at its peak. From this angle, it resembled a transmitter, not least since this was the first decent view Matt felt he had got of it.

"Let's head to the centre," he gestured, Gabumon nodding in agreement. _"Fingers crossed."_

* * *

**Kenta Kitagawa**

* * *

"So…um…Kenta…who were you drinking for?" Miki eventually asked, finger curled in her hair as she played with it. She looked so deeply distressed, yet Kenta felt a remarkable urge to reach out and do exactly what she was doing.

"Huh? When?"

"With that whole 'I have never' thing."

"Ah - I can't say that!"

"Oh…okay…" She looked disheartened, and Kenta couldn't help but be mad at himself. Why couldn't he just…say? Was it really that difficult to just tell her how he felt? Maybe…maybe this meant she felt the same way…or maybe he was reading her wrong.

Her eyes drifted downwards, a frown engraved into her expression. MarineAngemon floated over them, chirping every so often but ceasing quickly at the uncomfortable nature of it all. Kenta diverted his attention into drinking his beer, but when the last drops failed to escape the end of the glass, he sighed.

"All gone?"

He nodded, sighing. "And without a drinking contest or some money it doesn't look like we'll be getting any more."

"But…we have got money."

"Who says they'll accept Yen here though? In the TV show…" _"Wait…I don't think she knows that existed. I wish I'd been listening to Ryder and the others more about that cataclysm thing." _"…never mind."

"I want to try," she decided, standing up and crossing to the bar. He watched her talk to the Starmon, eyes locked to her form. Her hair danced as she argued their case, waving the Yen out. His eyes drifted downwards…

* * *

"Kenta, who do you think has the cutest butt, me or Miki?"

* * *

Ayaka's voice wandered through his mind, but he slapped himself in the side of his head, shaking it briskly. _"I hate my friends…"_ he thought, before, to his surprise, Miki returned with another two beers. His eyes widened, but she interrupted him before he could speak.

"He gave us the benefit of the doubt."

"Oh. I can pay for mine…"

She shook her head. "He doesn't know what the Yen were worth so he took so little. Cheapest thing I've ever bought I think," she smiled, before her eyes wandered down to her drink.

"Thanks."

"No problem. It's weird…he actually said that he'd take the word of a pretty girl like me. Am I pretty?"

"_Ah…what does she want me to say?" _The cynical part of his mind, trained up by years of putting up with Kazu and Ayaka, as well as Rika, told him that this was just a trap. It had to be. But, he knew he could really only answer one way here. "Yes."

He regretted asking it as a question. "Oh, thank you," she smiled and chirped. "But it's weird to be pretty to a Digimon…I mean…how does that work?"

Kenta smiled lightly. "I don't know at all. That's not the strangest thing here."

"Oh? Then come on, what's the strangest thing you've ever seen in the Digital World?" She leant forward till she was practically on his half of the table, peering intently at him.

"Uh…well…MarineAngemon was pretty strange."

"Pipi?!"

"I mean in a good way buddy!" Kenta laughed nervously. "The little guy just fell out of the sky onto me…I sent him off to fight the D-Reaper again, and the next thing I know he's in my pocket with my D-Arc. I don't even know how he got in there. I don't have that many holes in my clothes!"

Miki giggled, MarineAngemon floating down to her as she stroked the top of his head. "Aw…that's so sweet."

"And then there was the time that we found the Gekomon and Otamamon. They were making milkshakes out of…data. They tasted so sweet, but I really don't understand how they did it. They didn't have a cow or anything."

"How did they even know what milkshakes were? Actually, how does that Starmon guy even know what beer is?" she pondered, looking down to her own drink. "At least this tastes a bit better than beer."

"Meh, Kazu's my best friend so I've gotten used to the taste back home."

Miki nodded, talking a gulp before holding her glass up and peering at it. "I wonder if I'm getting as drunk off this as I normally do."

"Huh?" Kenta began to drink his beer too, it flowing much more easily than that first one had. He felt far more used to the taste now.

"I know Ayaka didn't say, but I'm really a lightweight. When you guys are all guzzling down everything, I just need to have a few to get the same way."

"_Hmm…she seemed a bit strange just now when she kicked my leg. Or was that just my imagination?"_ "Oh. I've never noticed." For some reason, he felt guilty of the fact, as if he should've been paying close enough attention to realise.

"Do I seem drunk right now at all?"

"A bit."

"Oh." Miki drank again, before she frowned more deeply. "My mom would hate to know I was drinking just to get drunk. Last time, Ayaka had to make sure I got up to my room okay and mom railed at me in the morning for it," she frowned. "I called her a bitch too."

"What, your mom?" Kenta asked, eyes widening slightly at the idea.

"No, Ayaka. She didn't seem to care though."

"That's good. What else do you do when you're drunk then?"

"You've seen me drunk Kenta."

"Yeah, but I don't notice 'cause I'm drunk too or busy watching Kazu and Ayaka argue."

"I like to think I become a lot happier and more smiley," Miki grinned.

"Huh? You normally seem really cheerful though."

"Yeah, but I can forget things when I'm drinking and actually be cheerful for real."

"Oh…what sort of things?"

"Uh…just, things, you know…"

"Oh."

Kenta was surprised to notice that he had finished his drink again. Was he missing out on time? Had he drunk really fast? Maybe the glasses were smaller? He did notice it was a lot easier to drink this 'digi-beer' than the real thing in a hurry. Peering out at Miki, he saw her glancing at his situation and rushing to finish hers, stifling a smile on his face at the sight.

"Done," she chirped, smiling. "See, I'm happier 'cause I can forget things and I'm with you and drinking."

"_Because she's with me? Huh?" _"What?"

"Uh…don't worry. That's the only thing I really worry about when I'm drunk."

"What is?" Kenta found himself leaning in to match her across the table, there being something so captivating about drunk-talk.

"Doing something I'll regret."

"Like?"

Before Kenta could think, Miki was on and off his lips, leaving a peck and a bemused expression behind. "Uh…" his words froze in his mouth.

"Oh crap," she cursed as it registered to her what she had just done. "Sorry…I don't know what came over me…"

He found himself unable to reply, stuck on the spot still leaning forward and staring right at her. Her head dipped, her blue hair trying to cover her eyes and embarrassment.

"Kenta? You okay? Sorry..."

"That was…nice."

"Huh? Really?"

"Can we do that again?"

"Um…" Miki seemed genuinely more bemused than he did, her eyes glancing about. He followed, noticing that Suzie, Jaarin, Mimi and Jun, with their partners, had all…vanished. When? Where did they go? "Huh?"

"Did they just leave us?"

"Didn't you notice? Your friends buggered off couple of minutes ago," Starmon explained, wiping mugs at the bar with a damp cloth and overhearing their conversation. "Don't worry though, I won't let them know about your little kiss. Still, great catch mate," he winked to Kenta.

"Uh…thanks?" the boy replied, before looking back to Miki. "Um…Miki…do you…uh…like me?"

"Do you like me?" she asked, an odd slight tone of confidence in her voice, although he speculated it was the drink talking. He was so unsure of her limits that he genuinely wondered if she would remember their instantaneous kiss once she regained her sobriety.

"Yeah."

She looked extremely relieved. "I really like you too."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Oh."

"Can we kiss again?"

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"Telegraph?"

"It's t'best we can do, mate. We used to have fantastic technology, but with Yggdrasil going boom we just don't have t'bandwidth."

"Even with that huge transmitter?"

"Piece of junk barely works, and even if it did it wouldn't go far. Doesn't help having that funnel right over it, mind you."

"So what can we do?"

"Well, if you write down a message," the Datamon explained, before gesturing over his shoulder to the control panel with his long, telescopic arms. "I can tap it out for whoever's listening."

"Don't you know if someone's on the other end?"

"'fraid not."

"Oh."

"So, you want me to send something or can I get back to my tea?"

Matt sighed. He had been quickly passed off by Sorcerymon to speak to this Digimon, even though the enthusiasm for thinking outside the box was even more lacking on Datamon than in his group. "I guess we may as well. Have you got a bit of paper?"

Datamon wandered back within the shadowy control room, dust-covered panels, dials and brass switches – right out of a history book – lining a whole wall. Forgetting transmitting to their friends, Matt doubted this system could even transmit to next door. Regardless, when the Digimon returned with the back of a page clearly ripped out of a diary and a pencil so chewed the lead could be seen in its mid-section, he began writing a faint message on the little space on the paper.

**This is Matt Ishida. I'm in a town called Bolton in the Northern Region of the Digital World with Mimi, Jun, Jaarin, Suzie, Kazu, Kenta, Ayaka, Miki and Impmon, along with our partners. We do not know where to go next and we urgently need assistance. Please reply if you get this message.**

When Datamon returned with a chipped mug of brown liquid, presumably tea, he cast a disdainful eye over the message. "Are you alright in t'head? I'm not bloody typing all that out."

"What?"

"It's a telegraph. I have to tap out things letter by letter. Morse code, mate. Do me a favour and cut it down."

"_Could've told me that before," _Matt mentally grumbled as he crouched down to rewrite the message, crossing through as much as he could.

**Matt Ishida. In town Bolton Northern Region Digital World with Mimi Jun Jaarin Suzie Kazu Kenta Ayaka Miki Impmon Partners. Urgently need assistance. Please reply.**

Datamon grimaced again upon seeing it. "It's still pretty long. I'll tap it out in full a few times but I'll cut it down after that."

"Haven't you got a way of just making it repeat endlessly?" Gabumon asked.

"Are you volunteering to rewire this?" Datamon gestured once again to the array of ancient equipment, various ticks and chimes softly sounding every so often. The machine went a long way back before it met the wall. Matt didn't even want to begin to imagine how much complex – and probably broken – equipment lay within it. Gabumon promptly shook his head at the sight.

"No, was just a suggestion," he waved his hands in apology, before looking up to Matt with the same frown he had. Datamon grunted, wandering away to the machine.

"He's helpful," Matt whispered, although it was so quiet it was practically just mouthing.

Gabumon nodded in complete agreement, as, after a few clicks, there began a sound of a continuous tapping. Matt wandered towards the source, seeing a headphone-wearing Datamon with his hand on a paddle, pressing down only slightly but producing arrays of 'dots and dashes', confirmed by a light on the machine. There were screens, yes, but they looked ancient and scratched, and a layer of dust coated them – they hadn't been used in a while. In fact, the sight was remarkable, and the first sign of any such wear and tear Matt had seen in this world.

Maybe that was how it worked here. Things matched your perception, your expectations, right down to that level. Nothing accumulated dust normally, nothing got scratched normally (unless the victim of an attack) and certainly nothing aged, but if they were something you'd expect to have definitely done so, it would. It didn't help that the room was dark and seemed to have been plucked right out of a different time.

He looked up to the ceiling, thinking of the transmitter on the other side now pumping the messages away to…who? Who would receive them?

"God I miss Yggdrasil's network," Datamon sighed, glancing over his shoulder. "I've sent it once," he noted, pausing briefly to look at them before sighing and resigning himself to sending it again.

"_How about being helpful and optimistic?" _Matt felt they could really use such a thing right now. In any case, he felt the room was quickly getting on his nerves, and so, with a quick wave and excuse to Datamon, he took a step outside, glad for even the perpetual evening light beneath the funnel.

"I feel like I can breathe again."

"Same Gabumon," Matt sighed as he leant against the wall of the small building, dominated by the tower on top, which itself paled in comparison to the tube from the funnel running down nearby into a large, hexagonal plant. Above the noise of water rushing down was a constant humming and rumbling from the building, undoubtedly this 'Weather Machine' he had heard about. Wires strung away from the machine, while a stream of water poured away, seemingly-instantly absorbed back into the soil. _"I swear that thing makes no sense._

If they were chucking the water away, and harnessing the power, how on earth did it continue to run? If there was anything he remembered from physics, it was their teacher trying to explain that perpetual motion was impossible (in spite of Tai's attempts to draw such a machine).

"_Sorry Sir, but you've been proved wrong," _he chuckled to himself, catching the attention of Gabumon.

"What's funny Matt?"

"Just remembering, never m…"

He paused, raising an eyebrow, as out of the corner of his eye he saw Gabumon looking up at him. The Digimon definitely couldn't match his confusion, of course, for in front of him was the rather unusual sight of Ayaka being given a 'piggyback ride' by Kazu, arms firmly locked around her legs as she had the widest grin on (and he had the most excruciatingly crushed face). Even having only really known the pair for a matter of hours, he could tell that this was an unlikely sight indeed. Guardromon, trailing behind, looked extremely confused, even looking to Matt and Gabumon once he noticed them, his eyes pleading for some form of explanation.

Matt chuckled, wandering towards the pair of humans as Kazu let Ayaka down, breathing a sigh of relief. "God you're heavy."

"Hey!"

"Heh, you really don't understand women, do you Kazu?"

"Hey, it's not like they make life easy, not with all the 'I'm not sure what I think about you' crap." Kazu's hands were once again firmly behind his head in his signature pose, while Ayaka looked deeply offended.

"What happened to private conversations _Kazu_?!"

"It's not like he would've known if you hadn't said."

"Known what?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. This was all awfully cryptic.

"Kazu just asked me out. Well, told me he liked me, but it's the same thing." Ayaka had an oddly…romantic look in her eyes, strangely complimenting and yet contrasting with what Matt knew about her at the same time.

"_Wow, that happened…fast." _Matt thought, before rapping Kazu on the shoulder. "Great going!" _"Even though you guys don't strike me as a typical couple."_

"Thanks."

"This your first proper girlfriend then?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh, you say it like I'm just a notch on your bedpost," Ayaka rolled her eyes skywards, crossing her arms. Matt was silently amused by how irritated she was getting his reaction.

"You're not even that…yet," Kazu replied, grinning, while Ayaka sighed, a slight smile still on her face in spite of how obviously annoyed she was. They definitely made the oddest of couples, if they could be called that now.

Ayaka stepped up to Kazu. "What are you implying?"

"I like to think it's suggesting."

"Pervert."

"Is it still perverted when we're in a relationship?"

"Do you want your first relationship to be your shortest?"

"I'll behave."

"Good."

"_Wow, someone actually pulled Kazu into line," _Matt chuckled to himself. He doubted such a situation would last for long.

"So, what's going on here? And what was with the whole leaving in a huff thing too?" Kazu asked, not one for obliqueness. Matt frowned at the mention, before sighing.

"I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Hey, we're in this together – spill already."

"I'm worried we won't find a way to the others or home, or at least to contact them."

Gabumon took a decidedly more optimistic stance. "But Datamon is in the transmitter room right now sending a message out for anyone who's listening, so you never know, we might just be in luck."

"For once."

Ayaka, however, brought the group solidly back to their pessimistic reality with something which hadn't occurred to Matt. "Wait…if he's sending it to anyone, what if someone bad gets a hold of it?"

"Uh…we hope that doesn't happen?" Matt suggested uncertainly.

Ayaka groaned. "I hate playing it by ear."

"Speaking of which, what brought you guys over here?"

"I asked Kazu for a piggyback, taking advantage of the fact he now can't refuse, and went to explore the town from a higher vantage point. I could see this place from up there."

"Where are the others?"

"I'm guessing they're still back at the bar."

"Okay…have you seen any sign of Impmon?"

"Nuh-uh," Kazu shook his head, frowning. "Guessing that means he's in this city somewhere. Probably sulking like always."

"We should rescue him," Guardromon suggested in a valiant tone, but Kazu shook his head.

"Bud, if there's anything I've learnt about Impmon, it's that he'll come back when he's ready."

"What about when Rika went to save him?"

"That was 'cause we had a timer."

"Ah."

"Hey, is that…Miki with…Kenta?!" Ayaka suddenly stuttered, Kazu looking confused and pulling a deadpan face as he talked to his newfound girlfriend.

"Duh, that happens all the time. We're all friends, remember."

"Just look…" Ayaka huffed, pointing sharply at the sight. Kazu followed her finger, until his eyes lit up and grew to seemingly be larger than his face, as impossible as it was. Slowly, however, a grin grew across his face from one side to the other, before he chuckled to himself.

"Well done Kenta – always knew you had it in you!"

This, sure enough, sent Kenta a rather amusing shade of red and brought a grin to Matt's face. Of course, that nagging voice at the back of his head pointed out that the pair had a vast deal more success with relationships based on what he was seeing alone than he had in a good few years, but he suppressed it for now. There was no need to drag his mental mood down any further.

"Aw, you're so sweet together," Ayaka cooed, still hanging close to Kazu.

"This happened a lot sooner than I thought it would. Good going Kenta."

Kenta blushed red. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"This was all so obvious," Ayaka explained, smirking. Miki glared at her, before dealing her a comeback.

"Yeah, well, it's not as obvious as _some _things are," she insisted, eyes flitting between the girl and her newfound boyfriend.

Ayaka smirked, leaning into Kazu further and putting her arm around him with a satisfied expression. "Too late. Seems both our guys 'fessed up at the same time."

"Oh," Miki said, while Kenta just looked surprised beyond words.

"Wow…Kazu, you still have your head."

"Don't look so surprised," Ayaka scowled, looking aside to Matt. "But getting to more important things – Matt here says we might have a way to contact home."

"Really?" Kenta's eyes lit up, before he smiled hopefully. "How?"

Matt nodded. "They transmit messages from here, and we're sending out a telegraph to see if anyone gets it. I don't think it'll get home though."

"Seems too far. We can be optimistic though," Gabumon agreed from by his feet.

"Pipipi," MarineAngemon nodded in agreement.

Matt let out a light smile. In spite of the hope the group was instilling in the plan (part of the reason he wanted to see if it was successful before talking to them all again), he couldn't put all his confidence in it. It was such an outsider chance – someone out there had to be listening, within range and with the ability to actually help them, and with Rayleigh playing his intricate chess game back home he doubted such would be the case.

"Excuse me Matt, but do you think there is any way we might boost the signal?" Guardromon asked. Matt paused to scratch his chin.

"I don't know – this Digital World might be like reality, but I wouldn't be sure what to do even there."

"In reality, making things bigger normally makes them more powerful," Kazu noted, before chuckling. "If Guilmon's any indication, the Digital World's the same."

"Gallantmon doesn't really fit the pattern though," Miki disagreed. "Still…how do we make the transmitter any bigger? Have you got a pylon behind your back?"

"Oit, yellow guy!"

"Yellow guy?" Kazu raised an eyebrow, before all turned to face a newcomer, waving a scrap of paper in his arm. There was a less than enthusiastic look on his face, as he repeated his call.

"Yellow head! You up there!" he repeated, Matt raising an eyebrow as he was pointed straight at.

"The name's Matt."

"Something actually replied," Datamon pressed on regardless, raising the scrap for Matt to take. The boy did so, before poring his eyes over it. "No clue what luck you guys have, but you had better share it!"

Matt noticed out of the corner of his eyes that others had crowded round him, but he barely noticed. He was too fixated on the chicken scrawl handwriting on the paper, the edge of it in fact, putting out one clear fact.

**SDCO New York receiving. Report status of group. Where are other Tamers?**

* * *

**Jeff Newman**

* * *

"I never expected to receive a message like that. Thank God for the Scouts," Jeff chuckled, eyes in the room fixated on a rather large boring terminal computer with a number of screens on it. The SDCO control rooms were multiple in number and none was as spectacular as Hypnos' orb (all roughly square-shaped instead), although arguably their technology was more advanced in some areas (albeit not so much in others).

"Morse Code only just gets through though – what hope do we have of getting them home?"

"It's a start Lindsay," the head of SDCO replied, feeling their luck was finally turning as the beep and light on the terminal began to ring again. Their attempts to 'listen out' for any patterns were helped by their vast computer power and they had turned it down so it would receive virtually anything that registered as a pattern. Through the waffle, they had found a genuinely familiar pattern of intelligence trying to communicate with them. He stared at the light and listened to the beeps, translating the message in his mind as the computer did a more accurate job.

**No idea. Own location not even known. Help needed. Can you find us?**

"Can we?" asked Lindsay Campbell, usually better known by her 'Monster Maker' nickname of 'Daisy'.

Jeff chewed his lip briefly. They had managed to contact some Tamers, but they were still no closer to finding the one he was genuinely looking for: Mari. The reports through from Japan said little more than that they had 'gone on the run' and were being pursued by law enforcement, but their scanners had registered a large amount of data entry to the network. Unfortunately, the signatures had split, and the chaotic nature of the Digital World's surface (seemingly worsening all the time) coupled with a strange degree of interference (not as random as he had suspected either, given it seemed to follow a pattern of Powerful Numbers when translated into decimals, the significance of which wasn't yet clear) made it hard to contact anyone. The Southern Region was worst of all for contacting, and if they were only getting weak messages from its exact opposite, the Northern Region, he suspected that they would have no chance contacting it. He hoped Mari and the others were in the Northern Region too, but a nagging sense of odds told him otherwise.

"_They might try to make contact too I suppose. If they have Shibumi, Tao and Dolphin, then there's a chance they'll find a way to send a message through." _His confidence in that was slipping, however. But, if they could contact one group, there was always a chance they could use them as a relay, or at least help them find the others…somehow.

All of that would rely on being able to get more complex data signals through. The problem was, on their end, the signals were being beamed out by some of the best transmitters, programs and computers in the world (at least according to the boasts of his higher-ups) so it wasn't them. It could be the Digital World in-between, but he'd tried cleaning up the signal as much as possible.

He barked out his orders to the technician sitting in front of the PC. "Reply as follows: you need to boost signal somehow before we can find exact location."

The technician nodded, typing out the message which the computer quickly translated into Morse code, a program hurriedly-written to deal with this sudden occurrence.

"_Thank god for modular programming languages and the geeks who know them so well."_ Jeff turned to face one of those geeks, even though to look at her you wouldn't think it. "Do you know when your friends are getting here?"

Lindsay frowned. "Curly and Babel are on the plane here now. Let's just hope the government doesn't change its tune and send an intercept."

Jeff nodded. The US government was currently on a 'wait and see' approach, still uncertain about the reports from Japan. It seemed they, thankfully, lacked trust in Rayleigh – one of the smartest moves he had seen them take regarding anything Digital in a long time. Other governments were already folding though: the borders of Singapore, China and Indonesia were reportedly on high alert for the group (not that they would even be passing that way, albeit all that most governments seemed to know was that they were 'on the run') and even the US had settled on a 'confine if encountered' policy. The assassination of a Prime Minister was not about to be passed on lightly, even if Jeff had a feeling something was amiss.

Whether Rika had done it or not didn't matter. He had to pull these people out of the Digital World before their chance for defence was lost. Of course, he was able to present it to his superiors as an 'arrest attempt', but he knew it was far from it. They had taken the bait however: being able to call the shots on extradition, or do the trial on their own terms, would be a very powerful position for the USA to be in. If it was a 'free' extradition, it would give some much needed political clout to the Japan-America relationship, and undoubtedly would lead to the classic 'you scratch my back' situation. But, negotiating with Rayleigh seemed rather more complex than that, so perhaps those old certainties of international politics didn't completely apply now.

He was glad he had set up SDCO's headquarters, or, at least, the control and programming side of things, to have a 'university' or 'Mountain View' feel. In a typical office like the ones he had to work in in the past, he always recalled having no way to vent stress while the environment just made things worse. But, knowing that beanbags and a variety of gimmicky (and geeky) toys were only a few rooms away, along with plenty of drinks and relaxing sofas, eased his mind somewhat. This was his kingdom, and only rarely did the government above challenge him.

When they did, it was serious, and they had plenty of weight to squash him with. The situation was far from stable, and he had plenty of people trying to keep an eye on their own side to check they wouldn't be held up as a sacrifice at any moment.

An aide wandered in, holding a piece of paper. "Limey's still asking what we know," he explained, pushing it into the man's hand before wandering away with a disbelieving expression. "God, I don't know, I thought we were the ones calling the shots on the special relationship…" his voice tailed off.

Jeff looked down at the paper and scanned past the waffle to seeing the same sort of message he had seen plenty of times.

**So, I would once again like to ask that you release all information you have on one Ryder Mark Watson Stevens who is reportedly a British-Japanese citizen who has passed through your borders but fails to appear on any of our records. Given the increasing pressure from other intelligence agencies and the ongoing events, we greatly appreciate your co-operation.**

"_Presumptive assholes."_

"Did you contact DACE?"

The 'Digital Analysis and Control Executive', spun off from the British version of SIGINT. When founded, it was a rather underused service compared to what it had been set up for, but, like all the agencies set up to manage such threats, they had simply been responding to a trend that had continued since. Bioemergences and digital events were increasing in the UK like in most digitally-developed states. Whether the control agencies actually worsened the situation by making a vulnerable point, however, was a point of much debate amongst sceptics of the scheme's effectiveness.

"First thing I did. Much nicer to talk to than MI-6. I asked them to keep their _friends_ at bay and said that we knew as much as they did."

"Is that true?"

"Of course not. But the British have a habit of accidentally letting information slip into the wrong hands – I didn't particularly want this to do the same, even if DACE is perhaps more trustworthy than other groups."

Lindsay chuckled. "I doubt they could leave this sort of thing on a train."

"Whether it is on our shores, across the pond or wherever, incompetence knows no bounds," Jeff noted, before smiling. "I'm being too cynical, of course. Once facts become clearer, I'm sure we will be able to fight for your friends against whoever is setting them up."

"You seem confident it's a set-up."

"Textbook. Why else would they destroy all the other security equipment and not that CCTV camera? Digimon are reported to be ultra-sensitive, particularly this…Sakuyamon. Well, at least, that's how it appears from Hypnos' records I have access to."

"Knowing Rika and Renamon personally, I simply know they could not do such a thing. I feel sorry for her actually: her pregnancy did not go down well in the media, and this is a thousand times worse.

Jeff nodded while frowning. He remembered the headlines: **TAMER PREGNANT AT SIXTEEN; DIGI-BABY; BABY SCANDAL: SHOULD GOVERNMENT REALLY FUND THIS LIFESTYLE?** And those were just the headlines. The poor girl didn't stand a chance, but she had seemed to stay out of the public eye. In fact, very few pictures of her pregnant or with her new baby seemed to exist, although he suspected that had more to do with Digimon assistance than anything else. She had avoided the draw of the tabloids for their 'explain all' segments too, and hadn't even published anything official. She had, in fact, irritated the media by, quite simply, not responding full stop – not even in anger. It was actually something that Jeff felt she could easily be proud of: few others would be able to hold up under such international pressure.

Would she ever recover from the negative press? With this murder on her hands, he doubted it, and that was if she even survived their present ordeal.

The beeping and lights flared up again, as Jeff strode closer to the screen, looking down to the control panel. It felt infuriating there wasn't simply a button they could press or a code they could write to fix things – they were relying on little more than children without any proper programming experience. But if the Digital World was as physical as reported by all he doubted they would need any sort of special experience.

**Will try. What happening back home? Are our parents safe? Rika innocent. Rayleigh attacked us. How much you know?**

There was an odd sense of fear in such simple words. The rush to explain everything, the questioning. He doubted he was just talking to one person now either. "Tell them: they are reported on the run, we know Rika is innocent and we had suspicions about the attacks. We will do our best to find out about their parents. SDCO will try to argue their case."

"You think we can?"

"We can try. I'm betting someone up high won't like it, but we can't just let this sort of injustice happen."

A beeping from his pocket made Jeff glance down, before he pulled out a slim and extremely modern phone, its screen flashing up with a message.

"It seems I've got visitors," he noted, before pressing on the touch screen. "Send them up," he said, the words transliterated into a text on the screen that promptly vanished.

"Who?"

"A couple of members of that project I mentioned, Project Replica," he noted, glancing across to the monitor and display in the hope that he would receive another message soon – maybe even an indication of a solution to their current predicament.

"I'm surprised you've had much success."

Jeff chuckled. "So am I. I mean, the subjects are still rather experimental, but the prototype D-Arcs appear to be working as they should. Thanks again for the data – it saved us countless months of programming and research."

"The world is more dangerous now thanks to what my friends and I created. Sure, Japan's relatively safe, but it won't last forever. My colleagues didn't all agree with me, however."

"We're not making a weapon to fight a war here. But our research could lead to that, so I completely understand. I don't just release the data to anyone."

"I still have doubts though. Everything I've seen with the Tamers in Japan…they were all very organic links, something you can't engineer."

Jeff nodded. "But I like to think we could give it a bit of a boost. Bring human and Digimon together, and if we're lucky, they might just hit it off."

"You make it sound like a dating agency. At least they're all willing. I've heard of other governments being a bit more heavy-handed or trying to use soldiers."

"I read Shibumi's paper, yes, but it read more like a philosophical debate than any solid fact."

"That's Gorou."

He chuckled. "I think it's still a fantastic read…he had a brilliant mind. It's a shame about the hair."

"I can't say I haven't hinted about that to him plenty of times," Daisy chuckled, before with a whir a nearby set of automatic doors opened, a pair of programmers in loosened shirts and comic ties finishing talking to another pair of figures, one slightly taller and one slightly shorter than the adults. The employees left, while the two members of Project Replica stepped forward into the room.

"Jeff," the shorter boy asked, stepping forward with a deeply concerned expression.

"Michael, Willis, it's great to see you're okay."

"Were we not meant to be?" The other boy narrowed his eyes, leading Jeff to laugh, shaking his head.

"Well, I didn't expect our government to go after you just yet."

"Wouldn't believe it by all the calls we've been getting. Just what on earth is going on?" the first boy looked rather stressed by it all. This was Michael Washington, a boy who'd lived in the state all his life and whose locks of dirty blonde hair and shapely chin would probably split opinion on whether he was attractive or not. Green eyes and a stern smile both cast themselves over the equipment in the room, and the woman alongside the head of SDCO. This was an odd sight to see on such a laid-back person: indeed, the volunteers for the project had been chosen for their relaxed nature and lack of general aggression (which his superiors had originally thought would've been more advantageous in battle), not least because they would need plenty of patience for such a project.

"Who called you?"

"I don't know, they wouldn't say."

The second boy nodded. "Me neither." Willis Price, originally from Colorado. At first, Jeff had regularly mistaken them for the same person, but then again, they had been amongst two dozen (or more) other volunteers, volunteering members of well-meaning groups like the Scouts and select members of Digital Watch. The selection had been arduous and to some extent random: characteristics found in the original Tamers along with desirable extra qualities were the focus. Michael was kind, articulate but had proven himself in the physical tests to have a fair bit of power and stamina too; Willis was thoughtful, inquisitive and cautious. They were not the only two in the group, of course. Not that it constituted a 'group' yet as such: they were as much individual test subjects as anything, searching for the right combination for a bond. "But he had a British accent. Hmm…come to think of it, I think I've heard that voice a lot lately."

Daisy's eyes widened. "What did he say?"

"He said…he said he was listening," Michael explained, Willis nodding in agreement.

Jeff turned, looking to Daisy with a surprised expression, before he stared back to the computer monitor, the vast communications terminal now blinking out a clear pattern of lights, the message materialising on the screen before long.

**Guess who**

* * *

**Rayleigh Thompson**

* * *

"Most powerful computer system my arse," the man chuckled as he slammed down the return key, smirking. Thanks to the tight links between the computer systems of SDCO and Hypnos, he had infiltrated it with such ease. The camera system, the audio on the transmission booth – it all simply made him laugh.

And now for silence. The greatest weapon, at least for a moment, one that could leave your opponents running around like headless chicken.

He practically leapt down the ladder on the frozen hydraulic seats in the Hypnos 'orb', landing alongside an open trap door, now propped up by a metal bar. Everything was, once again, going to plan. So many players had entered this game. He clambered down, before heading straight down the emergency staircase, once a tool for his enemies but now one perfect for his own use. Straight from the Hypnos' control room to the basement without any fussing around outside or with lifts. It was bracing exercise, yes, but each time he found himself bounding along.

The chess pieces were playing exactly as he wanted them. It was an unexpected twist in the game, of course, but undoubtedly an enjoyable one.

The fools in their rebuilt castle, listening desperately for news of what is going on, while their children-turned-soldiers were frightened so much by a simple voice.

Parents silenced in their homes, unable to speak a word of their child's disappearance.

Tamers and their associates isolated and separated in the cracking Digital World, not knowing of the perils he was about to rain down upon them.

Last but not least, every single important government in the world was playing right into his hand. They were not too co-ordinated, not too loose, but just enough to be convincing – with the right 'Infiltration' here and there, of course.

He paused on a step, pulling out a PDA, a quick-launch to everything Hypnos had to offer, one he held even after he had left his job as head of the agency. Yuggoth, Juggernaut, and a myriad of other systems and programs available to them.

"The strengths of the Tamers turned right against them."

That was always the Far Eastern principle. Be light, be flexible, move fast and turn your opponents' strengths into yours.

Eventually, the clatter of shoes upon steps ceased, his breath having intensified as he turned to face the open door, newly cut and looking fairly uneven. It barely mattered – it was so much easier this way, and aesthetics barely mattered. Beyond it, he entered another bland corridor, but following its paths he eventually entered somewhere far more…interesting. **Storage Room 29.**

"Kazuya." The lab boomed with his voice as he stepped across it, his newfound colleague smirking and proudly stepping up.

"Rayleigh, how did your intervention go?"

"Perfectly, of course. How are things going on your end?" he gestured about at the hive of activity amongst the terminals, vast pipes and wires and functional décor. In amidst it all, taking pride of place in the centre, was a pair of thick metal machines, curved around at their top and bottom and being linked by a flatter base. Lights flickered on and on them, and the space in-between almost resembled a door.

This was intentional, of course.

"Even better than last time. These resources are so much more generous than those given to my organisation," Kazuya scowled. "The government has favourites."

"So long as the Portal is ready in time, feel free to ask for whatever you want to get it done."

"Hmm…I would like to be able to test it. I cannot give my assurances it will work until then."

"Say no more. I volunteer."

"You?" Kazuya's eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up. "You are joking, right?"

"I'm a man of my word. I want to be the first to use it. Send me to the Digital World, let me deal with some business I have to attend to there, and then I'll return safe and sound."

"How exactly?"

"I shall rip apart Heaven and Earth themselves," Rayleigh announced poetically and dramatically, before smirking widely, glancing to the portal with an amused expression. "Or rather, I'll simply take advantage of the Juggernaut."

Kazuya nodded. "If you are sure of your plans, although what happens if you die in doing so?"

Rayleigh's smirk fell into a dark smile. "You get arrested."

Kazuya's expression quickly mirrored his, until Rayleigh let out a smug grin once again, shaking his head briskly.

"I joke," he lied. "But me being involved is all the more incentive for you to perfect this system."

"I see," Kazuya's enthusiasm had seemingly died with the comment, although he let out the lightest of laughs.

Rayleigh nodded, before turning slightly on his heels. "I have other business to attend to, I'm afraid. Let me know how things are going."

"Of course," Kazuya replied, as the Brit began to walk away, only pausing when he was called out to once again. "Ah…there is one little thing I needed to ask about," he quickly added, striding to be in front of his superior.

"Ask away."

"We could accomplish this project far faster with a smaller range of frequencies – many that you've given us simply won't go anywhere. We found that in testing last time."

"Trust me. Everything there has its purpose," Rayleigh insisted, patting the Japanese man on the shoulder. "Follow the specification. And call for some tea for your men – I think they deserve it with all the work they've been doing."

"I see."

Rayleigh grinned. Everything was going exactly to plan. He had to pause for one last time to admire the machine in the centre of the room, cackles of electricity running up it as it was powered up and shut down. It still had some way to go, but, when it was ready, it would be perfect, he knew that.

When it was ready, it would be the machine that would bring about the end of the Angels.

"_Every last one of them."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

I hope this insanely long chapter makes up for the extreme delay. I also hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and have had a good 2010 so far. Finally, I hope you enjoyed all the various twists and turns in this chapter – I wanted to have a nice mix of drama, romance and, of course, comedy, not least thanks to the drinking contest and its aftermath.

Oh, and, yeah, the two Tamers (well, to-be-Tamers) who turned up are the same Michael and Willis from the TV show and movie, only in the post-cataclysm universe they are without their partners and don't know about what other versions of them once were.

Until next time…


	32. Phase Two: Convergence

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE**

**Phase Two**

_Convergence_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

"End of the line. Literally. I can't go any further. Time to get off."

Franken continued his march of sarcasm as his voice rattled over the intercoms onboard the train, awaking some and clearing the haze of others as they sat up, staring out at the world with newfound curiosity. After much chatter, footsteps and bags hit the floor outside, landing on the grass and mud, yet taking absolutely no stains from either.

Rika found herself yet again staring around at a new part of the Digital World, chewing her lip as she saw a cutting through the forest exiting the clearing nearby, a clearing seemingly only there to allow the railway line to ride through.

Well, to partly ride through it seemed, for just beyond the front of Franken the Trailmon the sleepers continued without their rails. Whoever had taken the tracks, if they ever had existed, didn't want them getting through. Even the sleepers, in the distance, became sparser before ending completely.

"Wow, you meant it."

"No, I was lying. Get back on. I'll just ride over the nonexistent rails."

Rika looked to her side, for she was now standing alongside the front of the locomotive Digimon, and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you should lighten up."

"Listen, I just want to roll back to my roundhouse and sleep."

"You have a roundhouse?" Renamon asked, materialising next to her Tamer and widening an eye in questioning.

"Where you guys found me and woke me up. That's home for me."

Rika found herself frowning. "That place was so dark and quiet though. Don't you get lonely?"

"Do you talk to people when you're asleep?"

"No."

"So I don't get lonely."

"Fine, fine." Rika sighed, putting her hands in her pockets as she wandered back from the train. "See you around." There didn't seem to be much point in befriending the guy. If he wanted friends, he didn't seem to show it. Part of her felt sorry for him, cooped up in such a dull place with no-one to talk to. Could anyone really be content like that?

"Rika…do you want Rey?" Takato asked first and foremost once she returned to the group, but, after her shrug of the shoulders, he continued carrying her. Of all the people, she trusted him the most with Rey (although perhaps she treated her grandmother in the same way). Which was probably a good thing, since as the father it was sort of his job, and she knew she would be even more exhausted without his help.

"Rika, where are we going to go now?" her mother asked, the redhead shrugging and glancing about the clearing.

"No idea. Looks like we've got everything off the train though. Ugh, after that I'm hating the idea of walking, particularly with all this stuff."

"At least there is something here to see more than just sand and rocks," Kudamon chimed in from Kristy's shoulder.

"Which way do we go though? Everything looks so…samey…here."

"Hmm," Rika mumbled in agreement, looking up to Renamon, standing over her with an oddly…absent look on her face. Her eyes seemed to stare off into middle distance, and through their link Rika felt a strangely…'off'…feeling. She couldn't think of any better way to describe it. "Any ideas?"

Renamon snapped out of it and looked down. Sure enough, as usual, she had heard everything, even without seeming to. "If all the directions look identical, it should make no difference which way you go."

Rika sighed, crossing her arms. "And here was me hoping that for once this place would be familiar. Why is it always reformatted or something?"

"The Digital World is not usually completely reformatted Rika. We just came from the same desert you have always described. I hope Domain is intact," Kudamon pondered.

"What's Domain?" Seiko asked curiously. DarkBiyomon fielded her question in place of Kudamon, looking up to her (relatively) newfound Tamer where she stood by the older woman's leg.

"It's this city on one of the levels of the Southern Region. It's probably the most developed place around here – it is one of the most populous cities in the Digital World. At least…Yggdrasil always made it seem like that."

"Then why don't we go there?" Rumiko asked. "If it's populated, they might have beds and hotels, and Digimon who can help us get home."

Rika wanted to smile at her mother's…hopefulness. And her pressing on the idea of them having beds and hotels above all else. But, she remembered all too well their previous ventures to the grand city of Domain. Everything always seemed to go awry, be it being attacked by Demon Lords or Royal Knights, and innocents paid the price.

"_Kazemon…"_

The sights of whole city blocks vaporised into data flashed across her vision, as the screams of the humanoid fairy rang in her ears.

That was why she had soon after gone mad and let Kitsunemon be born, twisting the bond she held dearest of all. Deeper even than that she held with Takato, perhaps. She glanced up to Renamon, who looked back, but nothing was said.

That was how it always had been. They were so close they didn't even need words.

Her mother, on the other hand. "We don't have the best history with going there."

"Why, what happened before?" Rumiko wondered. Rika sighed.

"Just bad luck."

"Plus…as much as I'm pretty sure I'm not meant to intervene in established events…I really advise against you guys going to Domain again," Rei sighed, shaking her head. Out of her pocket poked a small plastic bag meant for a food item, now cleaned out and being used to hold the various parts of the time device.

"Why? What's going to happen?" Takato wondered, shifting Rey in his arms.

"Yeah – what _is_ going to happen, Rei?" Rika pressed, her eyes narrowing. Rei looked oddly…unnerved. She shrugged.

"Damned if I know. Seriously guys, how about telling me something every once in a while? You know, when I'm old enough to hear you?" Rei sighed deeply. "Sure, you may hate dredging up your past, but you could've all been a bit more transparent at least. Would do me a big favour right about now," she nagged.

"Then why don't you want us going to Domain?" Kristy asked.

"Same reason you guys shouldn't want to go. We don't have a clue what Rayleigh will do and, even if they can support us there, we're just painting a massive X on it."

Rei seemed honest, but Rika deep down wished she would fess up about what she expected to happen. If…if they were home in the future, then this all had to work out for the best, right? Besides, if it were _that_ big an outcome, Rei would've said.

"_Right?"_

* * *

**DC**

* * *

The slope lay out below, perilously sweeping away from him into the far distance. It ducked in and out of clouds, while the trees, once past the tree-line of course, respected its majesty, snow perfectly laid upon its surface as if designed. Untouched snow, new snow, ones which no other would dare to venture upon but him.

The sun gleamed ever so brightly down, yet he was dressed in coat after coat of warm clothing. He needed it, for the mountain was especially cold, particularly at this time of year when the snow was just perfect.

His feet dangled as he looked upon the sight, dithering on whether to throw himself down it.

Aaark!

Against his own will, he was sent hurtling down, laughter coming from behind as he sped away.

He landed in the leaves, frowning and gazing back up the slide, its once-shiny metal now a dull grey, and quickly occupied by another boy, looking just as happy as he did. He leapt aside as the boy raced to a stop, completely ignoring his fuming before racing around to the other side of the jungle gym to have another go.

DC watched the boy go down periodically, dithering on whether to have another go at his world record sliding attempt. But it was gone, the mountain now less than a hill, and his ambitions severely wounded. He turned and began to walk over to the swings. Not ropes in the middle of the forest or a slingshot flying machine shooting him up into space. Swings.

Two new children entered the park as he sat down on the swings. He wasn't sure what attracted his attention to them at first – the whole park was so full of kids, and all his attempts to befriend any of them in the past had come up short – but he quickly realised something different about them.

Unlike him, with his mother watching diligently half of the time from a nearby bench (the other half spent buried in a newspaper), they had no parents with them. At all. Not even an older brother or sister.

Not only that, but they also seemed good at playing imagination. They had a prop with them and everything.

It wasn't until that 'prop' glowed and had a large circle illuminate above it that he realised that this boy and girl weren't playing make-believe. He stood up with a start, quickly recalling those earlier shots from the television at home.

What did they call them? Trainers? Tamers…yeah…Digimon Tamers, that was it.

Maybe there was a Digimon nearby then?! A real, live, Digimon. He wouldn't miss his chance this time. Last time, he'd been scared, and he couldn't tell anyone at school any more. They even mocked him for being scared of a plant.

"_Even the bullies would run if they saw a Digimon…but I won't be scared."_

Maybe these Tamers could help him meet a Digimon? That would be brilliant! And then he could become a Tamer, and he'd be popular. Even if he wasn't, who cared – he would have a Digimon! No one would beat him up or insult him again!

Now he was running, running in reality but to meet his imagination. His dreams.

The children walked straight across the park along the path, too wrapped up in their device to look up at any point as unheard chatter passed between them. Neither looked too happy, but DC didn't notice that either.

He opened his mouth to call as they reached the opposite gate.

But he found himself unable to speak as the wind was taken out of him, an arm gripping him from behind.

"DC!" scolded his mother. "Don't run off like that. If you ran into traffic, what do you think would happen?"

DC's head dipped, as he said nothing. It seemed to aggravate the woman more, since she quickly grasped his hand, shoving her magazine hastily into her bag. "Come on, we're going home. If you can't play safely, you won't play at all."

As he was dragged towards the other gate, he tried to object, but nothing came of it.

He looked again. They were gone.

* * *

**DarkRenamon**

* * *

The thick forest blocked all sight into its contents, and thickened the further they went in. The passage went from being wide to being narrow, from being chaotically wavy and natural to being perfectly straight and as if someone had perfectly cut a gap through. Paths branched off erratically, some ending almost immediately and others seeming to venture on as long as theirs did. None of the latter seemed like any better or worse a choice than the one they were on, but all minds were fixed on the path they had chosen.

It was like a gambler, insistent that his lottery numbers had to come up now because they hadn't in a while.

The problem was, however, that everything was familiar. Sure, the layout had changed slightly, thanks to the ironically organic nature of the Digital World's flora. But that smell. That sound. The very feel of the air wafting through her fur. It was all…too familiar.

A pained, forced cough sounded from behind. She twisted her head and looked back at the group which she and Mari walked near the front of. It truly filled the cutting, dozens upon dozens of feet trampling upon the beautiful flowers below. But there was little they could do for them.

Maybe the same was true for the source of the cough. Cody's grandfather and martial arts instructor, who looked even worse for wear now than when he had left the train. All were bearing the brunt of tiredness and walking, an hour, maybe two, having passed since the DeuxTrailmon had been forced to drop them off. Undoubtedly, were it just her and Mari, they could've galloped through far faster, and even a group of Tamers alone could've managed this easily.

But spirits were down. They were refugees of reality, without a plan or resources apart from each other. Tai led them all; Sora and Agumon by his side, but even his renowned ability to lead couldn't stop the tide of pessimism.

They needed a bit of luck.

So maybe there was a chance?

"Dollar for your thoughts?" Mari asked, the Digimon's eyes flitting across. Clearly, in a world where most drudged desperately on, someone looking back cautiously and thoughtfully went as unnoticed as a fire in a dark room.

"I was just…wondering."

"A question?"

"No…more about just…this place."

"What about this place? I know as much about it as you do."

"I don't think you do though Mari."

"Huh?"

"I think…I think I've been here before. If I'm not mistaken."

"What? When? And how sure are you?"

"Before we met. And, at least, I think this is the area. I don't know, so many of the forests in this world look so similar," she trailed off, gazing back into the thick undergrowth again. The occasional sightings of Digimon were brief, the sheer size of the group scaring away the majority of rookies and champions by the looks of things. She just hoped nothing with more guts would arrive.

She looked back the other way, seeing Renamon wandering near Rika and seemingly as locked in thought as her. Was she thinking about the same thing?

"I'll be right back," she apologised to Mari, before leaping away, leaving behind a confused gaze on the brunette's face. Her white legs hit the ground as she landed near her cousin (albeit in species rather than family). Renamon showed no surprise, however, merely looking up with a curious gaze as DarkRenamon caught pace.

"Hello," Renamon said politely, but DarkRenamon could tell from one look at her that they were thinking the same thing.

"This is it, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think I really want to go back there."

Renamon glanced to Rika, not paying any attention to their conversation in spite of the fact DarkRenamon was pretty sure everyone around was curious as to its nature. They spoke too softly to be heard. The redhead held such faith in her partner. It was remarkable. Admirable.

Enviable.

DarkRenamon kept her frown as Renamon nodded, matching it, although a casual observer would perceive no difference. "I never wanted to have to go back there."

"But, with everyone is so tired and demoralised, I am reconsidering. If there is somewhere nearby, I'd feel I was letting them down not to say. Wouldn't you?"

"I suppose so."

DarkRenamon breathed in deep and closed her eyes for a moment, frowning deeply. "I guess this means I'll have to meet everyone again. Not that anyone ever really knew me. Your kind was so much more noticed and respected…it helped that you were chosen too."

Renamon simply nodded, looking skywards distractedly. Something was so decidedly off about her, but DarkRenamon declined to ask. "I didn't know you either I'm afraid," her yellow cousin finally added. "I do…sort of miss those times. They were so much simpler."

"I don't miss them at all. I was sick of being treated like an inferior. Just because I wasn't as good a fighter or as magical, I was somehow meant to be a slave on the ground while Taijimon's favourites were treated like gods. No offence."

"I can see your point of view."

"Still…there were a few…good bits."

"Hmm?"

"Never mind," DarkRenamon glanced away to the forest's edge, as thick on this side of the group as on the other. "So what should we do?"

Renamon looked to her, pausing briefly. "If we must."

"You don't seem at all happy about this."

The yellow fox shook her head but said nothing. After the rather unsatisfactory response, DarkRenamon turned, wordlessly leaping back over to Mari, landing gracefully (as always) dead in front of her Tamer's path.

"I have an idea."

"Huh? What is it?" Mari asked, eyes lighting up with curiosity. "Is that what you were talking to Renamon about?"

"Yeah…" _"…sort of."_ DarkRenamon's eyes drifted to the sides of the clearing. "But I need to look a bit first. I'll…I'll be back in a moment."

Mari nodded, before the black vixen twisted on her heels, beginning to make a pace ahead of them in the clearing, passing Tai and Agumon and venturing ahead at full pelt, looks of surprise crossing their faces at the sudden action. She felt an odd pride as she left them in the dust.

Pride that was, with a skidding of feet to a stop, quickly replaced by shock.

"No…bloody…way…"

The voice wasn't hers, even if its source looked vaguely like her. Well, apart from the fact he was yellow, a different gender and lacked her red gloves. Tightly-wound string took their place below some more muscular arms, while brown straps did the same for his feet and similar legs. The old ruffle of hair remained – that tuft that vaguely rendered him apart from others of his kind – while he shared the less delicate look of his side of the species, in spite of which his expression lacked anger or malice. His eyes were so wide, they would be visible to even a person encountering his species for the first time.

"Renardmon?" DarkRenamon spluttered, her own eyes widened. She hadn't expected to encounter him so soon, or even for him to still be around, but this was undoubtedly the same Renardmon. She had paid close enough attention in all her time to know his appearance beyond a shadow of a doubt.

A yellow blur stormed straight past her and quickly reached to grab the newcomer by the neck. The black Renamon blinked in surprise at the sight, while Renardmon prised the hands away all-too easily, pushing the female back and away.

"You sure have a funny way of greeting people Renamon," he said coolly, rolling his eyes skywards as she faltered back on her feet. "And I was always physically stronger than you."

Renamon ignored him. "So this _is_ the same forest then." She said it more to herself than to her cousin by species. "It hasn't changed."

Renardmon seemed unfazed by his old friend's actions. "Of course not. But, more importantly, where the hell have you been the past four years?"

"Escaping," the words were hushed, but prompted surprise on the male Digimon's face. DarkRenamon's ears twitched, and she twisted around to see Mari and Rika rushing to catch up, the rest of the group not far behind.

"From what?" Renardmon asked, a bewildered look on his face.

As the Tamers drew in close, a paw went to mouth, hammering the point home as DarkRenamon looked on curiously. What on earth was going on?

"Are those people with you two?" Renardmon pointed a paw to the humans, as Mari and Rika came to a stop.

"Of course. What were you expecting?"

"Renamon, who is this guy?" Rika quickly asked, raising her D-Vice on her wrist as Renamon's eyes focused in. Renardmon tensed up, taking an uneasy step back.

"Hey, what's this all about?" he asked, looking nervous as he seemed to acknowledge the massive group. "Who are all of you?"

"Renardmon, Data Type, Rookie Level, attacks are Sharp Foot, Data Punch and Dagger Storm. Renamon, you know this guy, right?"

Renamon's gaze flittered across to her Tamer, before going back to the newcomer. "Yes."

"I can't believe you're a tamed Digimon now," Renardmon sounded astonished, shaking his head in disbelief. "Didn't you care at all about the…?" he began, before quickly adding. "Actually, never mind."

Most didn't seem to notice the intense glare that passed between Renardmon and Renamon at that moment, but DarkRenamon found it even more perplexing. Were they referring to…the plan? Not that she was too clear exactly what it involved, however.

"Don't you talk?" DarkRenamon snapped out of her thoughts to find Renardmon looking directly at him, his eyes scanning her up and down. "Hey…wait…actually…I do recognise you now that I come to think about it…didn't we meet after…oh…"

"Yeah, that's the time." DarkRenamon felt somewhat embarrassed by the memory, one of the few times they had actually spoken. It was a time when she had been so angry and tearful that she had been shouting at herself more than talking to him. "It's…it's really good to see you again," she said, far more sociable than her lighter cousin even if she had said little up to that point.

"Same…wait…you went missing."

"Yeah. I told you I couldn't stand it anymore."

"Yeah, I remember. What happened?"

"I was taken in by Yggdrasil," she frowned, recalling how hopeful she had been at the time. Events since had proved her hope unfounded – her allegiance to that false God had only brought her ill. He had stolen her body and taunted her with the mega form she had always desired but had yet to achieve herself. She had nothing but pure hatred for him now. But, back then, it was an escape, an escape from the village and its elitist ways.

"Oh. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Eventually," she replied, the slightest smile on her face as she turned back to a speechless Mari, still looking confused by the newcomer. "Mari, this is Renardmon, a male Renardmon. I knew him from back in the village."

"_Well, the truth would be to say I fancied him."_

"Fanc…?" Mari began, but quickly went quiet. Did she hear that? How much did she hear? For once, she didn't appreciate the bond breaking through. After all, it was simply something so childish to remember. "What village?" she quickly changed the subject.

"**The Kabuki Village, somewhere near here I presume – home place of Renamon," **Harmony promptly explained.

"And DarkRenamon."

"And Renardmon."

"**Okay, home place of the Renamon species."**

"Racist."

"Sexist."

"Humph," Renamon snorted dismissively. "Stop complaining."

Chaos stepped forward, Guilmon in tow. **"Yeah. That's like arguing over who gets to have the best disease. You're all Renamon – that's already a cross against your name."**

"Wait, so…Renamon…you used to be in this village?" Rika asked, clearly trying to get her head round things. The last dregs of their group, still only walking, were just catching up, Renardmon far outnumbered. Most looked curious but few seemed entirely in earshot of the conversation.

"Yes, DarkRenamon and I both came from the Kabuki Village."

"Hmm…I never knew," Rika mused, frowning and leaving her words hanging as DarkRenamon saw her yellow cousin's head dip slightly. Clearly, Rika was none too happy about having been left out of the loop, and Renamon wasn't too happy for doing so.

"That voice…" Renardmon suddenly began figuring, placing his paw on his forehead. "The old Priestess always spoke of how Harmony and Chaos maintained hosts…could you be?"

"**Of course foxy-boy," **Chaos introduced himself, grinning widely. **"Chaos' the name, here with my whiny alter-ego Takato."**

"Hey, I'm not whiny."

"The ears are listening but they're not hearing any different," Terriermon quipped, leaping down to the floor from Henry's head and wandering to stand below the towering Renamon. "So, you're some sorta male Renamon, huh?" he asked, tiny paw on his side, as he looked the newcomer over.

"**Isn't that obvious?" **Harmony's tone was condescending.

Renardmon seemed to be paying no notice, his palm pressing into his forehead as he seemed to be musing things over. "Of course, of course, it's all beginning to make sense now. Why they didn't choose you before…and…wait, is that the reason for the glove…?"

Renamon gave a sharp glare and Renardmon shook his head rapidly, laughing nervously.

"You know what, never mind. Not worth bothering with anyway," he trailed off. "Particularly if you're never gonna answer me properly…" DarkRenamon could hear him faintly mutter.

DarkRenamon, fearing that her line of conversation had been completely thrown out the window, tried to ask the question that was bugging her greatly. She simply had to know, even if she doubted she would like the answer. "Renardmon," she asked, feeling somewhat uncomfortable and nagging but pressing on regardless. "Did anyone…miss me…when I left?"

Renardmon looked to her with a singular stare and a long pause that said everything. "…sort of."

"_Meaning no." _"Okay." The news felt like a sharp pain to her heart, yet at the same time confirmed all she had ever suspected. In this village, an individual, away from positions of power, meant nothing. She was genuinely glad to have escaped.

But she also felt extremely curious about what it would be like now.

"Did Renamon survive?" Renamon asked, the question raising a few eyebrows for seemingly lacking any sense whatsoever. How could she be asking about herself? DarkRenamon quickly suspected that, if they did visit the village, very interesting times would be in store for them name-wise.

"Renamon...? Oh, you mean the Priestess! Yeah, yeah!" Renardmon grinned, chuckling. "Yeah, she's great."

"Is she…a Sakuyamon now then?"

"Of course."

"Oh…so it worked then."

"Uh, I don't know, I said the village was intact two seconds ago didn't I?"

"You shouldn't try sarcasm."

"Sorry, sorry, pardon me," arrived a voice, Tai pushing between Renamon and DarkRenamon with Agumon hot on his heels, a slight smile on his face as he looked up slightly to Renardmon. "Did you say something about a village?"

"The Kabuki Village, yeah."

"Yeah. Any chance you can show us where it is? We're really whacked out."

"Whacked out?"

"He means we're in a bit of a bad shape as a group right now and we could really use somewhere to rest, if you can help at all," Sora corrected as she joined her boyfriend, who flashed her a glance of thankfulness.

"Well, I can see what I can do. I can't see why not," Renardmon replied, placing a paw on his chin. "I'll lead the way," he gave a welcoming gesture along the path with the same paw.

"Hmph," Renamon huffed, striding straight past him with Rika quickly following. "Nice offer, but I think I know where I'm going." DarkRenamon couldn't help but be confused by all this: as an outsider, they had always looked like close friends back in the day. The two Renamon with Renardmon, a trio of perhaps some of the closest friends in the whole village. DarkRenamon actually envied them, not just for being with Renardmon but just having a group to be with at all.

"Really, 'cause I was just pointing that way to screw with you."

Renamon span around. Rika looked confused and increasingly irritated towards her as she was forced to do the same. "I was aware of that."

* * *

**Sakura Yuuna**

* * *

"There's some blood here." Sakura's gut wrenched at the sight, pocket marks of bullets still lining the trees and surfaces about the concrete hut, the most secretly-famous landmark of Shinjuku's unassuming park. Or, at least, former holder of that title, for it was now little more than a pile of rubble.

They had found little in it, not even an answer as to what had happened. But…the speckles of blood remaining around the steps, picked up by Sangloupmon's bloodthirsty nose when they arrived, had given her a pretty strong hint. The peck marks of bullets and the single one they had found in a bush, it's slim line form dented at one end, pretty much confirmed it.

"Someone got hurt," Kohaku agreed. But they still didn't know the details. Just what exactly had happened here?

"See, this is where youse humans are lucky. You just leak out that liquid stuff when you get hurt – we break up," Dracmon huffed.

"Yeah, but humans hurt way more easily," Floramon suggested, the pair watching their humans inspect the scene. Dracmon put his hand on his tiny chin.

"I don't know – I think we need to test that a bit."

"No testing of anything you come up with!" Sakura scolded quickly, glaring down to her boyfriend's troublesome partner. They'd already paid a fortune just to ride on him here, not that they knew where he put the money. _"If he keeps annoying us like this, I think he'll drive me to the point where I pull one of those gems he calls eyes out and sell it so he can't see another thing to mock ever again…wow…Sakura, angry, Sakura."_

Putting her anger issues to one side for a moment, she stood up, sighing. "Grim, huh?" Kohaku agreed, matching her exhaling.

"Yeah. This has to be where the Tamers went."

"Yeah, but…where did they go? Did the government take them? Or worse…"

Sakura put her hands in her pockets. "If that Acting PM guy took them, I'm pretty sure he'd be boasting about it by now. But if he killed them…"

"Hmm…" Kohaku crouched down, looking curiously at the ground around him with a hand on his chin. He brushed his hand through the dust around the bullet mark, it covered up quickly. "I wish I were a detective," he said in an analytical voice, before sighing. "But…if someone died, you'd think there would be bodies around."

Sakura felt doubtful. "I'm not an expert on the media and slick government operatives, but I doubt they would just leave a body in the park to be found."

Kohaku nodded, stood up, and stared at the hideout again, frowning deeply. "That place is making me wonder too."

"Maybe a Digimon attack hit it?" Floramon suggested.

"No way," Dracmon shook his head, eliciting sounds of surprise from the group. "Come on, if that'd happened, wouldn't the rubble all have landed in one place? It's scattered in all directions!"

Eyebrows were raised at the Digimon, and he promptly put his hands out and gave them a disbelieving expression.

"What? You don't think I don't know a little something about explosions? And anyhow, as I learnt from your toaster Kuhako, things in this world just disintegrate if I hit them hard enough."

"Well…that does sound…right." Kohaku sounded surprised that there was logic behind Dracmon's words. "And don't remind me…"

"But what blew it up then?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow. Just who was involved in this battle? "You know, if a proper Digimon battle went down here, I'd think there'd be a lot more craters and stuff around."

"True. We can't even avoid making them and we're like a nine volt battery compared to the Tamers," Kohaku agreed, with an odd sense of shame at the concept in his voice.

"This doesn't make any sense to me. They blew just one thing up," Floramon noted, her petal-like hand spread wide where it was mashed into her forehead with a groan. "What happened here?"

"I know the government can be stupid but…I didn't think they still fired bullets at Digimon in the hope they work," Sakura noted, putting her hand on her chin and inadvertently mirroring her boyfriend. Upon noticing, she let out a light chuckle, not enough for him to hear, but she was at least happy they had some link any more. In fact, as dismally dark as everything seemed, this was actually fun. Exciting. Adventurous. Romantic…

"Sakura…Sakura…you listening?"

"Huh…uh…yeah…what was the thing that you said again?"

Kohaku raised an eyebrow. "I didn't. Dracmon did."

"Yeah – don't go giving my points to Kuhako here! Anyhow, the point is what if they really wanted to just blow that thing up?"

"Who?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "And why?"

"I don't know. But what if someone just did?"

"What was that thing anyhow?" Kohaku asked. "Can't imagine they'd have some super secret military installation in the middle of the park."

"It was the Tamers' favourite meeting place. I came here once or twice but didn't really see it much," Sakura explained, gesturing to it. "It was important…somehow. But I could never see why, it was a bit run down and abandoned."

"Not anymore," Dracmon noted with a touch of humour in his voice. "Hey Kuhako, what on earth are you expecting to here? There's no Digimon to fight and, sure, we know there's been a battle, but who cares? What difference does it make to us?"

"The government's been hunting down Tamers, Dracmon."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I got _that_, but if they're doing crap like that, why are we still standing here?"

Sakura frowned. "It's a mystery and we want to solve it. We're just curious Dracmon."

"Goddramon, you humans don't make any sense at all. Always snooping in business that doesn't involve ya."

"Name something better we can do," Kohaku asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We could start clearing out the hours and hours of porn on your DVR?"

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, while Kohaku's eyebrow twitched and his face froze up in confusion. "What…what are you talking about? What porn?"

Dracmon laughed malevolently. "Boy, you're going to regret giving me the password and the remote," he winked.

Kohaku's hand slammed into his face, a sight that was all-too-familiar to Sakura. "If my mom finds that, she's going to kill me. Hell, once she sees the bill, she'll kill me. Dracmon, if I die, you're not on my will."

"Meh, I'll just steal your stuff anyhow. I've already got all your money, remember?"

Kohaku said nothing, simply groaning and letting his head fall into both palms in frustration. Sakura smiled only slightly as she put her arm round him, patting him on the other shoulder. _"I am so glad I have Floramon," _she pondered, that particular Digimon currently giving Dracmon evil eyes, as was routine by now. And as per that particular routine, the glaring orbs went ignored.

Dracmon stomped his foot, but the relative lack of size made it all sound a bit weak. "Now, if you guys don't hurry up and get moving, I'm leaving you behind! And don't expect me to let you in the house K…!"

"DIGIMON!"

Dracmon's words stopped dead as a white ball assaulted him out of nowhere, leaving him spluttering and helpless as he fell back to the floor. The thing scrapped at him with all the savagery of a zombie digging for brains. And yet its words were timid and hurried.

"I've been looking for someone I know for so long and I was so scared and Jeri wasn't at home and Takato's gone and they were here before but there was a man and he…"

"_Wait, I know that voice."_

"GET THE HELL OFF ME YOU CREEPY PIXIE! TAKE THAT!"

"OW!"

The unforgettable white and purple blob of Calumon was tossed away from Dracmon, and with the lightest of bounces on his tiny feet he landed nearby, face downcast.

"Hey, I was just saying hello."

"You little creep. How's that saying hello?!" Dracmon ranted, crystalline eyes glinting with fury.

"Calumon, you're okay!" Sakura said, a relieved smile on her face at the sight of at least one familiar face. Calumon, oblivious to the rage emitted from Dracmon, turned to face her, and immediately bounded up into her arms.

"Sakura!"

"Hey, hey, hold still, that's really uncomfortable when you squirm like that," she complained, taking a firmer grip on the little guy as she looked down to his eyes. "What happened?"

"There were loads of people and they shouted at me and told me I did something but I don't know what I did and I got really scared and there were all these people in weird clothes , and, and, and…then I ran away and found Mari and I thought I was safe and…and…and we went through all these tunnels and into the park and…and…there was this guy…this guy from the television and from those weird towers…and…and…he attacked us and these guys kept waving guns at my friends and they shot some of them and I thought Ryder was dead but…but…but…there was this explosion…and…and…and…I got away…" he cried, his words becoming more and more incomprehensible as he went on. "And then I couldn't find anyone I knew and when everyone was gone when I got back here I was so worried!"

Sakura cooed. "Shush, shush, it's okay, it's okay, you're safe with us now."

"Do you know anything about where the Tamers went?" Kohaku asked, his voice laden with concern.

"Nah-uh," Calumon shook his head, frowning. "Sorry."

"It's okay…you've given us a lot of answers," Kohaku said, a light smile on his face.

"Not that we have any reason to want to know them," Dracmon, his arms crossed, said harshly as he moped, shooting his attacker death glares. Floramon shushed him.

Kohaku began to explain his ideas. "I think I sort of understand what happened. Rayleigh confronted everyone with a bunch of goons, and then…I don't know, someone blew up that building thing. I don't know why they would've though. Was there something important about it Calumon?"

Calumon's tiny hand tugged at the corner of his mouth as his eyes rolled skywards. "Um…"

Sakura couldn't help but smile at the sight. The little Digimon seemed to define cuteness, even more so than the MarineAngemon she had seen with Kenta. Everything Calumon did was so sweet, adorable and innocent – he couldn't seem to hurt a fly. Even if Dracmon now saw him as the personification of evil itself (and for Dracmon, a Digimon who aimed many a time to be that personification of evil and chaos, that was a grand step indeed).

"It's how they got to the Digital World…I think."

"To the Digital World?" Floramon asked, looking curiously to the remains. "How?"

"Guilmon always dug up food and stuff here…he told me he found the big ball of glowy things along with it," Calumon explained, Sakura raising an eyebrow and getting the feeling Calumon was missing a detail or two. "It was really pretty."

"Sounds like a portal," Kohaku mused.

"Of course it's a portal. Now can we go home already?!" Dracmon complained.

"You seem really testy. What the hell's up?" Kohaku asked bluntly.

"I'm not testy, I just want to get away from here already! Anywhere else!" The Digimon's voice sounded irritated and frantic, as he glanced towards the remains of the Tamers' hideout.

"Why? What's wrong with here?" Floramon asked, looking up to Sakura who shared her bewilderment. Just what had gotten into him?

"Wrong? Wrong? Can't you feel it Floramon? Come on, Calumon, tell me you're useful for something!"

"Feel what?" Sakura asked.

"It's like a hole in the world!" Dracmon said, gesturing sharply to the remains of the hideout. "Like…there's nothing over there!" he shuddered. "Gives me the creeps."

"Hole in the world?" Kohaku asked, raising an eyebrow in sheer bewilderment. "Okay, if you're scared of it…let me check it out," he mocked, wandering up the stairway. Sakura increasingly worried for his safety as he rose up by every paving slab, but knew that there couldn't possibly be any danger: only moments before he'd already been up there, with no problems whatsoever.

He reached the top of the stairs, Dracmon looking apprehensively on, Sakura swearing she could see his legs gearing up to move. Kohaku turned back to face the group once he stood in the hideout, smirking.

"Nothing at all to be worried about."

Dracmon sneered, hissing before sprinting up. "Oh yeah?!" he asked, before reaching the top and, as he entered the hideout, flashing over in a bout of static.

Kohaku's expression changed in an instant, and he looked down at his partner in horror. "Dracmon?! What's happening?"

"I told you! This place is a hole in the world!" Dracmon complained, his face horrified through all the black and white interference coating it. "It's messing with my data! Come on Floramon, Calumon, you must be able to feel it!"

"Is it safe?" Kohaku asked, looking down in horror at his partner. The contrast between them couldn't be more different: Kohaku was perfectly normal, colours and all, while Dracmon was a searing mass of light.

"Safe?! Does this look safe to you?!"

Sakura, unconsciously, found herself wandering up the stairs towards the sight, Calumon still in her arms and Floramon cautiously following behind. The sight of Dracmon was both frightening and captivating…she had to work out what was going on.

One step. Into the former hideout.

"Ooh, I don't like this." Calumon's complaints made her realise her mistake, as she stood next to Kohaku and Dracmon within the boundaries of the hideout. A large hole dominated the floor, light emanating from within, while a static noise began to scream louder and louder in her ears, paralysing her.

"I can hear it," she cried, Kohaku looking like he was experiencing the same phenomena, both falling to their knees. Sakura's eyes swam around, feeling faint, as her D-Vice screamed alarms at her. She mentally shouted at her legs to move, but in all the horror of it all she simply couldn't.

She saw Floramon and Calumon, the latter now on the floor in front of her, blighted with Dracmon's condition. Had she dropped Calumon at some point?

"I don't like it!" the white pixie cried, holding his ears in horror.

Sakura's eyes caught the outside of the hideout, its appearance suddenly flashing back and forth between itself and that of a desert, and she had to fall onto her hands and knees to steady herself. Its consistency changed, one moment sand, the next solid concrete, and her attempts to scoop up the former merely brought her a few lumps of crumbled concrete.

An arm grabbed around her back, and she looked up straight into Kohaku's eyes. "Move!" he screeched through clenched teeth. "MOVE!"

He yanked her forward, and the jolt seemed to free up her arms and legs, as she came to a crouch, scooping up Floramon's hand as quickly as she could and tossing the Digimon outside the world. Kohaku stood above, grabbing Dracmon and painfully stepping outside the rapidly flashing arena. Half of the time he was there, half of the time he wasn't, and the two clear worlds that Sakura saw now seemed interspersed with a wireframe one.

"_What's…going…on?" _she tried to wonder, but the world seemed to cripple her mind. She twisted her head back, in her panic looking for Calumon, and she reached out, but he vanished before she could grab him, the fizzing fading entirely as he vanished.

Shapes began to flash across her vision as it blurred, and the world seemed ever more distant. She was going to pass out…

"Close, huh?"

Through groggy and ill eyes she looked up, seeing the blue sky obscured by a familiar face. Kohaku looked hit with the same strains as her, but he was on his hands and knees while she lay on her back. "What…was that?" she wondered, the static noise now gone and replaced with the usual sounds of the park.

"Like I know. All I care about it that we're alright."

She unconsciously let out a short chuckle at Kohaku's bluntness, leaning up to kiss him on the lips. "Thank Christ for that," she murmured afterwards, before her eyes darted wide open and she sat up with a start, staring into the hideout. "CALUMON!" she reached out a hand, pushing herself forward slightly before Kohaku grabbed her wrist and stopped her in her tracks.

"Are you insane?! It's not safe! We just learnt that!"

"But…Calumon…shit…I took him in there! It's my fault he's dead!" Sakura cried.

"Who the heck said the little piece of crap's dead?" Dracmon said coldly, even if his meaning was more optimistic than Sakura's. "That wasn't some killing machine…that was the Digital World we just saw!"

"So…was that…the portal?" Floramon asked, still looking rather dazed.

"I felt it…that thing was all scattered about all over the place…and that dumb fairy-thing said the portal was an orb, not some big invisible thing like that!"

"So…what happened then? What was it?" Sakura asked, desperately wanting to know where Calumon had gone.

"I told you. It's a hole in the world…it's not a portal, but it's broken enough to be like that. Maybe that's what happens when you blow a portal up?"

"But…what are we going to do about it? This is a public park, kids could play in there!" Sakura asked, worried as she glanced about at the trees. "And why hasn't any kind of security shown up?"

"I don't think we need to worry about that," Kohaku said, yet his voice carried grave concern. "My D-Vice…it's…it's like someone ran a magnet over it…" he mused, showing the screen to Sakura who looked on with intrigue. Sure enough, the screen was full of bright colours randomly and was heavily warped, yet the colours were slowly subsiding, falling back to the screen. "We couldn't feel that thing at first…I stood right in it and wasn't even affected…but Dracmon was…and when you and Calumon and Floramon came in there too…I think we pissed it off."

"Pissed it off?" Dracmon looked bewildered and appalled. "It's just a spatial distortion!"

"_You don't hear that every day," _Sakura mused. "But it affected the D-Vices…so…what, it affected us through them or something?"

"Maybe…or maybe it just needed a load of data to start working…I don't know…I'm just really confused by the fact it didn't start doing anything until you, Calumon and Floramon joined me in there," Kohaku turned to face the hideout, looking stumped and worried.

"You know what? I don't actually care," Dracmon stated.

"What? That thing nearly killed us!" Floramon complained. "And it took Calumon!"

"That's its way of saying 'keep your bloody distance or I'll bite your head off'! I told you we were being stupid to stay here.

"This is coming from the one who jumped in there in the first place," Kohaku spat, glaring down at his partner.

"That was a conscious decision to protect your dumb arse and prove you wrong! Not what your stupid girlfriend did…what the hell is wrong with you?! You could see it was dangerous for Digimon!"

"Dracmon!" Kohaku spat, reaching out but Dracmon slapped his hand away.

"Hey, you know she did wrong!" he insisted.

Sakura didn't say anything, looking at the squabbling Tamer and partner but being unable to fault the Digimon's reasoning, something which killed her inside. Just what had come over her? Why did she risk her partner and Calumon? The sight had been so…captivating. The hideout had always been off-limits to her. This was just one of its secrets, and she'd been desperate to understand it. Only now, she regretted that so much.

And Kohaku…Kohaku had just strode up there like an idiot, proclaiming it had to be safe even when he couldn't have known. He'd risked his partner too…he was at fault.

But they'd both decided to do so. Calumon and Floramon, hadn't. Calumon was gripped in her arms, and Floramon had no choice but to follow on. She was loyal, but this time it was to her fault.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" Sakura apologised, her head dipping downwards. "Now we have to find and save Calumon."

"I'm not going in that thing again," Dracmon insisted, striking his hands across himself and shaking his head insistently. "No way."

"Yeah…I'm sorry Sakura but I just can't…it felt so awful…you probably just felt a small part of it…" Floramon apologised, the girl looking down and instantly being able to tell from simply looking in her partner's eyes that the pain she had felt in that thing was nothing compared to that of a being made entirely of data.

"That's okay."

"I think we need to go home, rest up, and work out what we can do. If Calumon's in the Digital World, I don't think it's a wise idea for us to try anything. We've never been before and, as much as I really hate to say this, I'm pretty sure we're not strong enough." Kohaku looked pained to say those words. "The Tamers…I think that's where they went. I think that's why Rayleigh tried to blow it up…and I think that's why the portal is all insane like that. Maybe he blew it into loads of little pieces…or maybe that's like a black hole. Still, if they're in the Digital World…if they are, I have to admit that Calumon would be a lot safer with them."

"Hey, we're not _that_ weak," Dracmon huffed.

"But we're not as strong, by far."

Sakura, the thoughts running through her head, the faces of the Tamers she knew and the sight of the power she knew they wielded came to a worrying conclusion.

"Then the whole city is relying on just you and me to protect it."

Kohaku looked into her eyes, and was about to respond before his tongue froze in his mouth, the realisation hitting him and them all full-force as they fell silent.

The boy uneasily nodded.

* * *

**Renamon**

* * *

"Welcome to the Kabuki Village," Renardmon proclaimed, an odd pride in his voice at the sight, one which only incited revulsion in Renamon's mind. The Kabuki Village, the proudest creation and the self-proclaimed centre of the universe for any member of any Renamon species, one which they were meant to hold dear. But she simply couldn't.

The grass was a perfect lush green, while the gentle tricking of water into a lake rang on the wind, so quiet and delicate compared to the horde who had just stepped through the village's perception filter. While there had been plenty of gasps at the mechanics of it all, for Renamon the experience was positively yawn-inspiring, as was the fact that Renardmon drew it out as much as possible for his new guests. Not that had she wanted to be in the village any quicker, but she wanted it to be over as soon as possible. They just needed to regroup and find a way home: there was no need to dwell.

"Are those all Renamon?" Kristy asked, gesturing out in front at the vast number of yellow and black creatures gathered around the dozen or two traditional Japanese buildings making up the village.

"Yeah…or others in the Renamon line," Renardmon answered, taking a step back and turning to look at the group.

His eyes parsed over them, it obviously taking a lot to take them all in. But then his eyes twitched, a new sight confusing him.

"Huh? Is that a miniature Kyubimon?" he asked, his pupils widening. Renamon couldn't help but inwardly chuckle with pride at his confusion.

Realmon wandered forward, Rei in tow, shaking her head. "No, I…I'm Realmon," she began, clearly not sure exactly how to explain her genesis. Renardmon's eye remained high with bewilderment.

"Can't say I've ever heard of a…Realmon."

"She's my child," Renamon promptly explained. "Guilmon and I," she added, gesturing to the Digimon who simply waved.

"Hi."

"Oh. Most of the new ones in this village are just Viximon. Hmm…always wondered what it would be like to meet a mongrel…" Renardmon said, scratching his chin while Renamon, Realmon and Rei looked offended.

"Mongrel?!" Rei asked, sharing her glare with Renamon's.

"Mongrel, yeah…uh, did I say something wrong?"

Mari tried to play peacekeeper. "Renardmon…it's just that to us, Mongrel means…" she paused, glancing to her group, before sighing. "Oh, never mind…now, anyway, aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Huh? Who to?" Renardmon looked surprised, while Renamon felt like rolling her eyes in disbelief at the sight.

Directly behind the male fox and comically juxtaposed, stood a regal figure, lined with a dozen or so of the Renamon line to either side. The closest thing connecting her to her line was her yellow facemask, much like that on her alternate mode, while her body itself was far more human and lined with a belted red dress. Beneath was tucked a white cloak, passing around her bust and out along either arm, the same colour as her two long stretches of hair behind tied near their end paired with two smaller stretches over her fox-like ears. Finally, and somewhat oddly for one not familiar with her symbolism, something resembling a mop was held tightly in her arms, which themselves were currently across her chest below her cross mouth.

"Well. Aren't you going to introduce me?"

Renardmon stiffened up at the sound, before sighing in exasperation and turning around. "Priestess, these are the Tamers."

"_Priestess?" _Renamon wondered, the word and concept all-too-familiar with her but never before associated with this particular feeling. _"But that means…"_

"I noticed, but…wait…Renamon? Is that you?"

"_It's her." _Renamon simply nodded reservedly, as the Priestess simply shoved Renardmon aside and rushed towards her, arms aside.

"I thought you were gone forever!" she exclaimed, standing there with her arms aside for a moment before her expression faltered, clearly noticing that Renamon wasn't returning the gesture with any hurry as her arms fell to her side. "Where the hell did you go? Everyone else came back."

"_Renamon, what's she talking about?"_ Rika called through their link.

"_Nothing Rika." _"You've gone a long way. I barely recognised you," Renamon changed the subject. She didn't want to particularly fall into small talk or reminiscing, but it proved an effective alternative.

"Yeah, holy high Priestess now…who'd have imagined it?"

"Not the most respectable Priestess in terms of talking though," Renardmon noted, the Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode turning back to face the male Digimon before sticking her tongue out. Renardmon chuckled.

"Respect your elders."

"We're the same age."

The Priestess pouted, crossing her arms. "Respect your tallers then."

"Um…excuse me, tall Renamon…girl…thing…" Kazu waved his hands in the air in an attempt to get attention, leading to the mega level twisting around with her hair cutting a neat arc behind her.

"Yeah, what is it?" she asked, arms still crossed before they flew aside. "Oh, wait, yeah, sorry…I'm still not used to this…welcome to the Kabuki Village!" she said cheerily, a wide smile on her mouth. "Wow, there sure are a lot of you…I didn't know there were so many Tamers…" she mused, looking over the whole group before pointing. "Hey…what Digimon's that? Sort of looks like…"

"A small Kyubimon, yes. Her name's Realmon. She's Renamon and Guilmon's daughter. Just don't say she's a mongrel, seems like a touchy subject," Renardmon elbowed her in the side and rapidly explained.

While not feeling very amused at Renardmon's summation, Renamon noticed Tai pushing his way to the front before putting his hand out to the Digimon, Agumon by his side. "Hey, I'm Tai…we were hoping you could help us…"

"Pleased to meet you…how exactly?" the Priestess replied with a clumsy nod of the head. She couldn't have been more different from the old Priestess, Renamon had to muse. As she gazed over the crowd behind, she noticed the Taomon who had once graced the previous incumbent's side, day in, day out.

"_Still running things from behind the scenes I see. With Renamon now the Priestess, I'd imagine she has her hands full. What was the old Priestess thinking?"_

Tai scratched the back of his head nervously; a trait that Renamon had noticed seemed to be endemic to Goggleheads. "Well, we were sort of hoping we could stay here while we regroup."

"Regroup? From what?"

"Rayleigh attacked us and we had to leave our home and everyone's really tired from walking," Agumon tried to explain.

"Rayleigh? Can you please start making some sense?"

Sora pushed forward, Biyomon in tow, quickly coming to the rescue of all minds concerned and saving them from Tai and Agumon's ambiguity. "Rayleigh framed Rika and Renamon here," she gestured back to the Digimon and human, leading to the Priestess quickly interrupting.

"Wait, Renamon, you have a Tamer now?" Renamon nodded, before gesturing sharply with her eyes back to an irritated Sora. "Oh, sorry, carry on."

"Yeah, well, Rayleigh was this man in the government and he framed Rika and Renamon for the murder of this other guy…and…" Sora's face faltered as she realised she had just as much luck in explaining this as Tai had. "…well, uh, the short story is, we can't go back to the real world right now and we could really use a safe haven to stay in."

The Priestess nodded confidently. "Oh, right, you should've just said…Taomon, prepare rooms for…" she began to twitch her human fingers about in a counting motion. "…however…many…wow, there really are a lot of you."

"I will ensure it," Taomon bowed graciously, before turning to the variety of Renamon and Renamon-like Digimon about her. "Now we shall leave the Priestess to her peace," she said, leaving no room for negotiation. But a few moments later, the only representatives from the village were Renardmon and the Priestess.

"Thank you for your kindness," Biyomon put her wings together and bowed her head.

"It's what our village is about. We are a safe community within the Digital World, hidden from the outside. If we find someone hurt, we bring them inside and heal them." The Priestess looked over the bird, straight at Renamon. "And here's what's really amazing…I know your secret!"

Renamon's expression faltered, as she could feel, even without their link, that Rika was casting confused eyes at her. "Excuse me?" she feigned.

"Yeah…that girl there, she's Harmony, which makes you…Harmony's Renamon…"

"**I wondered when you'd notice. Obviously your experience is lacking," **Harmony said in a condescending tone, the Priestess quickly walking almost straight over Biyomon (the bird looking somewhat offended by all this) and coming to a stop in front of a surprised Rika.

Lifting her dress in reverence slightly, she knelt to the floor, bowing her head almost to the group. "Harmony…"

"**Wow Harmony, your slaves follow you to the letter even when you're a total bitch to them," **Chaos quipped.

The Priestess' eyes shot up, and she twisted on her feet, pointing her mop sharply out in front of her. Almost immediately, it glowed with a bright blue light, before with a flick of its strings the mother of all blasts was launched. The energy was thin, concentrated, and targeted straight towards Takato's. "HOLY CURRENT!"

Takato looked shocked briefly before it was all-too-clear that Chaos took control, red wings sweeping out and narrowly missing the people standing aside of him, who the Priestess seemed to have little care for the wellbeing of, apart from perhaps it being the reason she concentrated the blast.

Chaos raised his hands and with a flash of red the blast smashed into them and shot straight upwards into the sky, piercing through the dome of clear skies that lay over the village before it resealed over them.

"**A little hello would be nicer. Christ, I forgot about how crazy you are."**

"Takato!" Mie cried, taking a step forward before her husband grabbed around her wrist and held her back from what could easily be a very grizzly fate. Had Chaos not intervened, the blast surely would have consumed them. Renamon had seen the power of the old Priestess once or twice, and knew it was certainly nothing to be toyed with.

"We've never met, Chaos!" the new Priestess hissed. "But I already know of your work!"

"**A Priestess is a Priestess, even if you do seem bat-shit insane. And if you like my work, let the artist paint some more for you," **Chaos swept a hand down the side of him as a ball of energy gathered. Guilmon growled, standing in front of him in a defensive pose.

"You better have a good reason why you want to hurt Takato!" the dinosaur hissed.

"What are you doing?!" Rika asked, striding towards the scene. The Priestess seemed too busy readying another blast to hear.

As the Sakuyamon's eye line rose, Renamon stepped into it, standing between the three combatants as Guilmon's growling ceased. "Stop this now," she called to Sakuyamon, everyone else having cleared the battle zone at the first shot, although Rei hovered remarkably close with Realmon by her side. Her face carried an odd melancholy, a reminder to Renamon of the last time the constant fight between Chaos and Harmony had brought the time traveller such distress.

"Huh?" the Priestess mumbled, looking bewildered. "But it's Chaos! We all grew up with the stories! We have to stop him now!"

"She said stop. You're not hurting him!" Rika insisted, stepping into the line of fire alongside her partner. Renamon felt fortunate for the reinforcement creeping through their bond. Sakuyamon could easily kill them right now, and given she was being a bit erratic in her behaviour and lacked the calm civility of her predecessors, such an accident could be possible. Heck, Chaos was behind them and could just as easily try something, but Renamon had a feeling that he wouldn't try anything. Whether it was Takato's intervention or an actual change in his personality, but Renamon felt so much less threatened by Chaos nowadays.

As for the other half of the equation…Harmony was conspicuously absent.

The Priestess' expression flashed blank with surprise and confusion. She locked Renamon in a long questioning gaze, before glancing back to Rika, the girl's glare unwavering. "My apologies," she bowed, and her blast faded, her mop sharply tapping down on the ground by her side. Her eyes met her old friend's again. "You'll have to explain later." Renamon reluctantly nodded.

Turning round, she cast her eyes upon Takato. He was obviously still tightly controlled by Chaos, the burning ball of energy in his hand, and yet, he held it in the same way an actor might hold a skull. His eyes stayed locked tightly upon its form, a wildness to his pupils, until he turned them up at Rika. **"No 'oh no, don't destroy human life'? 'Don't do that, that's what Chaos does'? Why am I not surprised?"**

"**Shut up."**

Chaos snorted. **"At least I'm consistent…you constantly pretend you're all good and nice. You set up camps like this claiming to fight for good and protect the weak, aw, bless their little hearts. But you're such a faker. How about you play your real hand, huh?" **he bitterly asked. **"No? I'm not surprised,"** he let out a sharp sigh, shaking his head. Casually, he tossed the ball of energy high into the air as he stepped towards Harmony, his wings snapping back into his body as he came to a stop again. **"Unlike your…creature there, I actually value the lives of these people…"**

Takato looked visibly stunned as he regained control, taking a wavering step aside and nearly falling over, before Rika caught him quickly.

"Hey, I've got you," she cooed, frowning deeply as Guilmon ran up to the pair. "You okay Takato?" he asked worriedly, the Tamer nodding.

"But Chaos, please stop doing things like that…" Takato mumbled, in a tone like one who had said it so many times before, as he left Rika's arms and got back to his feet.

The half-God said nothing. Renamon frowned disapprovingly, gazing over at a frozen Priestess, giving blades of grass nightmares with her grated teeth.

"_Every moment in this place gives me more and more reason why I didn't want to return. But we appear to be out of other options…"_

"Priestess, should we…you know…get moving?" Renardmon asked, waking the mega level from her trance. She nodded, standing to her feet.

"I'm gonna have to apologise…again…for that…" she said to the gathered masses, many now looking ready to run at the first opportunity. The village didn't appear to be as holy and safe as they had hoped. "Come on, I'll show you to your rooms," she gestured onwards.

Renamon felt a sense of foreboding dread and icy cold as Rika and Takato walked past her, followed by the massive group that seemed to dominate everywhere they went. Cody's grandfather descended into another coughing fit, while Seiko consoled a disturbed Rey. Most of all, the new girl, the blonde…Natsuki…she seemed haunted by the events, looking more displaced than ever, in spite of their earlier explanations as to the godly natures of the redhead and brunette couple. Jeri broke her from it, grasping her hand and with a smile, dragging her on.

Something grabbed Renamon's arm and she turned, finding Renardmon's hand around her wrist and his face contorted in confusion. "Hello? Anyone home?"

"I was quietly observing," she snapped free. "Something your side of the species seems completely incapable at."

Renardmon rolled his eyes skywards, turning around and beginning to walk away with a rehearsed chuckle. "This place is such a matriarchy," he mused, before pausing, turning back to her as she went to follow. "And you owe me an explanation."

Renamon looked offended. "For what?"

"One, you left me and Renamon behind and never even tried to get in contact all these years. We thought you were dead. Everyone else came back. Two, you owe me an explanation _and_ an apology about the gloves thing, 'cause I lifted them up out of curiosity, not because I'm some sick freak. God, you can hold a grudge. And three, you have to tell me exactly what this whole silly plan was meant to be, 'cause no one ever seems to give me a clear explanation."

Renamon's eyes widened in curiosity at the last part. "The Priestess never told you?"

"Nope. To tell you the truth, she's never been the same since she came back. I think she let all that power go to her head."

"That sounds very much like her," Renamon noted, a chuckle on the cusp of her voice.

"Well? What was this damn plan?"

Renamon strode forward and past him, ignoring him completely. "Damned if I know," she lied. "But I didn't follow through with it," she added promptly, before vanishing into her perception filter and transporting herself silently away, hearing his words drift after her. She knew he couldn't follow.

"Damn it. I hate when they do that."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Once again, apologies for the delay to this chapter. I've once again been busy, and…well, you've heard it all before folks. Hope you enjoyed it in any case, and I look forward to hearing what you think of it. Oh, and you may just want to reread the Extra Dimensions story 'The Dying Days' to get what's going on here, since it sets up the back story to all this very well. Anyhow, the next chapter should be along…soon.

Until next time…

B.C.


	33. Phase Two: Confession

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY**

**Phase Two**

_Confession_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Fumiko Imai**

* * *

"His condition seems to keep on worsening," the blue-haired woman noted quietly, ensuring she was out of earshot of the son of her patient, currently sleeping in a futon, his face drained by exhaustion. He was Chikara Hida, and while Fumiko had learnt not to get too close to her patients, particularly the more elderly ones, it was hard not to in a group like this. Not that her life at this moment would've been easy even without the personal edge; while Joe's enthusiasm and eagerness for his future career had always been promising, having him hovering constantly over her shoulder and attempting to 'help' at every turn was a perpetual irritant. "I'm just hoping the rest will do him some good."

As she turned to face the priest-like Digimon next to her, she remembered why, her arm aching within its handkerchief cast. Grimacing and glancing to the young man, thankfully for once not offering to do her job for her (for which she was perfectly capable, she told herself, and was rather more qualified too), she tried to get over the fact she was talking to a fox. Of sorts.

"Do you have any idea of how healing works for humans in the Digital World?"

Doumon shook her head, frowning. "Apologies, but apart from the incarnations of Harmony and Chaos, we have never seen any humans in this village."

"I see. It's amazing how humanoid some of your Digimon look…if not for the face mask and ears…and the height…I would swear your Priestess was human."

The fox woman chuckled. "We think the same of you. In all honesty, I have only very occasionally heard of humans and your world. I always imagined you were simply like us."

"Maybe here they are," Cody noted, wandering over to them. "I'm sorry for listening in to your conversation."

"Don't worry – you've got plenty on your mind," Fumiko replied, glancing over to Cody's mother behind who Joe was talking to, Gomamon on his shoulder. All voices were hushed in the small, traditional hut to avoid awakening its sickly resident.

"If we're all the same in this world, maybe you can heal him like you heal Digimon?" Armadillomon chirped.

"It's possible. Usually we prepare broths and soups from food and packets of discarded data to heal wounds," Doumon explained.

Fumiko put her hand on her chin. "Yeah, but this is more like an infection. It's even possible he had it before he came here. The question is, since everything else seems to be different here, maybe his illness will behave differently too." _"Only problem is, are we talking about differently better or differently worse?"_

"I do think some peace and quiet to sleep would do him well, as much as I want to be by his side," Cody noted.

Armadillomon nodded. "Yeah, and I want to explore this village a bit. Seems like paradise on Earth."

"That's good, but we're in the Digital World here. In any case, I think I'll ask my mother if she agrees with me on leaving him be," Cody said as he turned and softly walked across the wooden floors towards Joe and his mother, his partner in tow.

Fumiko looked up to the priestly Digimon again, but the fox pre-empted her words. "I will keep an eye on him and let you all know if he wakes up, or his condition worsens."

"Right," Fumiko nodded, reaching unconsciously down to her pocket and grasping her pager (and its all important number) before stopping the reflex. _"Not in a hospital now." _Which was a problem in itself, for with only first aid kid supplies and the remedies of the village, she was at a loss for what she could do to treat his illness. Even if she could attempt to return to her training in biochemistry and how the drugs involved actually worked, everything was Digital here. Chiral carbons, organic synthesis, Van der Waal's forces – they meant nothing.

But how did one make something out of data? The Doumon next to her seemed to know how, but she had a feeling it involved abilities she simply didn't have. And so she was left feeling powerless again.

"I think you should get some rest too – your arm looks pretty bad. I can help out with the medical stuff for a bit – I've worked in the Digital World before."

Fumiko looked up to the trainee doctor, stifling a glare for now. She had had enough. Nonetheless, for now, she spoke in fairly hushed terms. "Joe, can we talk outside," she said, glancing to Gomamon with a gaze that she hoped conveyed her message of 'and I don't want you there too'.

Somehow, she must have been fearsome enough to manage such a thing, for he hopped back off Joe's shoulder and made mutterings about the young man being on his own this time.

She led Joe back outside, through the traditional doors and along the thin passageway it opened out onto just enough to be away from the flows of Digimon herding about the Kabuki Village. Nonetheless, those in the distance still gave them curious gazes, their forms obviously alien to them.

"Joe, you've got to relax a bit."

"What?" Joe looked genuinely surprised, his expression faltering. Fumiko, although she knew she had a point, couldn't help but feel like the 'bad guy'.

"I've trained for seven years of medicine and I've been working as a doctor for longer than that, and I'm sorry but you've hardly started your med course. I know we're not dealing with anything huge here, but I know what's best both for me and these people and I know I can handle this even with my arm like this."

Joe hesitated on his words. "I'm…sorry…I don't know what to say, I just wanted to help."

"And you will get to someday Joe, you will. I'm not criticising you for offering to help, honestly, it's a good sign, but as a doctor you have to learn to switch off once in a while. You've got this brilliant opportunity now to enjoy life before you have to deal with bills and depression and every bloody nuttier coming through the door suing you for not doing what Wikipedia recommended as a treatment. And of course they're right, I mean, after all this training the internet edited by random people is still better than me huh?" She breathed in deeply. "What I'm saying is…I know you're looking forward to being a doctor, but if you keep living in the future like this you'll wake up tomorrow and find you've wasted the best part of your life. I'm thirty-three – I'd love to go back to being your age and be able to just enjoy life."

"I…see."

Fumiko frowned. While he was clearly chewing on the thoughts in his head, his short response left her feeling like she was being far too disproportionate with her words. "I'm sorry too; I didn't mean to unleash all my complaints about being a doctor on you either. I wouldn't give it up, particularly not with what I've seen. Ryder died in that hospital and came back to life, and he keeps doing it. I've spoken to a girl who comes from the future who I was doctor to the mother of. And now I'm in a world far away from home and dealing with illnesses I don't even understand. You live in this world Joe – your life as a doctor will be fantastic, I know that. But you've got to just…oh, what's that thing that Henry's bunny thing says?" she clicked her fingers as she tried to think.

"Momentai?" chirped up a new voice, a seal-like Digimon popping over Joe's shoulder. While Fumiko practically leapt in surprise, she couldn't help but notice how unfazed Joe was. The talents would certainly serve him well in future. "And she's right Joe, you've got to relax a bit. Come on, this place is paradise."

"I know, but…I'm worried for Cody's grandfather. He's a good man and he's taught me a lot…you can't possibly be telling me it's wrong for me to even worry about him, right?"

Fumiko frowned. "No, it isn't Joe. But, I've got the situation under control, trust me. Taomon will contact me if his condition worsens, and in this world I think I trust her judgement more than my own. Besides, have you seen the state you're in? We were in a car crash Joe! You can't possibly be alright. Even if you are, I think you should march straight to wherever you're staying and wash yourself up – you look a mess. Trust me, blood does not improve clothes," she chuckled, desperately hoping he would get the message.

He let out an anxious smile, nodding. "I'm guessing worries the patients too."

"No. Coming in brandishing a scalpel and mumbling about needing a new cadaver – _that_ worries the patients."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed downwards in shock.

"We doctors have morbid humour. That's another thing you should cherish life without."

* * *

**Yamaki Mitsuo**

* * *

"When I suggested we take a romantic break somewhere, I hoped we'd be off the job," noted Riley as she unravelled a futon bed onto the ground of their accommodation, pulled from one of the many cupboards around the walls in the extremely sparse room. A wry smile popped onto her face as she looked up to the blonde doing the same right next to her.

"It's cheaper this way," said Yamaki in a deadpan drone, but he couldn't help but smile lightly at the concept.

"There is one advantage I guess," Riley stood up. "Even in the mountains, you'd find some way to contact home. Here, you're properly cut off – no laptops, no PDAs, no nothing. This place is just peaceful, and so so beautiful. Isn't that so romantic?"

"Right up until the point where we get attacked and have no way home," Yamaki pulled down the tone, but he knew Riley would take it as a joke. Given his workaholic attitude, sardonic sense of humour and fairly sharp approach to life, he was actually somewhat surprised that anyone could tolerate him for the length of time she did, let alone as his girlfriend. What she saw in him, he couldn't be particularly sure, but he feigned from dwelling on it. He was a realist – what existed, existed, and what did not did not. Sure, what existed could anger him – the presence of Digimon in the world had once given him much grief – but he knew not to idealise about what he hadn't the means to create. As a programmer, and with the ill-fated Juggernaut program at his disposal, he had been far from idealising at the time, of course.

"With all the Tamers here, I don't know why you're worrying. And you saw that wall of trees and heard what Renardmon said about the perception filter – no one can see this place to attack it in the first place. We can relax. Besides, did you see the food they were cooking for us? I don't think even the classiest of romantic hotels have that perfect ingredients."

"This place is certainly a paradise. I didn't imagine a thing like this could really exist here," Yamaki mused, casting a gaze out through the open door, left as such so they could savour the gentle breezes keeping the interior nice and cool. "The Digital World is beyond anything I expected," he noted, unbuttoning his suit and hanging it up in one of the wall wardrobes. He couldn't help but notice how empty it was, stretching well away around the sides. Digimon seemed to have little need for physical possessions, yet the homes here were facsimiles of traditional homes back in Japan, even if their amenities were redundant.

"Liking the work shirt look," Riley said dryly, pulling her hand on her hip and mockingly looking him up and down. "Not many men can pull it off."

Yamaki felt amused, but the sound coming from his mouth was a simple grunt. Riley smiled like she'd hit the spot, before her expression folded into curiosity.

"What were you expecting from this place?"

"I was…expecting a more barren world, perhaps more like a video game. And I never imagined it to be so…normal feeling to touch something Digital." He brushed his hand up and down one of the wooden beams on the door.

"I'm just amazed by all the Digimon. And how this whole society exists here. We're the first humans…to visit this village, ever. Other than Chaos and Harmony's…uh, past lives…people."

"I feel like a regular Christopher Columbus. Only difference is, I'm relatively certain we're no match for the natives. Still, seeing all this…it does give me faith that we have not been doing more harm than good in protecting the Digital World from our higher-ups."

"Yeah. This place isn't a file on a computer that could just be erased…and even if it was, I wouldn't let anyone do it. And you know what…I wouldn't really mind being stuck here for the rest of my life," Riley noted.

Yamaki raised an eyebrow. She couldn't be serious, right?

"Beautiful scenery, food on tap, good-looking guy who has no dress sense whatsoever beyond what he wears to the office. Sounds like a good life. Doesn't it to you?"

"Yeah…but it sounds like it could get fairly repetitive after a while."

Riley's lips pursed into a thin line, and she stood up, wandering across to the doorway near where Yamaki stood and looking out in either direction with a bewildered face.

"What are you doing?"

"Was wondering if they had a rehab here for workaholics. You could use it."

Yamaki smiled. Maybe paradise wasn't too bad…

* * *

**Rei Matsuki**

* * *

In spite of the actual lack of furniture, the redhead daughter of a pair of Gods knew it would've been difficult to have called the room 'empty'. Spartan, perhaps, but with the number of people and Digimon inside, the limiting of furniture and objects to bags and a few futons made little difference to how full the room clearly was. With Rika, Takato, Rey and their partners, the ones who would actually be sleeping in this home (which Renamon had muttered was her own once) stood their parents, along with Seiko, Kristy and their partners. And Rei herself, of course, with her partner. Perhaps not so many as the crowd they had been a part of a few minutes before, but still enough to crowd such a small room.

The noise was actually beginning to grate on Rei, in fact, an annoying constant bubbling of chatter and, from time to time, cries from her younger self. She had already been sufficiently 'weirded out' by seeing her younger self to look over her shoulder from her current task, laying the various pieces of what was once her time device out on the floor in a desperate attempt to find some way of reassembling it correctly.

The screen had been smashed, and it would once again need replacing. The device itself wasn't burnt out like last time: it was simply broken apart, and pretty severely too. Clearly, she either hadn't fixed it very well the previous year, or its creator had designed it extremely poorly. Either way, she doubted she would be able to source parts in the Digital World of all places, so she was relegated to seeing how much of it she could rebuild.

She twisted the mini-screwdriver (borrowed off the ever technology-ready Izzy), taking out a screw before bashing a piece of bent casing into the floor in the hope of restoring its former shape. The flimsy metal did so relatively easy, making her briefly ponder how exactly it could survive time travel but not, clearly, a throw to the ground from a maniac. The main damage was to its front, a shame since the back could've been a lot easier to buff out.

The components were familiar from her last experience in reconstruction yet still somehow very bewildering as she gazed over them, an array of electronic parts which looked more out of a calculator than a time machine. Recalling one particular thing, she lifted one chip and carefully reinserted it into the casing. Frowning, she moved it along a slot, not too happy with its placement. She realised she would need to be able to solder too.

"_Damn it…" _she cursed mentally, not for the first time. The worry that this could be permanent crossed her mind, the worry that she could end up stranded in the past.

Glancing across to her younger self, currently in Rika's arms, she pondered what would happen if she did end up stranded. She knew she couldn't simply stay nearby – as soon as Rey was old enough to remember things she saw, she couldn't see herself. The paradoxes would've been immense, particularly if she accidentally let something slip about her own future. Right now, they just had to worry about physically touching or scarring themselves, the repercussions of which would surely multiply through time. Simply making a mark on the still-developing baby form of Rey could leave her with a permanent feature on her own body, albeit on a larger scale.

It made her head ache as she tried to ignore it, but her attempts to focus on the time device came to naught. She gathered it back up into its bag, having not made much progress yet, and pushed it into her pocket. She turned, wandering across to her parents, Realmon following cautiously and silently behind. When Rejimon threatened to escape Kristy's arms and barrel across to Realmon, the miniature Kyubimon made her usual reaction: horrified shuttling away. Rei couldn't help but let loose a slight smile at the sight.

"_I'm so glad baby me can't move that fast."_

"Hey," Rei waved a hand to her mother, who nodded, her hands busy tending to the baby, who was curiously looking around at anything and everything with her hazel eyes. Her tufts of red hair had grown slightly but still lacked the thoroughness of Rei's, instead being patchy here and there.

The time travelling daughter bent down, cooing to the baby as she did so. "Hello me," she chuckled, putting out a finger but keeping back from where Rey could conceivably reach. Rika frowned at the sight, but Rei knew there was nothing they could do. She had to wear gloves if she even wanted to hold the girl, and Rei was in constant fear even that would stop working eventually. Her days within this group, within this time-frame, tragically, were numbered. "Aww, she's…I'm so cute."

"Hey, Rika, I guess she's the youngest person ever to come to the Digital World, huh?" Takato realised, grinning at the thought. "I don't think anyone will ever beat that."

"Yeah, but it could be in nicer circumstances," Rika frowned, looking to her mother above, the woman not sure what to do now she was in her new world. "You can go and look around you know? I'm fine with taking care of Rey." As much as Rei was sure Rika didn't mean to sound pushy to her mother, she certainly had that effect.

"Well, if you're going to make me." Rumiko looked to Seiko and Takato's parents. "It would be nice to explore this place a bit. After this, no holiday company or photo shoot can tell me I'm going to paradise again."

"You okay with taking care of everything here son?" Takehiro asked Takato, who nodded.

"Yeah Dad, I'm pretty used to this by now."

"The baby or the Digital World?" Mie asked, furrowing her eyebrows into a curious gaze.

"Both, I think," the Gogglehead replied. Takehiro smiled and nodded.

"Only problem is, I am quite worried we'll get lost in this place," Seiko noted, hand on her chin as she looked to Rika. "It is even bigger than it looked at first." Her granddaughter nodded, looking across the room to what, to most people, would've been a blank wall. Right up until Renamon appeared on it.

Violet eyes met blue orbs, the former pushed down by a confused gaze before the latter vanished back into thin air. Rika's expression faltered as she looked back up to her grandmother, a great sense of falseness to her words. "Sorry, but…uh…Renamon said she has other stuff to attend to here."

Seiko looked slightly concerned, but still nodded and smiled lightly. "I understand. After all, this is her old home. Come on, we'll find our own way," she said to the other adults, who nodded, Kristy quickly called away with them. Kudamon obediently followed, albeit with no effort on his part as he was in his usual position around Kristy's neck and shoulders, while she took Rejimon in her arms. With DarkBiyomon and Kudamon with them, Rei knew there was nothing to worry about regarding the group's well-being.

But, something else worried her, something about how Rika and Renamon had just acted, and apparently she wasn't alone in that. _"What was that all about?" _Realmon asked through her link with Rei, who frowned

Rei shrugged, knowing it would probably have looked odd if it weren't for the fact that the remaining occupants of the room, Takato, Rika and Guilmon, were completely used to such things by now. _"Beats me. It still freaks me out how Mom and Renamon do that without even talking, and we've been doing telepathy our whole lives."_

"_Yeah, but for us it should be normal. We were born at the same time, and we've had our whole lives to practice."_

"_Yeah, yeah, I know, bound by Destiny from the start and all that – you're talking to the Angel of it. But I am wondering why Renamon reacted like that."_

"_Hmm…I've noticed she's been acting off ever since we arrived here, but I can't work out why. Guilmon and Rika didn't get anywhere with asking earlier – doubt I'd have much luck myself."_

"_She didn't seem to want to come back to this place either. I just don't get it. Just what's wrong with your birthplace? I went back to mine."_

"_I don't know, but…"_

"Rika, is something wrong with Renamon?" Takato interrupted, voicing his concerns and making Guilmon's head perk up as he unconsciously took the conversation from Rei's mental plane out into reality.

Rika glanced into Takato's eyes, hesitated and looked back to her daughter again, the girl now sleeping peacefully in her arms. How babies changed their state oh so quickly, Rei mused.

"I…don't know," Rika finally replied, looking truly flummoxed and perturbed by the situation. "Something seems really weird and worrying about all this."

"Hmm…" Takato coherently replied. Rei settled down on the ground alongside them, Realmon curling up in her lap as she stroked the Digimon's tails. "I'd think she'd be over the moon to be back in a village full of her own kind." Rei closed her eyes, appreciating the relative peace of everything. The sounds wafting through the slightly open door were of breezes, faint chatter and bliss, not explosions, disaster and war. She kept them shut as she listened to their conversation.

"Yeah…it's really weird how they all look like Renamon," Guilmon mused, looking curiously up to his Tamer.

"That's because they _are _Renamon," Rika mocked, something Guilmon seemed blissfully oblivious to.

"No, Renamon smells different."

"Well, looks like I'm relying on you boy - I almost lost track of Renamon earlier on the way here. They all really look alike." Takato briefly hesitated. "Uh, Rei, are you alright there?"

Rei's eyes snapped open again, and she nodded, before shaking her head briskly. "I'm fine. It's just…nice."

"Huh? What is?" Rika asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Just…peaceful, you know. It's nice…I'm not used to it."

"Aw," Takato mumbled, frowning. "What's life like in the future then? There's got to be some quiet bits, right?"

"Only the calm before the storm. I'm not telling you anymore," she asserted. "I'm already worried enough about a paradox with Rey here as it is, let alone you guys knowing stuff you're not meant to."

Rika looked disbelieving. "Hello? You've told us about a war in the future. I'm pretty sure that's not something we're meant to know."

"But didn't you always think there was a war in the future? With your lives, you really couldn't expect it to be quiet, right?" Realmon asked, Rika looking to object but then resigning to agreement.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But still, I mean…if you're so desperate to stop this war, why don't you just tell us who starts it and we'll pound his or her arse back where it came from?"

"It's not as simple as that," Rei explained, before Rika groaned in frustration, sighing.

"It never is with you, is it?"

Rei noticed the upwelling of anger in her mother's voice. "Rika, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she asserted in the voice Rei knew all too well. It was the voice she used to force through a lie, and apparently, she wasn't alone in knowing that.

"Is it because of what happened between Chaos and Harmony?" Takato asked, frowning deeply and rolling his eyes upwards periodically, talking to the mind within his. He lightly shook his head, before looking to Rika, who made no similar movement. Both of the demi-Gods had been silent since the incident had occurred. They weren't always talkative, of course, and in day to day life they did just leave Rika and Takato to it, but it seemed strange for them to be so in such circumstances.

"No…no, actually, I'd forgotten that – thanks a lot," Rika sighed, running her hand up across her forehead and through her hair. "I just…I just wish Renamon would explain. Whatever it is can't be that important."

"What did she say in that mind thing you do?" asked Guilmon.

"Just what I said to grandma: she's got other stuff to attend to."

"I'd always thought you guys were like constantly talking to each other?" said Takato, cocking his head slightly.

"We usually _do_, but she won't tell me anything. She's been like it ever since we arrived in this stupid place," Rika huffed. "And this stupid link doesn't work if she's not using it." Rika's hand slammed into the floor. "Damn it, why does everything keep going so wrong?"

"Our problems always just multiply and multiply like this," Takato sighed deeply, putting his arm around the girl as the room fell silent, apart from the soft snores of the baby girl. Rika looked down to her, across to Realmon and Rei, and out the door.

"Yeah…you have a point…but you can't exactly say we're not causing problems for ourselves too…" Rika said, frowning before glancing across to Rei, quickly forcing on a very fake smile. "Not saying you're a problem, Rei, just…we have a habit of making our own lives difficult."

"Trust me, I've had to hear you guys say I was a mistake plenty of times. I'm used to my birth being discussed by now."

"Oh. Don't you like it then?" Guilmon asked, tilting his head curiously.

"I…don't mind it now. I'm a good mistake, right?"

"Yeah – just like how Takato discovered most of what he's ever learnt about fighting," Rika teased.

"Hey! I was planning those mistakes," Takato insisted with his hands flailing in defence of himself, but it was clear he knew he had little on which to back it up. Watching this back and forth, Rei felt a strange sense of nostalgia. Her past – the world's future – felt so far away now. Right here in the present felt like her home, and she couldn't imagine ever going back. Perhaps she didn't even want to – after all, she knew how mentally crippling it would be for all if she failed her task. She had become so used to life like this, even with its little time travelling hops, that a small part of her was glad the time device was broken, that she was stuck here and now for the time being (or perhaps forever).

"Sure Takato, sure."

Rei smiled lightly. This place truly was paradise. Only problem was, the people in paradise weren't necessarily in the mood for it…

"_I just hope Rika and Renamon talk soon."_

* * *

**Rob McCoy**

* * *

"More signals are getting through, but definitely not enough for even the simplest message. I never realised just how much the digital plane could interfere with this technology," Janyuu reported the bad news from where he sat at Izzy's laptop, the nerve centre of the whole operation in this particular building. Instead of futons, whatever technology they could get their hands on was sprawled out across the floor: cell phones, PDAs (including even smashed ones, like Rob's own one) and even Izzy's D-Arc. The few cables they had were linking a few together, but they were heavily reliant on wireless signals which seemed to be heavily affected by the digital medium they found themselves in.

None paid any attention to the paradise outside.

"This isn't ideal. No one in the other group seems like the kind of person who would have any technology like this on them," Henry mused. Izzy nodded, frowning.

"And with the real world currently off-limits to any messages we actually manage to get through, I'm not sure who we're expecting to answer."

"I'm just hoping they're friendly and have a handy digital portal to hand," Tentomon chirped from his Tamer's side, the boy chuckling and shaking his head.

"I'm betting the chances of that are slim."

"Hmm…hey Henry, I've got another thing I want to bet on…you in?" Terriermon began to suggest, but Henry looked like he was having none of it.

"Not now Terriermon, I'm busy trying to use my stupid cell phone…ah…sorry Dad, I know you paid a lot for it…"

"No worries son – that thing is hard enough to use when it's not broken." Sure enough, the device was also dented and warped, presumably from Henry's last minute bail-out from the car, a suicidal move. Or maybe it was their landing on the Digital World's surface, not exactly a slow and gradual descent.

"There are several organisations around the world we could potentially contact, but I'm not sure which ones would be amicable to us right now without being able to contact anyone," Eiichi mused, sitting nearby and pondering. "Which is a sort of a catch 22 really. I hope Yamaki returns soon – he seems to have a far better grasp of this system. I'm far more of a politician than a technician."

As the man rambled, Rob could almost feel the geeks in the room say "we know" as one, but Tally, Janyuu, Rob himself, Shibumi, Henry and Izzy showed extreme restraint to a man whose constant unhelpful comments were increasingly grating and annoying. _"Another technician would've been more useful."_ Even Terriermon, amazingly, stayed silent, perhaps due to him being occupied with helping Henry with his busted phone. Everything seemed broken in some way: Izzy's laptop was a true miracle.

Rob sighed, knowing the position they were in was what it was. He watched this organised chaos from above with Shibumi, seeing all the various approaches everyone was taking to the same problem as he himself, due to a lack of enough bits of tech, was left to simply think through the problem. There had to be some program or person or just anything he could use right now, something they actually had access to. He was actually hoping his colleague Shibumi, the one well-known back in their Monster Maker days for lateral thinking, would come up with another one of his fantastic ideas.

"_Of course, back then it didn't matter if it all went wrong." _To them, it was just a game, except they played the game seriously, labelling it a research project. The production of actual life forms, however, did mean the game took a strange turn and led to many of the repercussions since, not least because it was wound down as a project before the life form programming could be perfected.

The intervening years, with Shibumi's coma, had seen that ideal mind taken down, a mind which had continued the digital life project in spite of its termination. But, alas, in spite of it being his close friend, it was not the gravest thing which had happened for the man nicknamed 'Dolphin' in those years between the end of the project and the eruption of Digimon activity on the web and into reality.

From within his pocket, like it was a banned object, he slowly removed the photo frame, its light wooden form holding a picture of such memories and sadness for the man. He didn't want anyone else to notice his actions, simply because right now he didn't feel like dwelling on the past too much, but he knew that he would be driven insane if he wasn't able to remember her face somehow. The disappearance of that face from his life had signalled the end of the intervening period in his life. After that, everything from his past came back to haunt him, swamping his moment of grief, even if it had brought the Monster Makers closer together once again.

During the D-Reaper crisis, fate seemingly chose to mock him by having the Tamers see her, even be helped by her, but he found it impossible to believe. She was gone.

The newfound crack down the centre of the glass in the frame sent a haunting shiver down his spine and through his heart, it being the product of the soldiers breaking into their office. But he knew he couldn't replace this frame and photo – it itself was a reminder of her. She had bought it for his birthday with her mother, and it had sat on his desk in whatever office he was working in since. The soldiers had spoiled the thing from his granddaughter that he cherished the most, a reminder of the times before tragedy.

Noticing commotion, he returned it to his pocket promptly. "Finally…I've got somewhere…" Henry said, the man's eyes widening in anticipation. "It's got one bar of signal."

"It's gone," Terriermon trod on their hopes pretty quickly.

"It's back again," Henry noted, before chewing his lip. "It keeps doing that."

"Well, the phone's broken then," Terriermon surmised, Henry grimacing and sighing.

"Yeah, seems that way…and now the signal is gone complet…no, wait, it's started up again…"

"Hey Henry, I think staring at a line like this is a sign of insanity, hmm?" Terriermon teased, tapping his Tamer on the head with an ear.

"Yeah – if you don't mind, can I have a look?" Rob asked, Henry looking up curiously. "I'll try and see if I can tweak the electronics inside a bit too."

"Which means you want to break my phone open, right?" Henry asked, seeing through Rob's excuse. Rob chuckled, nodding.

"Would that be okay?"

"I'll buy you a new one son," Janyuu added, leaving Henry seemingly no option but to agree, which he did with a nod, standing and leaving his phone to be taken over by Rob. The man quickly got to work with a screwdriver from his pocket, the phone's casing broken open in a flash.

"Too late to go back now Henry," Terriermon quipped. "Bad luck about all those texts from Jeri, huh?"

"That reminds me…" Janyuu began, stopping typing and looking up at the boy. "Can you check up on your mother? This place seems safe but I want to make sure she's okay out there."

"Yeah, and could you bring us some food back too…" Tally suggested, not looking up from her workplace, someone's PDA in her hand. "I saw tons of buffets being prepared by the Renamon earlier."

"Great…anything else you guys want?" Henry sighed, rolling his eyes skywards. 'Dolphin' couldn't help but chuckle at his misfortune in being assigned the 'errand boy' role.

"Yeah. Can I have a billion yen?" Terriermon asked, Henry quickly glaring at him as the boy began to walk out of the room. "Ooooorrr…we could go see Jeri and cheer you up…and you can give me a billion yen."

"Fine."

"Ya…!"

"…to the Jeri thing – I'm not giving you that much money."

"But I need it!"

"What for?"

"What don't I need a billion yen for…?" Terriermon's voice trailed off as the pair vanished through the screen doors and out of earshot. Rob looked back down to his cell phone, the screwdriver in his mouth, and took a very delicate approach.

Also known as slamming it against the table to break the stubborn case open fully.

"_Success."_

* * *

**Renamon**

* * *

"So what?"

"As I said, I would prefer it if you did not tell Rika."

Even without being able to see her eyes move, Renamon could tell from the stretching on her old friend's cheeks that she was giving a bewildered stare. They stood alone in the huge chamber, the hall of the one who gained the title and body passed down through the ages. "I still don't get it."

"You simply have to trust me on this one."

The Priestess paused, picking up her staff off the ground. "Renamon, when I took up this job I began to owe everything to Harmony. I know her…I feel her…she means everything to me…she created me and gave me all these powers, and she created this whole village to protect this world. I don't understand why you have a problem with this…all we did was good. It was the best thing I ever did…and all these years I've wanted to share with her the holiness of it all…"

"But…I have learnt so much since then, and I know what we did simply was not good."

"So what, are you saying it'd be better if everyone here had died?" the Priestess asked, her voice rising in irritation. Renamon knew she was losing her, she knew that she had to get the Priestess to see her point of view on this.

"So the means justify the ends?"

"Renamon…" the Priestess suddenly sounded emotional. "I think you've been living in the real world too long...what happened to caring about all of us? You abandoned all of us and now…now it seems like you don't even want to come back. What happened to you?"

"I matured."

"What, you're calling me a child then? God Renamon, you've always treated me like such a baby. You and Renardmon. Even now…now I'm the Priestess herself…you're not happy for me. What, did you want this job?"

"No, no…I never did. It is nothing to do with any of that. I just…do not want Rika to know. I do not want any of them to know, but especially not her. She means a lot to me and…I fear what could happen."

"And like I said, Harmony means a lot to me too. I let her down once today…I didn't kill Chaos, even when I could feel with every byte of data in my body that she wanted me to. How can you all let him live? He could kill all of us like _that_," the holy being clicked.

"Killing is wrong…whoever it is. We only kill when we have to…when there is no choice…when it is the death of one for the protection of many."

"Chaos could kill us all."

"But he would not."

"How do you know that?!"

"Because I am still alive here today. Because Chaos could not be bothered. And…because I trust him…because I know Takato has changed him."

"Chaos can't change."

"He has, honest. And…it is like how I had a child with Guilmon. Rika and Takato had one…Chaos and Harmony have a child…Rei…the girl with the small Kyubimon."

The Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode took a step back. It was the first time she had heard this explained to her, something that no doubt would be earth-shattering for her. "Harmony never even goes near Chaos…how could they…?"

"Procreate? I do not think Chaos or Harmony like the situation, but they put up with it. Neither of them wants to see the other hurt because they know it would make the life of Rika and Takato unbearable. Harmony knows she could not break Rika's heart, and while I do not pretend to know what Chaos thinks, I am certain he at least knows how annoying his life would be if he did that to Takato. As far as I can tell, that is what is happening. Takato gives a lot of freedom to Chaos…what happened today was rare…I do not think Chaos is in as much control as you fear."

"Or he's lying. Why would Takato let him attack me?"

"To protect his parents and his friends. I am sorry Sakuyamon, but I would have done the same…"

"So I'm not your friend any more then?"

"When did I say that?"

"You'd hurt me to save your friends, so I'm not one of them, am I?"

Renamon paused, avoiding going straight for the shaman woman's bait. "We have had to fight our own friends before. Guilmon went mad once…I went mad once. But we never kill them. And humans…they are so vulnerable…they die so easily…and…if you had killed Takato's parents, Rika would have never forgiven you."

"But Harmony would have cheered me on. Even if that girl is holding her back…"

"Rika is Harmony and Harmony is Rika. I have this mental link with her…a psychic link, and I feel them getting more and more similar every day. Chaos learned from Takato and Harmony learns from Rika."

The Priestess paused, mulling the words over but still finding them so hard to believe. Even after all this time, Renamon found her old friend to be oh-so-stubborn and insistent on not believing her. "I see. Renamon, can you leave?"

"Huh?"

"I'm ordering you to leave."

"Why?"

"Do I need to give you a reason? I have things to do…I am the Priestess, if you hadn't noticed? I can't just casually chat whenever you feel like it…"

"Are you going to tell Rika what I…we did?"

"Renamon, you didn't do anything! And we didn't do anything wrong! And I'm sorry, but I can't let down Harmony…I owe everything to her. What do I owe to you?"

"What do you owe to me? I had to help you off your silly feet every time you fell down…do you know how frustrating that gets? Even now I'm having to force some sense into you!"

"Is that why you ran away? Sick and tired of dealing with me…well, that's lovely…nice to know how you really feel after all these years…if you're sick of me, dear Goddramon, I can only begin to wonder how annoyed you are with Renardmon."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, it's no secret that out of the two of us he's the one you liked less. I've talked to him so much all these years…we always wondered where you went. Even before you went, the amount of times I had to prop him up. What do you think treating someone like that all the time does to them? I mean, he might've been a pain in your arse, but he was still your friend. Ugh, can't you tolerate anyone being even slightly aggravating?"

"Of course I can," Renamon insisted, their conversation now descending into a full-blown argument as voices rose. "I…I just…"

"Who's your closest friend now Renamon? Who would you tell anything to…like you used to do to me?"

"Rika…and Guilmon…and Takato…and…"

"Then why aren't you telling Rika now? Why are you avoiding her? I mean, I even don't understand why you think this is so big…hell, I can't even begin to understand what sort of life you lead now…but if it is that big, then just tell her."

"She doesn't need to know…none of them do. Please…you have to listen to me. What happened four years ago…it can't get out…"

The Priestess shook her head, and Renamon's heart sank.

"Please."

"We're not friends any more Renamon. I'm protecting all of you, and you helped me when I was a kid. I don't owe you any favours, and you don't owe me any, okay?"

"But…"

"Just go. Please. I don't think there's any reason why any of us need to be friends any more…the sooner you are all are gone, the better. You can go back to whatever silly, fake life you lead and I can get on with doing a bit of good in this hellhole of a world. And if Harmony asks, I'm telling her…I'm sick of all the idiots in this village saying behind my back that I'm useless as a Priestess...I'm going to prove my worth to the one being out there who will actually appreciate it!"

Renamon could hear the tears under the anger, and she wanted to point them out, but she knew it'd do no good. She took a step back and a bow, uttering "sorry" before letting herself vanish back into nothing.

It hadn't worked. It had only cost her more. What could she do now?

She crashed back out of her teleport again, knowing she had no idea of where to go. This whole village was watched by so many eyes, both ones she knew and ones she didn't. She couldn't go back to Rika, not right now. Rika would know something was up, although with the fact she was holding back every thought on their link Renamon was pretty sure Rika knew already.

She landed, over by a lake, the old lake they would once train and spar by. Nothing had changed for it, yet so much had for everywhere else.

A fist slammed into a nearby tree, splinters of wood flying everywhere. The guilt she felt…she felt guilty even for it itself. She'd lost a friendship…but why was she defending it so much? She was doing this to protect her friend…

And herself. She would be hit just as much by the truth getting out. Was she being selfish? Was Rika right to know? How would she react? After all these years and all that they had put into their bond, Renamon found herself for the first time not knowing at all what the girl would do.

She sighed, settling to her knees by the lake and brushing her hand through its cool waters. Everything she had learnt…every reason she had found to stay away from what had happened here…every reason she had learnt to stay away from her past and the truth…it was all backfiring on her. She always knew it would one day, in spite of her wishes that it wouldn't.

And now, even if the Priestess didn't say, she knew that by keeping herself back from Rika that the girl would know something was up. She couldn't keep lying.

The peaceful village did nothing to mask those all-too-familiar pangs in her heart that everything was rolling away from her, the knowledge she had no way of stopping it.

* * *

**Terriermon**

* * *

"Hello, you survived a fall out of a speeding car, and you're a squidgy pink thing that's meant to break easily! If that isn't some proof of your powers, I'll eat my hat."

"You don't have a hat Terriermon," Henry replied matter-of-factly.

"You know what he means Henry," Jeri noted, putting on a reassuring smile. "And he's right. Remember when Mari survived being blown up? She's an Angel."

"And that's not even beginning to consider about Ryder," Elecmon added, as they passed yet another of the almost-identical houses. Some of them probably had their friends in them, but god-only-knew which – there were so many. Terriermon had made plenty of jokes about Henry's inability to find his mother and Jeri when searching before, but he had to admit he could easily suffer the same difficulty.

"_Rika might've been having a nightmare time finding Renamon amongst all these guys too."_ Let alone the fact he kept thinking he saw DarkRenamon…

"Yeah, but those are like…generic powers. What's my special power?"

"Being able to stay permanently gloomy about all this?" Terriermon quipped. Having to listen to it twenty-four-seven had long gone past annoying and had now entered the 'consider murder as an option' phase.

"Terriermon!"

"I'm not Momentai'ing Henry, I'm serious. You need to Momentai and just let things happen for once."

"I think that counts as a Momentai," Elecmon noted, clinging to Jeri's shoulder.

"Henry, it'll be okay," Jeri insisted, slipping her fingers into his hand and continuing her warm smile as they kissed. Terriermon felt ready to gag at the sight. The sooner they got to their silly meeting (called by Tai, the news about which slowly circulated through the village) the better.

"_Just when we were getting some peace and quiet."_

"Hey, Jeri." The voice called out from one of the nearby alleyways, the smiling face of a blonde catching up with them at a pace far faster than the usual meandering wander.

"Natsuki," Jeri said with a smile, nodding to the girl. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, frowning. "I got lost, and I don't want to ask any of these Renamon for directions."

"I thought only guys did that," said Jeri.

"Yeah, well, they're taller than me and terrifying…I mean, those eyes," Natsuki mimed by cupping her hands around her own, before shuddering. "Give me the creeps."

"Well, we're on the way to the meeting too, so follow us and you won't get any more lost," Henry noted, Natsuki nodding as they carried on along their walk.

Jeri placed her hand at the side of her mouth, 'whispering' to the new girl. "Yeah, if you believe that…we've taken four wrong turns already." Henry's expression switched to one of indignity, as Jeri turned back with a beaming smile. "Love you," she said apologetically.

Henry smiled back, before looking past Jeri and putting her hand out to Natsuki, the girl looking oddly flummoxed by events. "Sorry, I don't think we've been properly introduced yet. I'm Henry."

"Natsuki…nice to meet you too. Are…are you Jeri's boyfriend?" she gestured to both of them.

"Yeah…"

Terriermon grinned, seeing his perfect shot. "Even though with his whining you'd think it was the other way around."

"Terriermon…" As if like clockwork.

"What?"

"Oh, never mind," Henry groaned, putting his hand on his forehead and in the process almost knocking Terriermon off its top.

"Hey, watch it! I'm riding here, and…uh, what's up with blondie?" Sure enough, Natsuki seemed to have 'stuck' in a particular expression, staring off into middle distance between the two humans. Jeri seemed to notice it when Henry did, waving her hand in front of the girl's eyes.

"Nat?"

"Then you shouldn't have…huh?"

Natsuki quickly snapped out of it, frowning. "Sorry, was just thinking about something."

"Still worried about everything, huh?" Jeri asked, frowning deeply as she freed her hand from Henry's and put it on the girl's shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah…yeah…it's that all still…"

"Aw…don't worry, I'm sure it'll be okay. And you're not even going to have to talk to Ryder at this meeting if you don't want to…but I can talk to him for you if you'd like? Maybe he just needs to see your point of view?"

"I've already told him everything…and he still didn't get it…"

"_Uh…what the heck are they talking about? God, I hate girls at times…" _Terriermon mused, not being able to count on his fingers the number of times that he'd been forced to watch any of his Tamer's female friends go away and have 'girl talk'. It always just left him wondering.

"Oh, sorry," Natsuki apologised, hesitating momentarily with her face contorting slightly and her eyes focusing on the dog-bunny Digimon. She shook it lightly, leaving Terriermon even more confused, before continuing. "You probably don't have a clue what's going on."

"It's okay, if you wanted to say you would have," Henry said, although Terriermon knew they had a difference of opinion on that one.

"Basically, Ryder and Mari dragged Natsuki here to the Digital World, and she thinks they had some ulterior motive in doing so," Jeri explained, gesturing to her new friend as she did so.

"Meh, with Ryder involved I wouldn't be surprised if there was something else going on. He seems to attract trouble like a magnet," Terriermon mused.

"Yeah, but he keeps secrets like a safe," Elecmon added.

"Why? What happened, why does he need to keep all these secrets?" Natsuki asked, obviously expecting (idiotically) that any of them had the faintest clue.

"No idea," Henry shrugged. "But, even if he's a bit enigmatic at times, I wouldn't kill him for it. He's made his own share of mistakes, but he doesn't seem to mean harm to anyone."

"Yeah, well, the fact I'm here and on the run from holy hell rather than safe at home says otherwise," the blonde insisted, crossing her arms and looking despondent. Jeri put her arm round the girl, once again putting that smile on. It didn't seem to do much – upon seeing it and the arm, Natsuki seemed to look even more depressed.

"Wow, this is an upbeat conversation," Terriermon sighed.

"Yeah, Terriermon's right. How about we just sit back and enjoy this paradise? I already prefer this trip to our last one," Elecmon added.

"_Why am I not surprised?" _the dog-bunny mused, but still agreed with the Digimon wholeheartedly. Of all the places they'd stumbled across in this world, this was by far the nicest and most hospitable. The grub wasn't bad either, enough maybe even to satisfy Guilmon's appetite. _"If that's even possible…"_

The houses, suddenly, stopped on either side, the path opening up into the large clearing they had arrived in at the 'front' of the village, a slight hill. The huge group was already mostly assembled again, a far more relaxed atmosphere than the last time as chatter coursed through it. Food was held in some hands, including that of Guilmon, the Digimon looking rather forlorn and hungered up once it had gone. Apparently it wasn't possible, even in a village with this much food…

Terriermon just had to hope he wouldn't eat the various yellow and black digi-eggs lying around the village. They were clear enough evidence that his program, his Digimon V2.0 program, had been so successful…but…it seemed rather odd to see them just discarded here and there waiting to hatch. Once, it wouldn't have, but now, having seen Rika and Takato care for Rey, he felt he understood so much more about how human breeding worked. Renamon and Guilmon seemed a lot more detached from Rejimon, by comparison – sure, they kept her safe, but they didn't have to monitor her constantly, change her, feed her, or anything.

In this cruel Digital World, maybe that was better…

"Dad..." Henry interrupted the Digimon's thoughts, a hopeful inflection to his voice as he rejoined his family, the Hypnos employees and Monster Makers, all gathered in one area of the gentle hill in front of the village. Tai stood slightly higher than the others with Sora, chatting. There was no denying it – he was taking the leadership role for this one. "Any luck?"

Janyuu frowned, shaking his head. "Not yet. We'll keep trying though – if we can access Hypnos' servers, there's a chance we'll be able to control things from that end to help us."

"Sounds like the exact kind of thing Rayleigh will be trying to catch us with," Terriermon said pessimistically.

The man nodded. "I'd put money on it. We just have to hope we can out-program him."

"What if it's like the movies and he tracks us down via it?"

"What are you today, doom and gloom in a pint-sized package?" Elecmon asked the dog-bunny from Jeri's shoulder.

"Hey, I'm just being realistic."

"Normally I'd ignore you when you start a sentence with 'what if it's like the movies', but you've got a point," Henry mused, putting his hand on his chin and letting silence fall for a moment.

"The perception filter…is that the thing we came through on the way in?"

Henry looked back to Natsuki, a bewildered expression straining across his face as hers shied away, before her teeth gritted. _"Huh?" _Terriermon thought, before Natsuki shot him a glare with her icy blue eyes. _"When did anyone mention a perception filter?"_

"Uh…yeah," Henry replied, looking to brush a thought off his mind before continuing. "Yeah, I was thinking that we can't just rely on that thing to keep us hidden from Rayleigh."

"Hypnos could find this place easily…it has so many people and Digimon here now," Janyuu noted, before Tally raised a hand in objection.

"In all honesty, the Hypnos system isn't designed to scan this world – I think we're pretty safe for a little while. Finding the Tamers the last time was hard enough – and we've never really found this village before. Everything just looks like blobs and blobs of data."

"But I don't think Rayleigh will just stop," Jeri said pessimistically. "He really wanted us dead…" her head dipped, until Henry's hand grasped hers reassuringly.

"I think we've got the upper hand here, even if he tries to bring an army of soldiers along with him," Henry noted. "So even if he _does_ find us, what's he going to do?"

"Blow Ryder to bits again?"

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai! I'm just saying if _anyone_ has got to be first in line to face him, my vote is for Ryder."

"I second that," Natsuki mumbled.

"I've known you for less than a day and I already prefer you to Henry!" Terriermon chirped, grinning and waving to the girl. She didn't look too impressed, just waving a hand unsurely.

"I see."

"_Geez, you'd think I was the first Digimon she'd seen today."_

"No, it's just that…never mind…" Natsuki mumbled.

"_Hmm…that was weird…it was almost like she was…ah, who cares…" _"So we're safe. Unless Henry's going to be a killjoy again?"

"I think we should just keep our eyes open, and try and enjoy this place while we're here." Jeri said, casting her pupils across the group. "I've never seen everyone talking like this before…it's so great to see everyone getting along," she clasped her hands together.

In spite of Jeri's extreme optimism, Terriermon had to agree she had a point. Their group normally seemed to stumble around as an unwieldy mesh of three groups that didn't always see eye to eye: the oldest ex-Digidestined (Tai's lot), the younger ones under Davis and then their group of Tamers under Takato. Even those definitions didn't work too well: people like Seiko, Kristy, Ryo, Ryder and Mari all were pushed under Takato's leadership even when he never really called for it. But, that was the nature of how their huge group of Tamers had ended up.

Still…it was a nice sight. Izzy was talking to his mother, making wide gestures about at the world around him with a smile on his face. Ken was engaged in deep conversation with Seiko, DarkBiyomon and Wormmon clinging to their legs in an amusing mirror-image of each other. DarkRenamon laughed after an unheard joke from Renardmon, her…

Terriermon paused, before practically launching himself off of Henry's shoulder onto the ground. Twirling round, he quickly came up with what he would later realise was the worst excuse in the history of excuses. "I've got to go…uh…see a Monodramon about a tree trunk…"

He promptly wandered away before the excuse could sink in, wiping his non-existent forehead sweat and pushing his way through the crowd.

"_Stupid Elecmon," _he thought, even though the Digimon was spot-on. He broke free from the mass of feet and leapt into the air, promptly landing on the head of one dark-furred Kitsune.

"Boo!"

Well, he almost landed on her head, but he unfortunately underestimated the fox's reaction times and quick movements, and so instead ended up being held by the ear. "What do you think you're doing?"

His arms waved at the air for a moment before setting by his side. "Saying 'hi', like normal Digimon do."

"Oh really," she asked, glancing to Renardmon briefly before looking back to him. "So what explains this?"

"Hey! I take offense at that!"

DarkRenamon chuckled her deep chuckle, before dropping Terriermon ungracefully on the ground beneath her feet. "This is Terriermon."

"Hey, a dog-bunny…cute…" Renardmon chuckled, putting out a hand. Terriermon puffed up his chest as he returned an ear.

"_I may be a tiny bunny now but as MegaGargomon I'd blow your head off!" _"Thanks," he huffed.

And then, they promptly went on to continue their conversation without him even being involved. "Okay, so I don't really understand all this…you were destroyed and your Tamer put you back together again? I mean, how is that even possible? No offense to her, but she doesn't seem all that special. Can all humans do that?"

"Just Mari, and I think it was a bit of luck really. She wished in her heart that I'd survive and become her partner and…well…I did. And she became an Angel, one of Goddramon's Angels."

"Hmm…that rings a bell but I never really paid too much attention to all that the elders have always tried to teach us. Doesn't help that they didn't really teach that stuff until after everyone abandoned me."

DarkRenamon frowned subtly. "Didn't you meet any new friends over the past few years?"

Renardmon nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I've always known most of the Digimon in this village, but…Renamon, Renamon and I…I felt like we were…friends…really good friends…I mean…I don't know, it was always difficult. Renamon doesn't respond well."

"I envied you three…you looked so close."

"I thought we were…but I'm really not sure."

"About what?"

"Never mind."

"Hmm…" sympathy washed across the black fox's face as she gently patted the Digimon on the shoulder, Terriermon's face puffing up even more than it already had. Was she doing this on purpose to annoy him?

His eyes shifted, passing by Mari and Ryder to the dragon beside them, their eyes accidentally meeting in a faceoff. And yet, there was agreement in them too, agreement that they had a common enemy in all this.

Terriermon's eyes swung back up to Renardmon, the object of his hate. _"And they're the same damn species…"_ "Hey, Renaman, what's the deal with all these Sakuyamon wandering around?"

"It's Renardmon. What do you mean?"

"I mean, all these mega levels. Last time I checked that wasn't an easy plateau to reach."

"The strongest Renamon and DarkRenamon get picked to be mega levels."

"Says a lot for me," DarkRenamon sighed sadly, Renardmon nodding.

"Males don't even get considered," he added. "If there's a mega level for us, I've never seen it."

"So, what, everyone else becomes a Kyubimon or a Taomon?" Terriermon asked, rather bewildered by this system, and feeling left out of being able to be involved in the conversation.

"Pretty much, or the other kinds."

"Well that sucks!" Terriermon huffed. "Geez, screwed for being born male?"

"It's how things have always worked," Renardmon sighed, frowning.

"That's why I got out of there. I wanted a life, not to be just another random Renamon," DarkRenamon explained.

"Gee, thanks," Renardmon huffed. "Seriously, what was the problem with any of you staying as you were? Things used to be so simple. Now I'm pretty sure Renamon hates me, the Priestess tells me nothing…"

"Well, she is your leader now…are you really surprised?" DarkRenamon asked.

"But we still talk all the time. She just doesn't tell me much. Like, what the heck happened all those years ago back with that silly plan?"

"What, you mean when she and all the others went to that 'other world'?"

"Yeah! I lost both of my friends in the same day to the same world, and one of them has only just come back, and she hates me."

"Huh?" Terriermon asked, raising an ear in confusion as he defied DarkRenamon's earlier complaints and leapt onto her shoulder, looking Renardmon in the eye as for the first time the infatuation in his head was interrupted by something else. "What are you talking about?"

"Four years ago…" Renardmon began. "This village was in big trouble. No-one could digivolve, and the old Priestess was dying – it didn't help she used up so much of her power just helping a few other Renamon digivolve. See, the Priestesses have a fixed life-span: 229 years."

"Wow…I wouldn't complain about that…" Terriermon noted. "Actually, how long will I live for…?"

"Let him finish Terriermon," DarkRenamon said sternly.

"Well, basically, the old Priestess was keeping this village safe. You know that protective barrier, that perception filter?" Renardmon gestured to the sky, a thin watery barrier blocking out the outside world. "That comes from the Priestess, and in the past it would always be that when one Priestess was dying she would choose a Renamon to pass the role too. Only problem is, without being able to digivolve, no-one could take up the role, and that meant the village would fall as soon as the Priestess died."

"Ah…wait…four years ago…that was when we had to rely on Calumon and…ooooh, I get it," Terriermon clicked his tiny fingers.

"Get what?"

"Big old Zhuqs and co. wanted to stop the D-Reaper from growing so they turned the light of digivolution into Calumon and dumped him in our world."

Renardmon nodded. "Ah, that makes sense now…we felt the light of digivolution after the D-Reaper battle, and things went back to normal. You have no idea how relieved we were…"

"But wait, how did you fix the problem then? I mean, you said you guys were dying, but…Calumon was gone for months. How'd you save the village?"

"That's what I'm not sure on…" Renardmon put his hand on his chin. "The old Priestess picked Renamon…uh, the other Renamon…to take over. It all went by so fast…the next moment, Taijimon's in front of us – he's the head of the dojo – and he's calling all his best Renamon and DarkRenamon up to become new warriors…including yours."

"Wait…Renamon was involved in this?" Terriermon asked, similar confusion crossing DarkRenamon's face.

"I…I didn't know that."

"Oh yeah…she was one of the best. Put me in my place plenty of times. She…she had this weird bank of power I could never really understand…I mean…" his voice became more uncomfortable. "The Harmony stuff makes more sense now that I know it, but back when I once lifted her gloves up and got shocked by this weird blue electricity…well, let's just say, that's part of the reason she doesn't seem to like me anymore."

"So you tried to strip off Renamon and now she doesn't like you? Well, that's not too surprising…she's so uptight…" Terriermon made a whipping noise. "She's got to Momentai!"

"Yeah, well…next thing I know, Renamon's…that's the Priestess, I mean…got this orb in her hands and she makes all these doorways."

"And each warrior and the Priestess herself went through them," DarkRenamon noted, frowning. "It's hard to forget. Although I can't believe Renamon was involved in it all this time and didn't tell me."

"Wait, so where did they go? And…well…I'm guessing they were successful, right?" Terriermon asked. "Are there any Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon here from that time?"

"Well…there's the Priestess herself, but she never talks, and you won't get much out of the others…they're all about their warrior pride. I'm just amazed they never told the rest of the village…I mean, the Priestess never even told me. None of the rest of us knows what happened."

"Well…let's change that…" said Terriermon, a mischievous edge to his voice as he rubbed his tiny paws together.

"You won't get anywhere with the Priestess. I'm her closest friend other than Taomon, and…" Renamon began.

"I'm not trying with the Priestess. I'll just ask Renamon," interrupted Terriermon, grinning. "We get on like a house on fire – she'll tell me!"

"Doesn't that mean you guys don't get on at all?" DarkRenamon asked, narrowing one eye to the Digimon still on her shoulder.

"Uh…doesn't matter! Come on, go! Neigh horsey, neigh!" Terriermon laughed, pointing towards Renamon with an ear. The Digimon stood silently with Rika over by Takato and their families on the other side of the group. Perfect timing.

DarkRenamon put her hands on her hips. "Don't compare me to a horse."

"Uh…" Terriermon laughed nervously. "The good kind of horse?"

"The only other kind I know of from Mari and Ryder is…" the black vixen began with her paw moving to her chin.

"Okay, I'm sorry for calling you a horse. Please can we go see Renamon," Terriermon pleaded. "I know you're as desperate for answers as I am."

"Don't you think I've tried asking her?" Renardmon interrupted, breaking out of a deep thought he had dropped into as his head shot up. "Really? Don't you think that was my first idea when she came back?"

"Uh…no?" Terriermon asked. "Oh come on, I haven't got any other leads."

"She didn't tell me a thing. She doesn't care about her past at all," Renardmon said sadly, his head shying to the floor. To Terriermon's annoyance, DarkRenamon reached out and clasped his wrist, before gesturing in Renamon's direction.

"Come on, we'll back you up this time, won't we Terriermon?"

"_Stupid dumbass Renardmon acting all pitiable and taking my…" _"Waaah? Oh, yeah, yeah!"

And before Terriermon could prepare himself, he had been grabbed by the ear again before shooting through the air at a speed he wasn't sure he was at all comfortable with, even if it was with the Digimon of his dreams. Landing gracefully nearer Renamon, DarkRenamon turned back, Renardmon straggling behind on foot.

"Hey," he huffed. "We guys can't do that!"

DarkRenamon chuckled. "Sorry…" she laughed.

"_God, I think I sympathise with Renardmon. What's the world coming to?" _Terriermon wondered worriedly.

"Hey, DarkRenamon," Takato called, causing the trio to turn – all two of them that were on their feet, at least – and face the small but familial group. Kristy and Kudamon played with Rejimon a short way off while the parents and DarkBiyomon watched quietly. Nearer to the trio, Rei sat on the grass, staring at a plastic bag of parts, while Guilmon simply continued to wolf down food near Renamon, who for the first time in ages had stopped resembling a statue and actually looked across to them. Rika stood near Takato, stepping up to the Digimon. "And Renardmon and Terriermon…what's up?"

"We've got to talk to Renamon about something."

Renamon's ears shot up and her body tensed with them. She looked across into Renardmon's eyes, the male taking a bizarre step back when he saw them, and even Guilmon looked up from his food to turn his head up to face Renamon. He uttered something, but Renamon's pose was dismissive as she walked over towards the newcomers.

"What is it?" she asked, Rika and Takato eying them suspiciously.

Renardmon inhaled. "I wanted to ask what happened with all the doorways all those years back."

"Doorways?" Rika asked, stepping up to stand in line with her partner. "What's this about?"

The male Renamon's eyes scrutinised the situation. "Hmm…there's some reason why you're not telling me anything Renamon," Renardmon mused, evidently having a rush of mental strength here. "And I want to know what that reason is. We used to be friends, after all."

Renamon's expression faltered, and she stared on wordlessly. Rika's eyes trained on her, and after a brief pause, she vocalised her thoughts. "Renamon, what are they talking about?"

The Digimon's pose became strongly defensive and she crossed her arms across her chest. "It is just like the Priestess always said. They went to another world and became Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon. What mystery is there?"

"Oh come on Renamon, give the old Priestess some credit," called a new voice, new feet stepping into the fray with staff in hand, people stepping back to let her through as she walked imposingly towards them. All other conversation seemed to pack in with these louder words, leading Terriermon to feel like he was at the centre of an arena, or on the stage for some performance, and was seeing the acts play out. "I spoke to her as she died…I know how much thought she put into what we had to do…I'm not going to have you put down her wonderful plan. She was wise and kind to everyone and I would do anything to be even a bit like her."

Renamon and the Priestess locked eyes, a chilling air descending. Renardmon frowned, mumbling "they used to be friends" as Terriermon began to feel truly sorry for the guy.

"I do not intend to diminish her reputation. I simply see the situation as simpler than everyone thinks it is." Renamon's words held less emotion than usual, as the Priestess came even closer, the pair now standing facing each other with but a small gap in-between. "What is there to tell?" she forced the words out, too much emphasis on them for Terriermon's liking.

"_This doesn't quite feel right."_

"What's going on?" Takato wondered, wandering forward into the fray and looking to the Priestess. She harshly glared at him.

"Things beyond you, Chaos."

"Come on…someone explain something already!" Terriermon cried. "My ears will fall off if I have to hear another person being secretive."

"Terriermon!"

"Henry, get on over here or Momentai!" Terriermon moaned, turning on DarkRenamon's shoulder to look into the crowd, Henry surfacing from the mass to enter the tense negotiations. There was an elephant in the room, that much was now extremely clear, and as Terriermon smiled to DarkRenamon and leapt to the familiar place on his Tamer's head he felt a great deal of relief at being one step more removed from things.

"What's going on here then?" Henry asked, raising an eyebrow. Up the hill, Tai and Sora had paused and were looking down, the boy beginning to make his way through the crowds himself, obviously expecting to have to intervene as a leader.

"Basically, Renamon's being all hushed up about how all these Renamon and DarkRenamon went to become Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon somewhere when this village was dying when the light of digivolution was in Calumon and the Priestess who creates its protective barrier was dying," Terriermon ranted, gasping for breath at the end of it.

"What?" Henry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was four years ago," the Priestess began. Renamon took a step closer to her but a sharp tapping of the mop-like instrument in the Digimon's hand against the ground made her stop again. "I want to talk Renamon…it's my choice to tell them, not yours."

Renamon stayed silent, simply locking eyes with the mega level Digimon as she continued to talk.

"Priestesses live for exactly 229 years before we die. When we do so we give our power to another Renamon. I was chosen by the old Priestess to become this. But, four years ago, the light was absent from the digital world…the light which we needed to digivolve."

"Calumon's light?" Henry suggested.

"Already worked that out…" Terriermon mumbled.

"Yeah. The problem is, without a Priestess, this village becomes visible to the real world and the protective barrier collapses, but the Priestess has to be a Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode. Not only that, but to keep this village safe from physical harm we have the warriors, our Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon. Without them, we wouldn't be able to bring in the Digimon we help to heal here."

"Don't forget us Renardmon and DarkRenardmon," Renardmon huffed. "A Taijimon can still pack a mean punch."

"Okay, okay, yeah," the Priestess continued, her voice changing a bit more as she looked around at the group. She was telling the story to so many, and a prideful look crossed her eyes. "We were in a pinch…so…the old Priestess used the last of her power to come up with an elegant solution."

The Priestess looked to Renamon, the Digimon's teeth grated. Terriermon had never seen her like this before. She'd seen her angry, but this Renamon simply looked…cornered. Fighting to survive, with her fists clenched. "I warned you…"

"You want to continue the story? If you want to tell it your way, that's fine with me…but I told you what I'd do."

"Renamon, what is she talking about? What's wrong? Answer me already," Rika ordered.

"It's…something you wouldn't want to know."

"Just tell me. Ever since we arrived in this village all you've done is ignore me…what's wrong? If something's wrong I want to help you…but you're not letting me."

"Is this why you didn't want to tell her Renamon? If it is…then why? I don't understand," the Priestess continued. "Why can't she know? She only wants to help…isn't that good?"

"Because she can't…none of them can!" Renamon asserted, not once looking down to her partner. Her gaze locked with the Priestess', ignoring the calls from Rika or Guilmon, both worried for the Digimon. She inhaled deeply, forcing out the words "I warned you Priestess…so much…but if this is what you're going to do…if you're going to sacrifice everything you've worked for your pride…and risk everything I hold dear with Rika…then let's just get this over with."

The Priestess looked unimpressed at her friend's attempts to stop her spilling. "You worry me Renamon…I don't know what happened to you in that other world, but you've lost all your perspective on right and wrong. You turned your back on your whole village right when we needed you the most…you're a traitor Renamon."

Renamon's eyes widened. "So you think you are somehow being good in doing all this? Do you think it was right what you did? Do you think it's right to stand me up before all my friends? To throw everything on the line even when I tell you…"

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down a moment. What does 'stand me up' mean?" the Priestess looked genuinely bewildered as her eyes wandered to the group around her. "Is that some kind of real world saying?"

"It means that you're putting her up to be embarrassed or humiliated…"

"But…why would you be? You did a good thing! Well, nearly."

Rika looked over to her partner. "What? What did she do? What was she meant to do?" Terriermon noticed how she was no longer asking Renamon the questions directly.

"**Priestess, tell me."**

* * *

**Renamon**

* * *

There is was. Harmony had said it. Harmony had asked. And the Priestess had made her intentions clear on that. There was no going back now.

"You'll be proud of me and the old Priestess Harmony, you really will be. Your greatest creation really came through for the good of the Digital World," the Priestess had the widest smile on her face. "I hope I'll be able to do even a little bit of that good in my lifetime."

"**Why? What did she do?"**

"When she died, she turned into this orb of energy and data. It felt so full of life when I held it." The Priestess unconsciously moved her hands to grasp thin air. "I knew what to do…every part of her master plan she put into her final thoughts, and I could feel them. She gave me such…duty. I had to tell everyone…it had to start as soon as possible."

"What did?" Rika asked. Renamon, through their link, felt the girl's eyes on her again, but she fell back on staying as stoic as possible. The vixen clenched her fists unconsciously. She was strong. She had to be strong for Rika. Likewise, she also had to be strong for her old friend, currently tightening a noose around her neck ever so tightly.

"I used her last remaining energy to create portals…to another world, the old world."

"**The real world," **Harmony nodded. **"Back…back in the past, in my previous incarnations…it was never the Digital World and the Real World…it was rarely even the World of Ideas and the World of Matter…it was just one world and another."**

"**I objected. It should so be World A and World 1!"** Chaos insisted, crossing his arms, but was widely ignored. Everyone hung on every word.

"You went to the real world?!" Henry exclaimed. "But…when…?"

"Four years ago, like I said."

"2007," Takato said. "The year we first met our Digimon…and when Calumon was the Light of Digivolution."

"Light of Digivolution?" Tai asked, looking bewildered. "That was in Calumon."

"Oh man, we've got a lot to explain," Takato sighed, putting his hand on his forehead.

"I want to find out what's going on first," Rika insisted, looking to Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode still. "Why did you go to the real world?"

The Priestess beamed with pride. "So we could reach our mega forms again. Taijimon gathered together the strongest Renamon…those who we knew would be able to protect the village when things got tricky…we didn't know how long we wouldn't be able to digivolve for. And then, we all went to the real world…to different places in the real world."

"For what?" Henry asked, raising an eyebrow. "And why didn't Hypnos ever pick you guys up? That many Digimon all over the world…you should've made front page news."

"Front page news? What is…?"

"Just continue. He doesn't know what he's talking…"

"Terriermon!"

"Quiet Henry, we're about to get an actual explanation and you're not helping one little bit!"

"When we arrived in the real world…we set about finding young girls who we could take to a better life," the Priestess began, still smiling in spite of Renamon knowing the true weight of her words. Why did she simply not understand? Why couldn't she trust her, accept that she had no way of explaining the human culture and why this was so offensive? And why it jeopardised her bond with her Tamer…

"Take to a better life?" Rika raised an eyebrow, glancing to Renamon who was finding these words so hauntingly familiar. "What does that mean?"

The Priestess nodded. "We allied with those we thought we could help and we gave them a better way of living, a greater purpose. We knew we could make a difference for them."

"Who did you think you could help?" Takato asked, looking confused. The Priestess gave him a harsh stare, before her beaming smile was demolished in a pinch by the sight of Rika's face. She continued to force it on, obviously naively thinking that Harmony would praise her for the 'punch line'.

"The disaffected, the depressed, those with sad lives who could do so much more."

"**And what did you do to them?" **Harmony asked.

"We did what Harmony always did…the ancient digivolution…tapping into the energy source of a human by taking them unto ourselves," the Priestess grinned widely, looking for the whole world like she was announcing the best thing ever. Unfortunately, these exact words were the ones which tipped the balance. Renamon felt something she could only describe as schadenfreude at the Priestess' misfortune. After all her wise words and power moves, her was her downfall.

And yet she also felt guilty. Here was her friend, a friend who had set her up, yes, but she felt like she had done the same back in some small way. She hadn't done enough to stop it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, catching the Priestess' slight look to her before Harmony stole her gaze.

"**Wait…you mean…you biomerged?"**

"Biomerge?" the Priestess asked. "Is…is that what you call it, Harmony?"

"Yeah…it's a way of digivolving to the mega level…by combining with a human…" Rika explained, but her eyebrows were still cocked to her partner. _"Renamon, what's wrong? What are you sorry for?"_

"_Please…just understand that it's not how it sounds."_

"If that's what you call it, then yes, we biomerged. We found the right girls, and then we made them…biomerge with us," the Priestess said, yet all that confidence once in her words was beginning to crack along with her voice as the reality began to confusingly dawn on her.

"What, like, Tamers and partners?" Takato asked, before that cold glare settled on him again.

"What? No, you idiot, that would have taken far too long…the village would've died! We had to find them and perform the ancient digivolution as quickly as possible…we needed them…"

"**So…that means…you…forced it?" **Harmony asked, eyes widening as Rika took a step back, deep breaths taken by the half-God. **"You…you forced those depressed girls to become part of you….just so you could reach your mega forms?!"**

"We didn't have a choice Harmony. That's why we went for those whose lives would be improved by doing it…that's why we picked the disaffected, those who wouldn't be missed," the Priestess' voice became subservient, maybe even pleading.

"That's sick!" Jeri cried, similar utterances passing through the group about them.

"_This is why Rika. This is why," _Renamon's head collapsed onto her hand as the events she had wanted to avoid all this time played out. She could only hope bloody war wouldn't break out over it.

"So there's a human in you now?" Renardmon asked, locked in a stare with his old friend. Renamon could easily forgive his confusion – he probably wasn't even aware of what biomerging was, even as the 'ancient digivolution' which the Priestess had called it. "Why did you never tell me any of this?! Why did you never tell any of us?!"

"Because there was no reason to tell."

"Says who?!"

"Says the old Priestess, and I trust her judgement. Harmony, don't you think I did the right thing?"

"**No…"**

"…no?" the Priestess looked bewildered, everything crashing down before her.

"**You destroyed innocent lives…you kidnapped random people just to keep this place going…that's not why I created it. This isn't right!"**

Slow sarcastic clapping came from behind Rika, Takato having a dark smile on his face. **"I said Harmony. I said so many times. Everything you do pretends it's so, so good but it hurts so many more."**

"**I…I didn't mean for this!"**

"**The amount of times you've…you've persecuted me for things I didn't mean to happen…feel a taste of your own damn medicine Harmony. Feel karma's sweet retribution!"**

Harmony simply didn't respond…maybe even _couldn't_.

"So all the Kuzuhamon and Sakuyamon we've seen here…and you yourself…you've all got random girls in you who you kidnapped?" Henry asked, his voice rising in offence. The Priestess unsurely nodded, looking like she had been severely blindsided by all this and not knowing what to think. Henry gritted his teeth together as his hand went to his chin. "But…why aren't they talking? That's what's meant to happen in a bioemergence…I haven't heard a single word from…her."

"We had to merge their minds with ours…they provided us with the energy and support to reach our mega levels, but we had to create a bond," the Priestess explained.

"You had to force a bond," DarkRenamon interjected, sounding just as offended as the others. She had been left out of the great secret.

"_This is horrible Renamon…" _Rika's voice drifted to the vixen's ears. _"It's…like rape…but…"_ In spite of the words, Renamon was bizarrely pleased to feel words along their link again, but she knew…she knew this wasn't its test. The worst was yet to come for it.

"Yes, yes, we had to _force_ a bond then. But we did it for all the right reasons."

"So that means they're dead?" Tai asked, only a few in the group having the mind enough to ask questions about such a surprising topic.

"No…they're not at all, they're alive, they're well. I would know if my girl was in a bad way…I care a lot for her," the Priestess placed a hand on her chest. "Isn't that what a…biomerge…is? A human and a Digimon working in unison, just like Harmony and Renamon always did?"

"It's more than that," Henry said. "It's about being their friend…it's about sharing your thoughts and knowing each other better than you know yourself."

"I do know her…I didn't just pick her at random, you know…I wanted to help her…"

"What's her name?" Jeri asked, stepping forth from behind the Priestess, eyes locked with one who could probably do considerable damage to her in but a moment. But, amazingly, those eyes held no fear…only contempt.

"Uh…" the Priestess began. "I…I don't remember…I've had so much in my head since then…when I became the Priestess, everything changed. I can feel everything, I can feel nature, I can feel Harmony, I can…"

"But you can't feel the girl inside you. What do you think she thinks of it?"

"She…she should be happier. She doesn't remember all those bad times…she lives through me, and I know she sees all I see. We are one and the same…isn't that just like the blessed Harmony and Rika?"

"Let her go now! This isn't fair! This isn't right!

Rika agreed with her best girl friend. "You heard her! Break up the biomerge…now!"

"I can't." The Priestess' words were definitive, but they weren't taken as such.

"Please! For her sake…whoever she is!" Jeri cried.

"I told you I can't," the Priestess turned round, defending herself in front of the group. Not just that, but many of the village's residents had turned out. "And it's not just because of me being the Priestess…"

"Then what?" Rika asked.

"The link is too close…if I were to break it she would perish, and I would too. And…she wouldn't remember anything either…"

"Wait…so you erased their memories too?"

"We didn't have a choice!" the Priestess screamed, tears bawling from her eyes as she ended up kneeling on the floor. "Listen to me! I keep telling you and none of you listen! We had no choice! We had to do it to protect those who need this village!"

"That's not an excuse," Tai said. The Priestess stared him down, a cornered fighter not accepting her fate so easily. But his renowned courage shone strong, in spite of the considerable (perhaps even comical) height and power difference between the pair.

"You're using my protection right now, aren't you? You're relying on me to keep this place safe, to keep you healed and fed…this is a horrible Digital World, humans. I don't know what sort of paradise your home is like, but I know that this world is far from it. This place is so protected and so perfect…I couldn't let it fall. If I were in her position, I would've made the same decision as the old Priestess…and I would make it again today if I had to…so please…understand…Harmony…I beg of you," she fell onto her hands and knees, defeated.

Rika stood over her, looking down at one of Harmony's proudest creations. And yet, another word escaped her lips, the angered and shocked Harmony being replaced by a confused Rika. "Renamon…"

The girl's head turned to face her, her forehead creased in thought.

"You're involved in this, aren't you?"

Renamon nodded, wondering just how the girl would respond. All those years of their bond…everything they had done…biomerging for real…would they be put to the test…by their bond's very foundations? "Yes."

By simply looking in her partner's eyes, Renamon could tell they weren't done with this. But she knew they were done here. Rika wasn't about to ask everything in front of everyone – neither of them wanted that humiliation. An odd sense of relief washed over her.

The redhead twisted to face the mega level Digimon on the floor. "But you…I can't believe what you did to that poor girl who's inside you…" she hissed, before she stopped herself, taking a step back. "Whoever she was, she deserved a better fate…all of them did."

"I…" the Priestess began, but her voice failed, her head falling back to the dirt. "I'm sorry."

The worst thing for her was, this voice…it was not simply Rika's. Harmony's was merged in with it…she was getting true disdain from the one being she revered the most. A double voice that brought such anger, such disgust, such contempt…

"You make me sick!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N: **And so a plot line I've been building since Chapter 1 in Book One comes to a head. Go on, take a look. You know you want to… Honestly, I've been rooting this thing for so long in so many little ways that I was worried that people might work it out by now, but apparently not. Hopefully it paid off quite well. It's a bit weird and unorthodox, but we'll learn more about it in future chapters.

Speaking of the future, I'm proud to announce that, with this chapter out of the way, I'm no longer stopped from working on Stratagems because of fear of spoilers. What does that mean? It means new chapters. Why that is? Well…wait and see…

Until next time…


	34. Phase Two: Conversations

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

**Phase Two**

_Conversations_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

The pebble crashed into the water with a satisfying plop, but the mind of the girl who threw it was far from satisfied. Her nails scratched against her palms. She could tell through their link that the silence left her yellow, fox-like partner ill at ease.

But at least it was just them. And Harmony, of course, although she was scarily silent. The rest of their group was elsewhere, probably casting evil eyes at the village's inhabitants for the atrocious acts which had occurred. Rika and Renamon, meanwhile, had said nothing.

The Priestess? At this very moment, Rika found herself not caring at all – indeed, even wanting the blasted creature to crawl away and die was too much care for her liking. Her actions, and knowing that she had a role to play in their cause, left the redhead very shaken.

"You were part of this mission to the real world?" Rika finally spoke to her partner after some hesitation, her words confirming, not asking.

"Yes. I was chosen by the previous Priestess…I was one of the finest fighters in our society, and so I was chosen to become a Sakuyamon."

"I'm so proud," Rika's words were hollow and deadpan. Once upon a time, the fact may have been important to her, perhaps even pride-building, but now it simply left her with a sarcastic edge. "So I'm guessing that I'm the depressed girl with no future you chose to 'acquire', right?"

Renamon paused before nodding. "I'm afraid so."

"So what made you change your mind? Heck, I wanted to be strong back then – I'm pretty sure telling me that we could become infinitely strong just by…uh…what were you going to do?"

Renamon frowned. "Our aim was to quickly make a bond with our chosen children…then we would simply absorb them."

"What…so…kill them and take their data?"

"No. Not at all. I suppose it would be like a biomerge…like how you press yourself onto me…but…more permanent. The Priestess gave us all the power to do it…even in her death she was so strong. It was the only way we could reach our mega forms."

"So I was just one big battery to you, huh?" Rika replied, hearing the offence at the edges of her voice as its previous detachment began to fade. "This place is sick." Indeed, it was only the limits on where else she could go that was keeping her pinned to it at that very moment. Resisting walking out and never coming back had been hard.

But she didn't want to put her family, her friends, their families and even just the random people who had tagged along, all at risk.

"I changed though, Rika. You wanted me as your partner and I fulfilled that role – I thought that made us close, and the fact you became my Tamer meant I wanted to hold off for a while and see what happened. But then I saw them…Takato and Guilmon, and Henry and Terriermon. They made me reconsider…reconsider everything. I began to notice things about you, things that had never occurred to me before – things I wanted to change. And I also knew reasons why I didn't want to be like Guilmon and Terriermon…but…in doing so I began to realise that you meant far too much to me. I was willing to even put my own life up on the line for you against Dokugumon. I was always taught that self-sufficiency and survival was of the utmost importance, but with you I risked everything for your survival. I do not know why I did it either. I felt like I was part of something so much bigger and yet so much smaller at the same time – this village seemed further and further away. And then I reached the point where I decided not to go back – I did not want to go home."

"So this is the first time you've returned since then?"

"Yes. I suppose they thought that I had died or something along those lines. I wonder if I am the only one."

"So…if you've known this all this time, why have you never told me?"

"I was afraid, Rika. About how you would react, about how everyone would react. And, as much as I loathe the Priestess right now for the way she forced the story out of me, she's still my old friend and I tried to stop her for all I could. It pains me to see her in this state."

"Stupid bitch," Rika was less sympathetic. "How could she let you guys do that? She had to have known what she was doing – this place is all about preserving life."

"We didn't know what humans really were. I guess it's like how you would have seen the Digital World. We did not value your lives like we did our own and those who our village protects. And there were to be so few…lost girls. It was all we could do."

And then Harmony finally spoke. **"I would rather this place had died than pursue such a…travesty."**

"I think I agree with you," Renamon sighed. "But…please don't hold it against everyone here Harmony. Only a few of them knew…"

"**I created a place which was so bound by its duty to protect and serve me that it effectively killed innocents to do so – the only one I'm holding it against is myself."**

"Those poor girls," Rika sighed, placing her hand on her heart and looking back towards the centre of the village from the lake, shapes of creatures drifting past. "They're inside all those Digimon…how do they feel? I find it hard to believe they're even in there."

"I know the Priestess isn't lying."

"That's not what I meant Renamon. It just makes me feel sick."

"I'm sorry."

Rika sighed, digging her hands down into her pockets. She'd been nearly blown up, combined with other beings, pregnant, possessed, and in the same room as Terriermon, and yet this was what was disturbing to her. This was what crossed the line. She wanted to think it wasn't her fault…but, at the same time, it was. Rika Nonaka wasn't at fault, but she was. She was Harmony, and as much as they were two voices in the same head, the memories burnt into her mind after Rei told them about Naoko were a clear sign that they weren't all that separate after all.

She looked up, seeing Renamon with her tentative eyes. Through their link, she felt the Digimon's real feelings.

"It's okay Renamon. I'm not holding it against you," she said, her voice a bit too bitter for her own liking. How could she not see Renamon as part of it? Indeed, she was part of it, albeit a victim rather than a perpetrator. And yet, she knew that the ends for her and Renamon, somehow, justified the means.

But if the ends justified the means for her and Renamon, wasn't she being a hypocrite by holding the Priestess to ransom for something she was so easy to dismiss for herself?

"Thank you Rika," Renamon said sincerely, but tinges of uncertainty remained. Rika couldn't blame her after the tone of how she accepted the Digimon's apology.

"I want to put things right. I want to fix my mistakes." Rika's fists clenched.

"The Priestess said that if you try to split them they will both die."

"Isn't that better? Freeing those poor girls from their prisons," Rika burst, before holding herself back. "But…I couldn't…"

"**Killing more just to fix my own mistakes doesn't sit well with me either Rika, as appalled as I am at what happened."**

Rika reluctantly nodded in agreement. She didn't want to kill…but she did dearly want to fix things. Wasn't there a way?

"If their minds are blank like the Priestess said, then they may not know to feel any pain. They could be content as they are," Renamon reasoned.

"**They may not even have consciousness…if their minds are linked that closely."**

"I also wouldn't want to think what would happen to this village without its Priestess. The barriers that are protecting us right now rely on her."

"Ugh…this village is the last place I want to be right now. But…for the others…I don't think anywhere else is safer."

"I am just hoping we're safe here. I do not want to contemplate what equipment Rayleigh now has at his disposal."

Rika nodded, frowning. "Bastard," she muttered, the word having practically become Rayleigh's surname recently.

"**This village needs us right now as much as we need them," **Harmony noted.

Renamon nodded. "Only a few of this place knew of what happened…as much as we may have a thirst for justice, it would not be fair to endanger more innocents in the process."

"Yeah," agreed Rika. "Renamon, something's been bugging me. You and the Priestess…you used to be friends…" She left the point hanging, hoping that Renamon would run with it. She wasn't sure how she would easily ask about the Digimon's past without seeming like she was being overly nosy or intruding into something that wasn't her business. As close as the pair were, something about her life before still felt off-limits. Perhaps there were other skeletons in Renamon's closet?

"Yes, we were."

Rika paused, saying nothing, but Renamon quickly picked upon her unsaid thoughts through their link.

"But I don't think we are any more. I'm not a part of this village any more – I don't think I could live here permanently. My place is with you…if…if you are willing to forgive me for my involvement in all this."

"With everything that's happened since, I could hardly say no." That was the closest to a yes she could give Renamon. As much as she knew she could instil her trust in the digital creature, how could she be so sure that there weren't other shadows in her past ready to strike, or even that she was simply giving the full story already? Why was her Renamon the only one not to follow along with the big plan?

"Thank you."

Rika nodded lightly. "My mind is drained after all this, but somehow I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight," she groaned, stretching out her arms. As if in response, a pervading blackness swept across all – the unexpected night of the Digital World. She glanced to her D-Vice for the time, but found it hard to care that it mattered. This whole world was on the blink, or maybe on the brink. If they had more time they probably would've tried to fix it, but with the number of people along for the ride they simply couldn't.

"_How long are we going to be here?" _she wondered, before sighing. _"Too long," _she answered herself, before turning to Renamon. "I guess it's time to head back inside…" _"If they haven't already murdered each other, that is."_

Renamon, seemingly sharing her apprehension, nodded.

* * *

**Jeff Newman**

* * *

"So what are we going to do?"

Jeff knew this question was on its way, and had as such had plenty of time to dread it. What could they do? No, wait…what could he do? Get the word out and risk running into trouble with his superiors, risking their ability to help (not to mention endangering their project and Willis and Michael to boot)? Hack his arse off and try to get the Tamers back from wherever they were without anyone noticing? Concede defeat?

So many uncertain factors were in the game. Not least the whereabouts of the other Tamers, and Mari. And the fact that his own government was keeping him suspiciously in the dark on everything.

Jeff flicked his eyes up to the screen, still playing out an endless Morse code message.

**HELL IS EMPTY AND ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE**

It played over and over again, once a few rounds of **GUESS WHO **had finished. A quote from Shakespeare, coupled with the previous comment and the convenient timing – no doubting who this was from.

Jeff looked back to Willis, one of the youngest members of SDCO, even if he and his friend weren't actually a part of his organisation, unlike a certain previous teen member of his group. "Rayleigh's going to play games with us whatever we try to do. The US government isn't saying anything, I've got DACE barking at me asking how we know about someone who's meant to be one of their citizens, and we might be the only hope for everyone in the Digital World to get home. Does anyone have any ideas at all?" Now was certainly not the time for one of his free-form idea meetings he used so much in his relaxed workplace, but Jeff found ideas lacking from his own mind. He was far from a military commander of a boss – and right now he needed all the help he could get.

Still, some of his colleagues looked rather disheartened by the lack of his leadership. The irony was, he had a lot more to lose by being a leader than they would in his absence. If everything went down the pan, it would be his neck for the chop, and he knew that could be rather more literal with his government than he preferred.

"Maybe we need to look at this from a different angle," Michael suggested. The two Tamers (or at least, 'Projects') were gathered with him and Lindsay (aka 'Daisy') in the canteen, cans of soda by the teens. "We've still got plenty of resources on our side."

Lindsay nodded. "Curley and Babel should be here soon, and I wouldn't exactly say this building was ill-equipped."

"So long as our government doesn't shut us down," Jeff added, sighing. "There's only so long I can leave off replying to DACE too." It wasn't like he could just out-and-out lie either. This fledging community of Digimon surveillance agencies had to work together and trust each other if they were going to defend their world – that was his strongly-held belief. If it was found out that they were lying, everything could be ruined – who would trust each other? Sure, they could simply not mention things, but not replying when asked was a whole different matter: the difference between a lie and a white lie, in fact.

He glanced to Lindsay briefly. Something made him speculate that Hypnos had been lying for a while. But, given they were the original source of all this technology and style of operation, trust barely mattered to them.

"We've got our Digimon too."

Lindsay's head perked up at Willis' words, as Jeff realised there was something he had rather forgotten to mention to the two boys. In any other circumstance, Jeff's hand would've promptly gone to his forehead, but all right now he could manage was a mental _"oops."_

"You have your own Digimon?"

"Yeah…I mean, they're not yet ours, but the project is on its way," Michael explained. Daisy's head swung round, her narrowed eyes fixed on Jeff's.

"I wasn't aware your project had developed that far."

"Well, our research is fairly advanced," Jeff admitted, feeling caught. It was strange, no matter how much he grew up, the feeling of being caught red-handed was exactly the same as when he was caught feeding the school hamster paint in Kindergarten. Maybe it was simply one of the most basic of human feelings. "We managed to acquire some suitable Digimon samples recently and have been undergoing tests. So far, we have not had much to write on."

"Ah," Lindsay sounded unconvinced. "I hadn't heard a word of this – last time I checked you were having trouble with the D-Arcs, even with my help."

"Let's just say, we were hoping to establish some concrete findings first," Jeff tapped his nose.

Lindsay chuckled. "I don't work for Hypnos Jeff, I'm more of a freelancer, so like I'm going to tattle-tale. Just, last time I checked, your government was still having trouble moving beyond the idea that guns were best, but now you're telling me you have actual Digimon?"

"Yeah. We managed to capture a few recent bioemergences, and since then we've just been testing to see how we can 'attach' them to Tamers."

"Where are they?"

"Securely kept in the labs downstairs," Jeff said, even if he knew from experience that the word 'secure' rarely meant what it was defined as.

"Well, then worst comes to worst, at least we can fight our way out," Michael noted, planting a fist on the table. "Not that I want to do that though."

"Where would we go?" Willis mused, pointing out the issues in his friend's scheme. At least, Jeff suspected they were friends, and not mere colleagues. In the hubbub of the project, he had merely hoped that relationships would develop to bind the group of artificial Tamers together – or, at least, to avoid them having a spat with each other, like so many at this age were prone to do from time to time. That would hardly look right in the eyes of the government, even if it were natural.

"Fifty states worth of police forces, the most advanced military in the world and security at airports tightened again and again over the past few years," Jeff mused. "You've got no chance. Apart from jumping the border to Mexico or Canada, that is, which means that's the first place they'd watch out for you, if you could even reach it with a monster and a few dollars in tow."

"I think my mom would have something against me hitchhiking to my summer home in Colorado," Willis noted. "Seems like our best bet is sticking with you guys."

"As if I'm not already being tracked down by Rayleigh," Lindsay mused with a thin line of a mouth, before her phone began to buzz, seemingly in agreement. She reached for it, tension on the air, and flicked it open. "Hello?"

A pause, before a slight smile, and a sigh of relief in all.

"I'll get Jeff to clear you past security," she said, before smiling and hanging up.

"Two more Monster Makers. Let's just hope it makes all the difference," Jeff mused, reaching for his cellphone to make the call down to reception.

* * *

**Natsuki Takara**

* * *

"I am aware that there has been an upset in the village about it, yes."

"But do you understand why it's so…off?"

"Off? I am afraid I do not understand what you mean."

"You kidnapped humans to reach your mega forms."

The Kuzuhamon tilted her head ever so slightly at the far shorter brunette girl in front of her, standing up strong regardless of the size difference. "Kidnapped?" Far from a loud ungainly conversation, the tones were surprisingly normal and calm as the pair spoke in one of the village's many passageways. Nearby, a blonde perched on a step, watching the conversation intently with a cautious wonder.

"I mean you took them against their will," Jeri explained. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"I was under the impression that my child was unhappy with her life. She would exhibit signs of sadness at night, and she seemed to be alone all the time. I took her away from all that."

For most, the detachment and misunderstanding would simply cause anger and aggravation. Yet, somehow, Natsuki saw the exact opposite in Jeri…she seemed almost…caring.

"Did water come from her eyes?"

"Yes, in fact it did."

"We call that crying."

"Have you ever…cried?"

"Yes…yes…so much…" Jeri's eyes swarmed downwards, and she bit her lip. Natsuki, for the first time, found herself praying for one of those moments, a random moment where she heard another person's thoughts, but the unusual ability failed to manifest for once. "But I never wanted to end it all." _"Well, maybe not never." _The thought came too late, and painfully.

"Surely the ending of suffering is a good thing? The girl I saw…she found a small yellow and black creature next to a window, squirming. She said it seemed to have lost a leg, and decided to 'put it out of its misery'. She killed it. Surely there is no difference?"

"It's not that simple," Jeri replied, yet her pause made it clear to her observer from nearby that she was finding it tricky to explain away discrepancies in human actions. And yet, Natsuki still found it admirable that she tried. She herself couldn't explain or forgive most of what humanity did…she found herself a cynic in reality, seeing humans kill one another in pointless wars before returning home to be nearly as murderous to each other in peacetime.

"I see that you are unsure yourself. But being right or wrong is based on position, and as you feel that I am wrong, I feel I have wronged you and your species too. Even so, do you appreciate our position when we took this move?"

"I do…but…it still wasn't fair to bring these poor girls into it," Jeri sighed, looking down to the ground. "Can I try and talk to her?"

Natsuki raised an eyebrow, surprised by the suggestion, yet the Kuzuhamon surprisingly did not. She nodded.

"Do you remember her name?"

"It…it was something like…Melanie…yes, Melanie."

"Melanie…I see." Clearly, this Kuzuhamon was responsible enough to at least bother to remember the poor girl who she had taken the life of, even when the Priestess of the village had not seen it as important. Jeri angled her eyes downwards to the mid-section of the warrior Digimon, yet thanks to her height she was still not actually looking down. "Melanie, can you hear me? Melanie, I'm here to help!" she called out loud, shouting towards the Digimon's torso as loud as she could. She went to reach out, before pausing. "Can I?" she asked up to the Kuzuhamon, who nodded, allowing the girl to plant her hand on the Digimon's belly. "Hello?" she called, her voice desperate for a response.

Once again, Natsuki was impressed by the lengths Jeri was going to, even when the Priestess had made it clear that the girls inside were essentially mindless now. Everyone else had accepted that it seemed, and resigned to talk in their rooms, but Jeri had continued on with the blonde following simply out of having nowhere else to go. She had had to talk around a bit first to find even a Kuzuhamon or Sakuyamon to try and reason with; many of the mega level Renamon and DarkRenamon involved in the project seemed completely unwilling to talk, and it had taken her a while to find this one, one who seemed slightly more wise and mature. Even so, the stance she held and the slight spring in her step made it clear she was still a fighter, and Natsuki saw Elecmon watching on from next to her with guarding eyes.

"Melanie," Jeri stood intently for a moment, hand resting still on the Digimon, before even she had to admit defeat. She stepped back, sighing and looking up at Kuzuhamon. "Sorry."

"I am fine with it," the Digimon seemed nonplussed – so much for invading personal space. "I heard whisperings about the conversation of one of your Tamers with the Priestess earlier. I would like to know…would you rather the girl within my form be free at the cost of my existence?"

Jeri shook her head without a moment's pause. "No…losing one life for the sake of another is what caused this situation to begin with, and I don't want to see any more pain," she insisted. "You're nice too…none of your friends would help. Still, I'm just really glad that some of you remember the girls now…I mean, no-one will be able to forget them after this, will they?"

The Kuzuhamon nodded. "The Priestess tried to cover up everything on the orders of her predecessor, and I do not blame her. The old Priestess was so respected by all of us, and I completely understand that her successor would not want to let down her wishes, even if she did not explain them. So please do not be too harsh with her…she is only new. Everyone in this village is already critical of her, and no-one really gives her a chance. I knew her back in the old days…she was so sweet…so naïve…such a child…I think she is still like that on the inside." The Kuzuhamon's voice was softened, and reflective, as her eyes tilted up to an unseen distance. "A child forced to grow up too soon."

"_I know the feeling," _Jeri sadly mused, the words reaching Natsuki's mind without passing through her ears. As disturbing as the mind-reading phenomenon was at first, she found herself oddly…appreciating it. "Do you want to do anything?" She stared over the girl who had impressed her so much that day so far, having a conversation with someone that was far more powerful than her. Height alone, Natsuki would've been… "Natsuki?"

The blonde snapped to attention, realising she was being talked to. "Sorry, was a bit…yeah."

"Do you want to do anything?" Jeri asked, now standing right in front of Natsuki. The Kuzuhamon had gone, and Elecmon was back on Jeri's head.

"Yeah, but the past few hours have put a stop to that," Natsuki said, sighing and looking sadly to the air. "I thought I was beginning to enjoy this…I could feel that maybe there was something to this Digital World thing when I got here…but no…now I just want to crawl into a hole and pretend none of this happened."

Jeri reached out her hand. "Come on. I know it's depressing, but we have to pick ourselves up and not let it get to us. Things will always work out for the best in the end I'm sure." How could she still be so optimistic? Everything she had just tried had failed.

Natsuki took her hand, and wished she could somehow take some more of the girl. A bit of optimism and happiness would've been nice in her life. The giddiness of Digital Watch, like being a rabid fan of a celeb, had gone completely, and was shallow to start with. Without that distraction, everything else that bugged her in her life had just come crashing down. "How do you stay so upbeat Jeri?"

The girl had been beginning to walk away and was starting to pull Natsuki with her, but the question stopped her in her tracks and made her look back to the blonde. "I've seen what it's like to hit rock bottom…I know what it does to those around you…how much it hurts them. Even if you bottle it up, they know, and it hurts. You have to be open with people, and let blows glance off you, or you'll never survive in a life like this. Maybe any life."

"What happened?"

Jeri looked into the girl's blue eyes, but diverted away quickly with a frown.

"You just need to get your mind off of things. Now come on, let's go see the others. Once you get to know them, you'll be a lot happier," her voice began to chirp and be lyrical again, and that sadness seemed to have been pushed right down.

Natsuki would've pressed on how the girl had so blatantly changed the subject, were it not for that ever-so-brief look straight into her eyes. All that it held. All that it was.

Pain.

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

"Et voila." Unlike a French chef, however, no passion was held by the boy's voice as the final cup was perched atop a triangular tower of polystyrene cups, stretching seven rows across at the bottom and reducing by one each row at a time. "Pascal would be proud," he noted in the same unenthusiastic tone, before uncaringly pushing the tower to the ground with a sweep of a palm.

His hands set to work again, appreciating the quiet corner of the hall the food had been laid out for them in. A few of the Tamers came in to grab things, and Terriermon and Guilmon were regular visitors, even commenting on his presence from time to time in a sarcastic and curious manner respectively, but not a single villager appeared when there wasn't more food to lay. Even the humans kept their head low and returned to their dwellings quickly. An elephant, bigger than any before, hung over the village and kept all to near-silence, yet Ryder found the peace perfect for nursing his stuffed mind.

Even if at first he was simply curious why there were plastic cups in such a traditional village. The place felt more like a village hall than an Eden-like paradise. Perched on a table at the back of the room and having stolen all the polystyrene cups around (and hence getting evil glares from the Renardmon whose duty it was to replace them), he began to make productive use of the objects.

Or wanted to, but ended up making simply a very large tower, this time vertically. He frowned. Each cup slotted into each other, making the tower disappointingly small, and as he went to try a different tack, he simply found himself sighing again.

"_Maybe if I just keep doing random and idiotic things like this I'll wake up out of this dream already. Or whatever it is," _he mused. Staring at the cups, he paused, before climbing from his seat. He rushed over to the long buffet of food, took a single grape, and returned promptly to his pile, ignoring the confused gaze of Terriermon who by now had simply deigned to talk to him. The absence of anyone like Henry having come to try and see what was up meant that either they were too transfixed on dealing with their newfound revelation to really care about the antics of their British friend, or, more likely, that Terriermon had simply decided not to say.

Lifting a random cup in his tower and trying not to pay too much attention to which one it was, he placed the grape inside and then replaced the cup. He flipped the tower over, took the top half and put it on the bottom, took less of the bottom half to the top, and generally began cycling through the tower in the manner of a madman, meanwhile hoping that the grape wouldn't simply drop out in the process and ruin his game. When he was finally satisfied that an infinite improbability drive would, thanks to its nature, easily find the grape, he put down the tower again, dearly hoping that he would too.

"Nothing like a bit of knowledge-I-shouldn't-know to prove this is all a dream," he noted, and stared over the tower for a moment. He found himself briefly wondering who had stolen his sanity, and whether they'd be willing to return it in exchange for either the few hundred pounds' worth of yen in his bank account (should it not have already been raided by Rayleigh, of course) or a real-life dragon. The latter had to be worth something on eBay, surely?

He reached out, separating the tower at one point.

Grape.

"It could be luck…couldn't it? I've always had weird luck…punishing, annoying, stupid luck…or maybe it's just the retcon powers working alone…" he mused. Nothing was concrete proof now. He collapsed back on a chair, but not without wondering just how many times it would take him of beating himself over the head with it before a lovely grip of death gave him another fantasy and another hint at his future. He suspected he wouldn't be able to take the pain, and also that it'd be rather hard to undertake the final blow. Maybe stacking him up and knocking them down on him…

"It's still bugging you," MiniDonmon announced, perching himself atop the tower and eating the grape.

"What was your first clue?" Ryder replied dryly, knocking the tower over. "And why did you dedigivolve?"

"I'll tell you why I _didn't_ dedigivolve…"

"To spy on DarkRenamon to ensure that her crush on Renardmon from ye olde times doesn't go too far?"

"Definitely not that. She's talking to Mari anyway."

"Yeah, so obviously not that at all. Seriously, between you and Terriermon waging the quietest cold war in history over her, I really can't believe you didn't expect this to happen at some point."

"Yeah…well…"

"Oh who am I kidding, I can't really talk about being so obsessed with relationships and stuff that I take my eye off the ball. Still…I have to say just one thing to you."

"Which is?"

"D'awwwwww…."

"Patronising git."

"Yeah, plus I'm insane too. First I made a building, then I made a tower of Pascal, and now I'm pissing about with probability. Want to play the cups game? We can bet on it."

"You feel guilty, don't you?"

"Wouldn't you if you knew that something would happen?"

"But you didn't know. You just speculated. Didn't everyone?"

"Yeah, but there were so many clues. And now…now I'm realising all these things I could tell them…all that I know from the series. I didn't even get to the end of it," he pushed his hand through his hair, sighing in frustration. He had grown used to knowing what they had done in the past from the TV series, and particularly for those of the Adventure and 02 series that was pretty normal for them. But with Dimensions…he had never even considered just how many little hints there were in its development that could lead to events like this. Renamon's guilt…the Angels and everything…

Was he in the series now? The more he thought about it, the less realistic it seemed, and the more he was convinced this had to be a dream. The Angels were the most important clue – no way could Digimon Dimensions just feature a hint about Angels and Demons coming in the future only for him to end up in its world and be one.

"MiniDonmon…my ideas of what's possible and what's not have taken a hit lately. But…there's reality, and then there's insanity. I'm used to both happening. But some things are just too improbable, just too far removed…impossible…they're like a whole different grouping," he mused, his mind unconsciously shifting the cups around the large table erratically, placing them one by one back upright and on their own.

"Ryder…what do you mean?"

Ryder turned to his friend, but a something, just a something, made him stop in his tracks, and instead look down at the arrangement of cups in front of him.

**29**

That's what they read. **29**. A simple pair of numbers, but one which pushed him just that little bit too far.

"Just stop it right now!" he hissed in anger, pushing the table up and over before MiniDonmon's shocked eyes, several dozen polystyrene cups crushed beneath its weight while others rolled freely away. He breathed deeply afterwards, trying to control himself. Looking over to the other side of the room, there was no-one.

"Ryder?" MiniDonmon sounded startled, as his Tamer bent down to right the object. "Ryder? What the heck is wrong?"

"Everything here…everything is so…so…ugh…" Ryder pushed the table back upright, before leaning on it, appreciating so much that there was no-one else in the room to hear or see it. The Renardmon would definitely get at him now for destroying so many of his precious cups.

"What does 'ugh' mean Ryder?"

"Fake!"

"Fake?"

Ryder sat down onto the table, not saying anything to his partner for a moment as the Digimon gave him pause. This was the same Donmon. It had to be. Didn't it? Or was it just such a perfect reproduction? The real Donmon couldn't be into his dreams, not into a coma.

"This is a dream MiniDonmon."

"Huh? A dream? Your dreams must be bloody different to mine."

"A stupidly lucid dream. Right now, all I know is that I'm lying in a hospital bed in some godforsaken NHS hospital fighting for my life."

"Huh?"

"When I died earlier…when I died, I had another dream. But this one was real…really, really, real. Realer than this. I was floating around the hospital…"

"How is that more real than this?"

Ryder ignored his partner. "Ivy was there…she was by my bedside." His head sunk. "She cried for me to wake up…I was comatose. All the words she said, all the things we've seen her do in this world…I think it's just my twisted mind interpreting what my senses are telling me is going on around me back home."

"I'm sorry, but what?"

"How else do you explain it, huh? My dream girl, dancing around as beautiful as the day I imagined her. All the people from my favourite TV show. Me an Angel for Christ's sake!"

"Wait, so you don't think this is real? That I'm real?"

"I…" Ryder's anger paused, and he retracted his blows. "I don't know."

"That's it, isn't it? You think I'm some hallucination now."

"No, it's not…that…not exactly." Since when was MiniDonmon taking lessons from Mari on guilt-tripping him?

"I am real Ryder, I'm telling you that. I know I'm real. I remember everything, from before and right up to now."

"But the dream you _would_. The dream you would _want_ to keep me in this state, by convincing me this is all real. Don't you see? There's no way of proving whether this is all real or not."

"Unless you wake up."

Ryder's eyes gleamed with a curious enthusiasm as he cupped a fist. "Exactly."

"Then what would happen to me Ryder? What about Mari? DarkRenamon? Would they all die?"

The boy's brunette eyes sank downwards in guilt, not wanting to look at his partner. "I don't know…I just don't know MiniDonmon."

"You know we would."

"I…I…have to at least test it."

"What, so you want to burn down the house to check if the smoke detectors work?"

"What else can I do MiniDonmon? Seriously. Because I really am running out of options here. Everything in this world is getting more and more twisted, and I'm getting twisted up in it. I want answers or I'm going to go insane. Ivy's cryptic bullshit doesn't help, and neither do these random occurrences that make no sense."

"Do something that you've never done before."

"See, now I thought of that, but I've done too much of it. I died, for starters. And let's see, I biomerged with you, I kissed a girl, I've felt a stream of time, _and_ I've gone to places I've never gone to before…how was I meant to know what any of that felt like?"

"But then…doesn't that mean you are alive? This _is_ real Ryder – please just believe it…please. I want to be real!"

Ryder paused, feeling that same guilt sweep over him again. He was practically planning to murder this entire world just for his own selfish gains. But if they were figments of his own imagination, did it matter? There'd be a real MiniDonmon lurking back home, after all.

"I don't feel alive."

"I don't know, just do something that makes you feel alive then," MiniDonmon seemed just as confused as he did, yet one clear message shone through. "Just…please…don't risk it all. Even if I'm not real…I like being me. I like this world Ryder. I mean, I miss everyone at home, but I like it here. Don't you? I mean, you said Mari was your dream girl – why aren't you enjoying that?"

"I do…I really do…I love Mari so much, and I don't think she always knows that. But…you know me…you know who I am…at least, I think you do. If you're really MiniDonmon, you'll know that when there's a mystery, I won't rest until I've solved it. I need to solve it or I'll sleep even less at night than I do now."

"Momentai."

Ryder's heart skipped a beat, before he breathed a sigh of relief at the realisation it was just his own partner comforting him. "MiniDonmon…I worried we were being spied on," he noted, as the Digimon fluttered up onto his head.

"No more keeping things from me, okay? We're partners Ryder…I let you know what's bugging me. I'm the only other being in the entire world that knows just as much about what's going on as you do…we have to stick together."

"My thoughts exactly," Ryder replied, nodding to his partner. _"And that's what worries me the most…"_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N: **Apologies for the extremely long delay this time. Between school heating up (tons of final exams in the next two months), being stuck in Iceland thanks to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano (we were on a field trip to study tectonics too!) and a nasty case of writer's block, I wasn't able to get as much done as I'd hoped. But, unfortunately, as my time is stretched further and further by exam revision, expect me to take a while to get chapters out until at least the end of June. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, a bit less active than the previous one but still hopefully with its fair share of items of interest, not least the project by SDCO. Oh, and keep a lot of what's going on right now in mind – it'll pay off in the future, trust me, hehe.

Until next time…

B.C.


	35. Phase Two: Checkmates

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

**Phase Two**

_Checkmates_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Mako Terada**

* * *

"Guilmon's going to be so sad," Ai mused, as Mako picked up a piece of dusted rubble from the littered ground. The hideout was gone.

It was a sad destination for their long adventure, an adventure mostly on foot, as they headed for the one place they knew would be at the centre of it all. And it was. But, apart from the fact that 'something' had happened here and destroyed everything, they did not know what had transpired.

"And there's no sign of Impmon either," Mako added, that childish optimism gone as the blows of what was happening hit him close to home. All this way, he'd held a hope that maybe Impmon was waiting to be rescued. But even if he was, where would he be?

"Do you remember where any of the other Tamers live?"

"Takato owns that bakery…I love their bread. But I don't know where it is…"

"I thought boys were meant to have a sense of direction."

"Do you know where to go then?"

"No…" Ai looked saddened. "Mako, we can't fight…Impmon needs our help."

"What do we do then?"

Ai looked to the purple-ringed D-Arc in her hand, her thumb navigating its holographic menus, but from the look on her face alone Mako could tell it wasn't giving her any answers.

"Mom's going to kill us," Mako mused, hanging his head in disappointment. "We didn't even find Impmon."

"Ryota, over here," called a voice from down the slope, the young boy swinging his head round to see the unmistakable form of a police officer, waving down the path to his colleague. A slightly shorter man swung into view, eyes set on the boy and his sister.

"Ai, it's the police!"

"Hey, you! Stay there!" he called, the pair quickly advancing on the two children.

"Mom said police are nice. Maybe they'll help us?" Ai suggested, Mako feeling some uncertainty at the suggestion. When they'd dress up in uniforms from their toy box, they'd always boss people around. They'd lock up the bad guys, and sometimes each other. They were the proud and noble good guys.

So why were some soldiers in uniform shouting at their mom and dad earlier?

"Ai, I'm worried about this," he said out loud.

"What are your names?" asked the shorter police officer, his expression sterner than his colleague.

"Ai."

"Mako."

They did as their parents had always told them. Policemen were good. Weren't they?

"Well, where are your parents then, Ai and Mako?" the first policeman asked.

"You shouldn't be here," the shorter (both in height and temper, seemingly) policeman insisted. Ai and Mako refrained from saying. They'd run away from home: their mom and dad would be mad at them. They didn't want them to find out.

The kinder policeman smiled a reassuring smile. "Your parents might be worried if you're in this area. There's been some problems, you see, and you kids might not be safe here."

"We were looking for Impmon."

"Impmon? A Digimon?"

"Oh fantastic…this is going to be way more complicated than I can be bothered to deal with," grumbled the other officer.

"They're only kids Ryota, mind your language." The officer bent down to their level. "Now, how about we get you back to your mom and dad, okay you two? Where might they be?"

The children still refused to reply, looking each other in the eye. This man was kind…but he wanted to take them back home. They still had to save Impmon.

"Ai and Mako Terada, correct?" asked Ryota, diverting the conversation as Mako found him looking at a PDA.

"Yes Mr Policeman," Ai said, clearly not realising that they were getting themselves into.

"What's up?" the other policeman asked his colleague, before Ryota turned his PDA around to face him. A frown grasped his face as he read whatever was upon its screen.

"Special orders."

* * *

"I'm so glad you're safe!" their mother cried as they were pushed through the door to their home. "Don't you ever do anything like that again!" She grasped them both in a tight and inescapable hug.

"Thank you ever so much. Where did you find them?" their father asked from above. Mako squirmed, he wanted to be out there again, but for the past half hour they'd been captured and weren't about to be set free.

The kinder policeman was doing the talking, while his colleague sat a short way away in his cruiser. "Shinjuku Park. Naoyuki Itou, by the way," he noted, putting out his hand to shake. "Unfortunately, I am going to have to caution you. These two, and yourselves, are currently on a special list thanks to all this Digimon business. The order was asking for worse than this, but I didn't have the heart to lock these two up. I don't know what's going on up at HQ, but orders are orders, and so I think you had better keep them under close watch for now."

"We will. Thank you for bringing them back to us," their mother said, finally letting them free. The policeman in front of the door, however, left them no room to get past. "You're a good man."

"Thank you," Naoyuki nodded, bowing before turning to leave down their garden path. He paused. "Listen, you two…if I hear anything about any Impmon, I'll let you guys know and make sure we send him your way."

That made Mako feel slightly better. "Okay," he and Ai chirped, before quickly adding "thank you" after a cough from their mother.

But somehow, he still felt like it would make no difference. He turned to his sister, a frown passing between them.

They'd failed. And Impmon was still out there. Somewhere.

* * *

**Kazu Shioda**

* * *

"If you screw this up, you'll have me to answer to!" growled Impmon, glaring into Kazu's eyes. Around him, his whole group of humans and Digimon looked intently on, counting on him to do this right. This was their ticket home.

Hopefully.

"_What the hell? I didn't even do anything yet, and they're already getting at me," _he mentally sighed, looking aside to Guardromon. "You ready buddy?"

Guardromon raised an arm, the end of a long length of wire attached to it. "Certainly."

And what was at the other end of this bit of wire, you may ask? Well, it led all the way down from his hand to the meadow's grass, across the ground and through into the depths of the town of Bolton, up the side of the transmitter tower, and onto its exposed top. It was a job in itself to manage that, but this was an even tougher task.

Above, the edge of the brass funnel shone in the sunlight, but the endless tinkle of the water against its surfaces was a constant reminder of the storm raging above.

"You will find the dish has steel bars supporting it on the top. You need to attach that wire tightly to one of them or it will not receive a signal properly," Sorcerymon told them. "I wish you the best of luck."

"I'll make sure he doesn't mess up."

Kazu looked to Ayaka in surprise, as she grasped the wire off him. As he opened his mouth to speak.

"Water, electricity, flying and you? That's the worst combination ever invented, but if it has to be you and Guardromon welding it in place, I'm going to have to make sure you don't kill yourself in the process."

"I'll be fine, you know?"

"I'm so sure of that," Ayaka said sarcastically, standing next to Guardromon's outstretched arm. "Now let's fly," she said, tapping his arm. Guardromon looked to his Tamer, clearly awaiting confirmation that this was the new plan.

"Fine," Kazu said, wandering over to the other arm, as both arms locked around the two humans. "Just keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times."

"Dumbass."

"You love it really," Kazu insisted, sticking out his tongue as Guardromon's jets ignited.

"Unfortunately," Ayaka sighed, before squirming as the Digimon took to the air. Kazu chuckled at the sight, but quickly restrained it upon being glared at.

They soared upwards, the vast town coming into view as a whole briefly before the funnel obscured it again. Looking down, Kazu saw all of his friends looking up, dearly hoping for their success.

This was the plan: if they couldn't get enough of a signal, let alone bandwidth, by simply using the transmitter as it stood, they just had to make the signal better. They would use the funnel as a huge conductor, going by Kazu's principle of 'bigger is better' and some more reasoned ideas from Jaarin about conductivity. Of course, this was the Digital World, so none of them were entirely sure that electricity worked the same way, but anything was worth a shot now.

"And this is our floor," Kazu announced, pausing to take in the vast sight that awaited above. A storm raged, a hefty storm, one that looked so bizarre compared to the blinding and beautiful sunlight around it. It focused almost perfectly on the interior of the dish, great streams of water pouring down its seamless sides and curving away into nothing as they dove down the tube into the power station itself. The same power station whose electricity was both powering an entire town and the weather machine that was creating this very storm itself. Even Kazu could tell that didn't make too much sense, a combination of an episode of Digimon Adventure and some lessons from Mrs Asagi (although how he had learnt them he hadn't a clue – during physics his main focus was on the forces acting on a paper airplane in hitting its given target) tugging at the back of his mind. Certainly though, he knew one thing…

He turned round to his left, seeing Ayaka staring, hypnotised, over the surface of the dish, hand still clutching that cable as a little spark of electricity arced across its top with a cackle, the noise a stark contrast to the streaming water so close by. As if in response, a lightning bolt crashed down from the sky straight into the dish, further sparks dissipating over its surface.

…electricity and water didn't make for happy bedfellows. "Regretting this yet?"

As Ayaka gripped the cable more tightly, her confident expression loosened. Even so, she was still stubborn to the last. "Of course. Let's just get this done with so we can go home."

* * *

**Mari Flynn**

* * *

"They chose only the best, and I didn't count. I was so low down in the class it was a miracle if Taijimon would waste a second of his sight on me. Even Yggdrasil pretended I was special just to use me. Our great former God would tell me that I was some form of unique being for turning my back on this place…"

There was a flare in DarkRenamon's eyes, one that made Mari instantly feel regret for raising the subject. She was reopening old wounds for the Digimon, the Digimon who had had such a life before she became her partner.

"You're special now though," Mari tried to reassure, putting her arm around her partner's back, the wing-like extrusions of fur from her back gently stroking her skin as she did so. The dark vixen didn't look her straight in the eye at first, instead looking out beyond the step on which they stood, the step of their current abode, along the quiet street and to the vast temple beyond, lit up in the night by bright lights within and unseen spotlights. Like a diamond amongst coal, a luxurious mansion in a shantytown.

"Maybe that's why we can't be psychic…" DarkRenamon's eyes finally flicked back to Mari, and she could detect the faintest hint of sadness in the Digimon's voice. But with a Renamon, anything faint was strong indeed. "Maybe I needed to train more…to learn more…they picked Rika's Renamon."

"That's ridiculous," Mari dismissed it without a thought. She didn't want to consider the possibility, even if right now there was as much evidence going for it as anything else.

"I didn't even finish my training." DarkRenamon held up a paw, grimacing ever so subtly. "Just that slight bit too clumsy…" she mocked herself. "Maybe I'm lacking in other ways too."

Mari interjected quickly, hoping to throw her partner off a spiral of shame. "What if it's just biomerging? Maybe we need to biomerge first." Her finger pointed to her head and to the Kitsune's. "Link our minds…that's what we need…"

DarkRenamon's eyes locked onto hers, the forced enthusiasm for an alternative subsiding in Mari's with every second, before she too sunk into a frown. But DarkRenamon, oddly, didn't, raising her paws before pausing.

"Can I?"

"What are you planning to do?" Mari asked, involuntarily shifting herself back slightly as the Digimon moved into her personal space with her paws, held a fair distance apart to either side in front of her. Something unnerved her, and she felt unable to trust the Digimon… _"Maybe that's our problem…"_

DarkRenamon shifted around to fully face her partner. "Put your hands on my head," she asked. Mari hesitated, trying to understand, before finally nodding. She raised her hands, and felt paws softly land on her temples. She tried to do the same to the same position on DarkRenamon, touching her fingers across the sides of her head.

They looked into each other's eyes, before DarkRenamon gripped hers shut. Mari did the same, if only because she desperately hoped that would help.

Nothing. Nothing came.

"_DarkRenamon. Can you hear me? Does it work? Is this working?"_

"_T…ot…"_

"Mari…DarkRenamon…are you two alright?" came a new voice from the darkness, and Mari opened her eyes. They flicked from the look of disappointment on DarkRenamon's face straight over to Sora's eyes, the girl looking on from the nearby path with Biyomon in tow.

"_How to explain?" _Mari wondered, mentally sighing. As much as she hoped it was just the mere interruption that messed up their experiment, she knew it made no difference. They couldn't seem to build a proper psychic link This was just another failed experiment. "Yeah, we're fine. Anything going on that we're missing?" she asked, wanting to change the subject if she could.

Thankfully, Sora seemed willing to comply. Maybe she thought they were simply insane already, and thus could easily explain away such an occurrence. "Everyone seems really down about all this. Tai wanted to get out of here and go hunt for the Sovereigns, but…I don't want to put my mom through that. It was hard enough to get here."

Biyomon nodded. "I don't know what we'd do even if we found the Sovereigns. If we went home, we would just get caught."

"Hold on, one second…Sovereigns?" Mari asked, knowing she'd heard the term before but never really having had it explained to her.

DarkRenamon looked to her, once again showing her all the knowledge she'd acquired well before they met, and even further before they became partners. "You know how the Digital World is split into four Regions?"

Mari nodded, before her partner began to lightly scratch her nails across the floorboards of the steps upon which they sat, forming a diamond with four quadrants within.

"The Digimon Sovereigns are a group of mega level Digimon, and they each rule over one quadrant. Baihumon, the Tiger, rules the North, Ebonwumon, the Tortoise, rules the West, Azulongmon, the Dragon, rules the East, and Zhuqiaomon rules here, the Southern Region, where we are. I used to live here, in the centre, in Yggdrasil's apex, but it's all destroyed now."

"Oh. So we'd go to see Zhuqiaomon then?"

"Zhuqiaomon hates humans," Biyomon shook her head and explained.

DarkRenamon nodded. "When I got my body back from Yggdrasil, Chaos destroyed the Apex to free the four Sovereigns imprisoned inside. Yggdrasil was so mad with power and the idea of being the only god that he imprisoned any rivals. But even after that, I don't exactly remember Zhuqiaomon being grateful or anything, and he still hates humans."

Mari groaned. If it wasn't one thing it was another. "Great…remind me again why we had to land in this Region?"

* * *

**Lindsay Campbell**

* * *

A hand bashed into the computer monitor. "He's changed the whole security system for Hypnos!" grumbled a voice, as depressed sighs came from all those around. Trying their own Hypnos passwords hadn't worked, and wouldn't have allowed them very deep access in any case. But even trying to crack the existing system hadn't worked, and for the three Monster Makers now gathered around the PC with distraught faces, that meant only one thing.

"We need as much caffeine as we can get," summarised Curly, better known to people nowadays as Rai Aishuwarya, a hand forced up her brown hair in frustration.

"I forgot how much flying took it out of me," agreed Babel, better known as Christopher Newton, the man by the PC. Even having only been in the room for the better part of an hour, they had left plenty of evidence of their presence, the sun slowly rising in the windows outside to reveal both a magnificent city and a number of phones and assorted portable gadgets, scattered around the desk amongst scrawled notes.

"We'll need to sort out breakfast soon too," Lindsay noted.

"When does our regular place open?" Rai asked.

"Half six," Babel noted, his phone already in his hand before Lindsay could answer with her own, memorised response. And yet, even so, all she could think about was how much she missed this. They were missing half the gang, yes, but even working with just one other would up the entertainment from this often thankless work tenfold. "It's coming up to six now."

"Do you think they do early deliveries?" the Indian woman wondered.

"Depends on what you guys in quantum theory have decided time is this week," Christopher replied, chuckling to himself before returning his phone to the desk. "But still…we need to get serious now. What's the plan, Dais?" he asked, spinning around on his chair to the blonde and leaving her suddenly on the spot.

"Well…" Lindsay erred. "Depending on how far Jeff is willing to go with this, I'd like to try hacking into this new password system. I don't think we have too many other options, and if it is a choice between this and getting arrested, I say we at least try to get ourselves out of this."

"Amen. But I am telling you in advance that I am not looking forward to this…we don't even have the faintest clue what sort of password system this is."

"I doubt he's using 1234," Rai noted.

"Rayleigh seems like the kind of cold blooded bastard to have set a sadistic password though," Chris suggested with a grimace.

Lindsay frowned. "If we knew him better, we could have a hope."

"Yeah, but why do I have a hunch that all the info we'd need for that is on the other side of this password?"

"He already knows we're after him too. He'll try and cover his tracks," Rai suggested.

"Or he'll leave them wide open to mock us. I never liked that guy."

"You never had the pleasure of meeting him either," Lindsay said sarcastically. "The Japanese government recruited a cocky imbecile, and then promoted him to one of the highest offices."

"Let's hope he gets an extremely extended leave when this is all over," said Curly, frowning.

"Yeah. But just in case he doesn't, I feel like we should fiddle with his pay scale and HR profile while we're in their computers…" Babel suggested with a mischievous grin.

"_Oh dear," _Daisy mentally sighed. But as fingers went back to keyboard, she smiled lightly, as the excitement returned once again…

* * *

**Henry Wong**

* * *

A world away, more fingers tapped away, dancing across the QWERTY keyboard on Izzy's laptop as naturally as one would walk or talk. Practically everyone in the room lived and breathed technology. Yet, the user was far from the short geeky redhead usually in charge – instead, the hands belonged to a blonde stern-faced man, the head of one of the most important Digital Monster organisations on Earth. Hopefully that was still the case, at least.

"Different security system, and barely any resources," Yamaki evaluated their position, turning to look up to Janyuu, using a PDA and a mobile phone together. He frowned, but nodded.

"It's pretty dire, I agree."

Henry watched events play out from where he leant against a nearby wall. The bizarre and amusing sight of geeks rationed to so few items of technology (clutching them as if they were precious metals) as they had brought with them had already been commented on by the dog-bunny on his shoulder.

"Have we tried every account you use to store files, Shibumi?" Riley asked. Henry knew that this was far from a silly question. Shibumi was such an enigma, and could easily have done anything without the rest of his friends or colleagues knowing.

The man, surprisingly, nodded. "He's taken it all down. It's like he's had someone watching over my shoulder this whole time. Even my accounts on random universities all over the world have lost everything," he pushed his hand through his hair. "All my code. Thank God for physical backups."

"Shame they're in a whole different world right now," Tally sighed.

"Do we even have a chance at cracking this security system?" asked the former Chief Cabinet Secretary, Eiichi.

"Give us a million years and a RAM upgrade, and maybe we could," Janyuu complained, before turning his head to Izzy, currently making notes on a piece of paper, a rather old fashioned method but enough to let him get out whatever random ideas he could conceive. "No offence to your laptop."

The redhead shrugged off the comment. "I was planning to upgrade it in a few weeks anyway. I've had it three months now." Which, to any technophile, was positively ancient.

"I don't like to be negative, but I think we're running out of options," Riley mused grimly. "Unless anyone has any bright ideas?"

"Be practical?" Terriermon suggested, leaping down to the floor in front of his Tamer.

"In your dreams," Shibumi chuckled, as Henry sighed. Somehow he had ended up in a situation where geeks like himself were the kings of everything. It wasn't a bad situation, but it did mean they tended towards the digital rather than the practical.

And then something clicked. Something in Shibumi's words, something he was surprised the great man had overlooked, in actual fact.

"_Maybe…maybe there is a way to get a better computer…" _"Has anyone got a screwdriver?" he asked, before glancing up to the two Mokumon floating on Shibumi's shoulders like a cartoon angel and devil. "Actually…Shibumi, can I borrow your Mokumon?"

Terriermon turned back to look up to his partner. "Someone's enthusiastic. What are you planning?"

Henry glanced to his partner, but said nothing, and merely hoped this would work.

"They'll be happy to help," Shibumi said.

"Yes," the disembodied voices from the Mokumon replied in chorus.

"I'll need the laptop too, just for a second," the blue-haired boy added.

Yamaki nodded, slightly more unsurely than his colleague, pushed the lid down, and passed the computer over to the boy. "Just make sure you don't break it," he said forcefully, Henry nodding as he knew the stakes involved.

"I'll be right back," he then said, striding to the doorway, sliding it open, and stepping out into the cool night, the flickering lights from inside the traditional home illuminating the translucent paper in its frames. Terriermon followed at his heels while Mokumon floated above him, the former leaping to his shoulder once he closed the door behind him.

Henry knelt down, knowing that he would now be a silhouette to those inside, through the translucent paper. This was exactly what he wanted, of course.

He looked up to the first Mokumon he saw. "Can you transform into a screwdriver?"

The Mokumon looked briefly bewildered, before spouting a confused "what?" in the voice of another.

The other Mokumon, meanwhile, morphed rather quickly and cleanly into a long thin object, a tool certainly, but a screwdriver it was not. It clattered down onto the surface of the porch outside the traditionally-designed home, the form taking Henry a few seconds to work out.

"Shibumi…you watch too much Doctor Who…"

Henry promptly set to work, setting aside the bizarre and illogical nature of the device as he turned the laptop over. Sure enough to its name, a press of the button and an eerie noise rotated the screws out of the back, leaving the internals of the computer for the taking.

"Henry, it's from a TV show, I doubt it really does anything like you want it to," Terriermon said wryly, obviously not convinced.

"That wasn't the plan," Henry replied, before promptly removing…everything. Everything, that was, except the keyboard, the mouse, and anything visible to the user. And the hard disk, of course, since he speculated Izzy wouldn't want its contents lost to the Digital World. All the while, he kept the laptop just below the wooden frame, only the movement of his hands obvious to anyone watching his silhouette from within. With a pile of components like the RAM, the battery and the processor to his side, along with Terriermon gawking in confusion and bewilderment, he sealed the case again just as he had opened it. Good as new.

"So…explain to me how that did…anything at all?"

"Just don't say anything. I have a theory." The Third Angel shovelled the components into his pockets, let Terriermon onto his shoulder, and stood up. "Thanks, I'm done," he said to the screwdriver, a ghost-like Digimon almost instantly replacing it. "And please don't tell Shibumi or the others anything either. If I'm right, they can't know why."

"O…kay," they replied, not out of hesitance but instead out of simply cutting and pasting their own dialogue banks together. Henry gave a light bow in thanks, before wandering back to the door, sliding it back, and stepping back into the warmth of the inside.

All eyes snapped to him. "It's improved," he said, wandering over to his father and holding out the laptop. The man looked somewhat confused, evidently seeing no aesthetic difference to the device, and took it in hand.

"Looks exactly the same."

"Call it magic Dad," Henry said, smiling. His father looked bewildered still, before opening up the computer and pushing the power button. It whirred into life. "It should be a lot faster and a lot more powerful." He could hear Terriermon on his shoulder trying to restrain himself from asking whether he'd been taking some crazy pills.

Izzy was the first to exclaim his surprise. "Wow…it reached the log-on screen faster than I've ever seen it before," he said, practically darting across the room to the laptop. Janyuu passed it to him, before Izzy tapped in his password and logged on. The desktop, sure enough, was up in a flash. "Prodigious."

"Oh God, I never hoped to hear that again," Tentomon mused from the corner, the word waking him from his near-sleep. The boy chuckled to his partner.

"Sorry. But…I have to know, what on earth did you do? Even when this laptop was new, it wasn't _that_ quick."

"Remember the story of the Golden Goose?" Henry began, Izzy looking up to him, pondering and nodding. "It's sort of like that," he said, as Izzy navigated to the computer's properties, eyes widening.

"Wow…it's like everything I've ever dreamed of in a laptop."

Janyuu peered over, while Henry stood over, watching as the man pored over the vastly improved specs. "This is beyond anything I even thought was possible in a laptop."

"Is it enough power to try and break through Hypnos' security?" Yamaki asked Shibumi, ever the pragmatist, as pair joined Janyuu in peering over at the laptop on the floor by the redhead.

"I'm not sure…but…I'd say our odds are vastly improved," Shibumi noted. "I'm afraid to say that the odds are still stacked against us. We don't know anything about the new firewall's security. It could take a million characters."

"Yeah, but we haven't got any other options," Riley said, looking to her boyfriend and boss. "What do you think?"

"I think we should go for it," Yamaki replied, nodding. "But I don't think we can just rely on it. Let's just hope your Tamers can think of a backup plan," he said to Henry, who nodded, thankful that everything seemed to be working.

"Even if we get home, we'll still have Rayleigh to deal with," Eiichi noted, as Shibumi took the laptop from the redhead and opened a web browser, seemingly before he'd even clicked the button.

"Yes, but we could try…." And they were off, all absorbed once again into their geeky world, their eyes brimming with new possibilities. Places to hack, things to access, comedy videos to watch, and games to cheat at. Henry tried to keep listening, but a whisper from his shoulder interrupted.

"I just worked it out," Terriermon seemed far from impressed. "It's a bit Takato-like, isn't it?"

"Sort of. Except the laptop wouldn't still be in one piece if this were his idea," Henry chuckled, before looking his partner in the eyes. "I think I need to get away from this place though…I'm not sure we can really help, and I'm a bit worried that the longer I'm here the sooner, well, the magic will stop working."

"Geez, you talk about it like it's real. It's only…"

Henry promptly wandered to the door, placing a finger on Terriermon's mouth to silence him. He didn't need anyone overhearing, or the illusion would be lost. The illusion of a computer without a battery, RAM or a processor, a computer which only knew the specification that its users thought it might have. Like their never-wet PDA from their first-ever Digital World trip, it didn't see any reason to be constrained by material laws – it knew no differently here. It was merely what its users dreamt it to be, and, given these were computer geeks, their expectations of it were very high. It was quantum physics on acid.

"I'm going to head out and get something to eat," Henry told his father, knowing the remainder of the room would only hear his words now – listening would be left to later once the excitement of the unknown subsided. His father nodded to him, before he exited the building.

Not knowing, of course, that he had doomed them all.

* * *

**Rayleigh Thompson**

* * *

"Found you."

A self-satisfied smirk crept up the man's lips, and he tapped quickly at the keyboard. There they were. No doubts about it. All the strings of his plan were drawing together.

He turned across to his PDA, sitting on the side by the Hypnos terminal. Above, the chairs were still stuck at the centre of the spherical chamber, its darkness oddly broken for once by a large display of a sky and clouds on the wrap-round screens above. The fairly bright tone to the room conflicted with the world aside, swallowed by the blackness of night.

"Finito," he chirped, unplugging the PDA and picking it up. He tapped at an icon, and up flashed several concentric circles on the display split into labelled segments, while a few further buttons and menu items surrounded it. "My universal Hypnos remote," he chuckled, standing up and looking up to the screens above.

The clouds in the virtual sky swarmed and moved, before he tapped a button on the PDA and they vanished into blackness. Rayleigh gleamed.

"Total control." He tapped out some more commands, each segment he pressed bringing up a new set of concentric circles, leaving endless opportunities for controlling every minute detail of the computer system from wherever he wished. Upon the screen, a graphic began to build itself, as a model of the program known as the Ark appeared. It was somewhat different to its original design, however, gun-black metal adorning its sides (Rayleigh's own intimidating touch) and the overall arrangement more resembling a cross between a dragon and a fighter plane.

He had found the design within the Hypnos system, it originally having been formed for the Zero ARMS Grani project during the D-Reaper war. The image on the screen rotated, showing a full 360 degree view of the program, a frown developing on the man's face.

It was sentient. The report (highly classified, of course) referred to Takato Matsuki's testimony after the event. How Grani had gone from a simplistic Digimon computer program to sacrificing itself to get their group back from the Digital World (for which reason Rayleigh had tracked down and deleted all of Shibumi's backup copies of the program lest they could help his enemies). Then, to take the biscuit entirely, it had survived, been rebuilt, returned to fight the D-Reaper, shown true sentience and then sacrificed itself again to give Gallantmon enough power to finally destroy the malignant computer program.

Its resilience was admirable. Its consciousness was not. Rayleigh didn't need a program that would turn on him. Sure, this new version was safe and appliance-like now, but with the unpredictable Tamers in tow, he found it hard to believe it would stay that way. Heck, they would probably convert his whole army of the damn things.

So he hesitated, sweeping his finger across the PDA to bring up another display instead next to the image. This one was strictly non-visual, a number instead adorning the screen, but he knew what it meant. And he knew it was just as risky, if not more, as an option. An option found by accident when searching in the computer systems of the digital agency, an option which had made him laugh upon first discovering it.

"Either use sense and control to kill them, or let all chaos break loose and watch them die in the process," he mused. His mind tended towards the former – maybe he could restrain the Arks somehow? He knew that was what they'd be expecting. If his initial failed, he would have to resort to attacking the Digital World itself, a place he knew that they lived on chaos. Only a chaotic being could ever destroy it, because a harmonic one wouldn't realise just how much the world inherently ignored any attempts to define or rule it.

There was another issue. The army of arks could take hours to attack the Digital World and would use up so many of his computer resources, but the other plan…he could unleash that in a second. In fact, he could easily incorporate it into his existing plans…extremely easily. But…it would require supervision, supervision he knew he would have trouble providing given his current near-Presidential duties. He had to simply hope that his initial plans would work, and he could deal with the Tamers on his own turf.

"_And if nothing else helps me market the effectiveness of my EMP guns…hmm…"_

He made his decision. It was time to be unpredictable, time to promote fear, and to rub the noses of the Tamers in their sordid mistakes before they would die by their hand. They would rank up more collateral damage, more deaths, more destruction, and prove that they needed to be eliminated once and for all, right as people could begin to doubt their involvement in the Prime Minister's demise.

But first…before he could use his newfound weapon, he had to get his targets into position.

"No more escaping."

With a few taps on the PDA's screen, the screens above him lit up with a series of words:

**JUGGERNAUT PROGRAM INITIATED**

**MOVING TO TARGETTING STAGE**

The remote was working perfectly. And, as if to agree, his phone rang, the man flicking pulling it from his pocket, looking at the screen and pushing it to his ear. "Yes Kazuya?"

A few moments later, he smirked, nodding.

"Terrific. I'll be right down."

**JUGGERNAUT ENGAGED**

* * *

**The Priestess**

* * *

The sky may as well have been light for the Priestess as she strolled through the dark street, her psychic abilities and inherent knowledge of the village far better than any torch. In spite of the recent upset in the village, every Renamon and Kyubimon, and derivations thereupon, took a step back in reverence. She was the amazing, clean, holy Priestess.

She felt like a sick dirty witch.

Escaping the Tamers' judging eyes had been difficult enough, but even the silence of the temple hadn't tempered her mind. Her peaceful, barely-changing existence at the village, with trouble being only a distant feeling over her psychic link with the world, was thrown into turmoil. Bare minutes had upset the equilibrium more than many years could.

In fact, the last time the village saw such commotion was…

Out of habit, she pushed the thought down, not wanting to consider the source of their present problems. Yet she found her hand wandering to her chest, and her pace slowed, and slowed, and stopped.

What was she like? Surely she couldn't have forgotten completely? When she had gone to that other world, the real world, she hadn't simply picked a girl at random and 'taken' her. But…seeing Renamon and Rika, and their unbelievably close bond which Renamon held in such high regard (and hence feared so much for its potential loss come this news), she knew she was comparing skipping pebbles to an asteroid.

Her links with the world as a whole, the balance of life and death, of nothing and everything, had begun to give her a knowledge of its workings, of things she had never experienced. In the four short years since she had taken the role of Priestess, she found these nagging edges of knowledge disturbing, but never helpful. But now…it all seemed to click, even if they were just such small nuggets as to be useless without a purpose. But now they had one…

If this nugget of knowledge was true, a further pain weighed on her. Why couldn't she feel a heartbeat from within her? Or hear it in her ears? Or feel the movement? Humans had a heart, a liquid survival system…so why couldn't she feel it?

The old Priestess much have known so much. The assembled wisdom of 229 years of being one with the world.

Which led her successor to a particularly unnerving thought. If the old Priestess knew so much about humanity, was so at one with the universe, and thus was so wise in its workings…why had she set up the plan she had? Why had she made them kidnap the girls? If this was…wrong…immoral…depraved…

The Priestess didn't want to think it, but her mind did regardless. _"Was the old Priestess willing to sacrifice innocent lives for this village?"_

Her whole life, she had been taught about the infallibility of the Priestess: how one so close to the workings of the world, from the petals gently wafting on a flower in the village to the workings of the distant and heavenly Earth orb above, surely could never be wrong? If one were the feeling, the sense, of the whole universe, then surely one would always know the right thing to do?

This wasn't right though. She couldn't perfectly understand at first, even with the explanations of the Tamers, until she considered something else.

"_If these humans…if these humans took me, wiped my mind and brainwashed me…how would I feel?"_

"I still can't get used to that," came a voice from beyond her own mind, the first voice to speak out to her for a few hours. Or at least, the first to be acknowledged. Renardmon had practically vanished, whether out of shame for himself or shame for being associated with her. She couldn't blame him. Even her loyal Taomon had gone ignored, but the wisdom of the old one had been enough that she wasn't offended by the 'silent treatment'.

Again, she found herself wondering where that phrase came from, those nuggets of words she had never heard before. Much like those she was hearing now, but she quickly realised its source.

"She looks a bit different," replied another voice, with a creeping resemblance to a voice that not long ago had practically disowned her, the voice of the human side of the being she revered most of all in the universe. And that face…that face held such shades of one Rika Nonaka, yet…yet it was different.

The Priestess paused momentarily to take it in, before pressing on with her concerns. "I'm sorry?" she asked, confused in spite of all of her received wisdom by the words of the redhead and her short, mini-Kyubimon-like partner by her side.

"Ah, sorry," Rei promptly looked rather embarrassed. "Didn't mean to make you think we were talking about you behind your back."

"I don't think you'd be alone even if you were."

"You seem down," Realmon noted. The Priestess wasn't covering up her emotions, of course, but the majority of those around her seemed too polite and respecting to mention anything. This pair…however…

"I'd be worried if she wasn't," Rei pitched in, frowning. "Not a good day for the Kabuki Village," she sighed, looking down the street. "Sorry, I keep talking like you're not here."

"Does everyone hate me now?" the Priestess asked, not wanting to dodge the issue. She knew the answer had to be yes, but a glimmer of hope made her ask.

The redhead shrugged. "Maybe not permanently. I think we'll have to see what everyone's like when they cool off…"

Realmon nodded. "Everyone's still in shock."

"Except for you two…you seem really…"

"Nonchalant?" Rei suggested. "I'd be lying if I said I was. This is a bit of a surprise for me really…and I thought being from where I was surprises weren't possible. Then again, this wouldn't be the first blindside in my life."

"I don't…really understand. Where are you from?"

"What do you know so far?"

"That you are the daughter of Rika and Takato, and that your partner is the daughter of Renamon and his Guilmon," the Priestess explained, chewing her lip. Traces of never-heard thoughts wandered across her mind, the chains of time, space, destiny and fate that threaded through Harmony's fingers. "You've come from so far away…" the Priestess said, her tone wondering as she tried to understand this feeling she encountered.

Rei looked somewhat confused. "Huh?"

"Not really in space…but…time…so far in time. The lonely girl, far from the illogical one she loves…stuck here in the past."

"My…my time machine is broken, yeah. How do you…how do you know all this?"

"I'm the Priestess, and I'm a Sakuyamon too. My powers come from Harmony."

"I know of you…but…still…if you can know all that without, well, knowing…how come Harmony doesn't?"

"I'm not sure. Harmony is a god in a human body…her mind is so unspecialised and she has so much to take in. A billion voices shout at her from all directions, and yet she stays sane. I admire her so much. But…I just have a few select facets of her power. And so I can use them so well."

"So you can predict the future?" Realmon asked.

"I wish. I haven't any control over what I see or hear. I don't know what causes it. But yeah, sometimes I can."

"Do you know any more about me?" Rei said after a brief, deliberating pause. The Priestess chewed her lip again – evidently the girl was seeking out something, but what? More traces of the world wandered across her mind, but it was never more than a background, an omnipresent background radiation which failed to work as she wished. Did the old Priestess have control? Even if she didn't, living that long surely would mean she could.

But…it also meant she should've known more about the real world, and the actions she promoted.

Something made the Priestess shudder as it flashed across her mind, and she took a step back unconsciously. "You know so much pain…" she said to a worried-looking Rei. "And you will know so much more. And…a girl…you will meet a girl."

"A girl? What do you mean?"

"I really don't know. But you'll meet someone. Someone who shouldn't be in this world. Someone who will change your life."

"When? And who?" Rei pressed.

"I don't…" the Priestess began.

"Is her name Ivy Winters?"

The Priestess raised an eyebrow beneath her mask, unseen to the redhead. This girl was oddly precise. Who was this Ivy she anticipated? What made her so important to her? "I don't know."

Rei looked rather hyped up by this newfound chain of reasoning, and was about to rant on, before she paused, oddly retreating. "Sorry…" she said, oddly timidly for someone who previously seemed to have such fire in her belly.

"Sorry?"

"I'm not being fair. You really don't have any control over what you know, and I'm not helping by shouting at you for it."

"Oh. I don't really mind…"

"I get my anger from my mother. And probably my curiosity from my dad."

"Oh. I was wanting to ask about that."

"You don't like my dad, I know, I know. Honestly, ever since I learnt about their conflict, I always feared one day they'd blow each other up and I'd be left an orphan. It's a miracle I'm still alive today…even if for me this feels more like yesterday."

"That child is you, isn't it?"

"Yeah…I still can't get used to…you know…the idea," Rei scratched her head. "Drives me mad trying to come to terms with it really. And…I keep worrying what happens if I die in the present. Will I pop out of time altogether? There's just no precedent for it."

"I don't think I can predict something like that. I wouldn't even be able to tell you if what I've already predicted will definitely happen. But…the universe trends toward it."

"I feel so in control of my own life," the redhead sighed, rolling her eyes. The Priestess lightly smiled at her rather youthful and sarcastic reply, reminding her much of the old days when such humour was common between her, Renardmon and…

She paused, frowning and remembering the real reason she was here. "Do you know where Rika is? I'd like to talk to her."

Rei frowned herself, shaking her head. "I'm afraid not. And even if I did, I wouldn't say. She'll need some time to cool off after this…we all probably will."

"I want to fix things."

"They know you will too," Realmon agreed. "But right now you'll be the last person they want to see."

"Oh," the Priestess frowned. "I see. Makes me feel so special."

"I'm sorry," Rei apologised. "When they want to talk, they'll come find you, I just know they will. They're all really decent people at heart, and they won't want to hold a grudge against you forever. Just…listen to what they say. I think it is still a really weird idea for them, and hurts a lot…"

"As I've learnt more about it, I can't say it hasn't become a weird idea for me too," the Priestess sighed, placing her hand on her stomach. "Someone just like you…someone as sentient and smart and alive. The more I speak to humans and realise what you're really like, the more I feel guilty and sad about it. But at the same time…what was I meant to do? Let my village die?"

"If there was an easy answer, we'd have found it by now," Realmon advised. The miniature Kyubimon leapt onto her partner's head without a single flinch from either of them. "The last thing we want is a fight. Besides, you've all been so hospitable to us…and the majority of your village isn't at fault – they simply didn't know."

"I see. I guess…I guess I'll head back to my temple then."

Rei frowned, and nodded. "Oh. You don't have to go."

"But I think I should. Even without this big mess, I have to meditate, and pray to someone for forgiveness who currently resents every byte of my data."

"Things aren't gonna be easy, I know. But you can't keep killing yourself for them. Just…talk to someone. Like Renardmon...or that Taomon you hang around with."

"Her…she is so steeped in tradition and officialdom…she wouldn't help at all. And I'm pretty sure Renardmon hates my guts for not telling him a thing."

"We'll be your friends then."

"Even after I let people get hurt?"

"I've hurt people before. I've done worse. So yeah, we can be friends."

"Thank you…and…I have to apologise."

"Apologise?"

"When I first learnt of who you and your partner were…I thought you were abominations. But…you're nice. Even with that sordid DNA."

"Oh. Apology accepted," Rei smiled, while Realmon nodded. "I guess we best get moving too. I want to check that Dad's okay… God only knows how much Chaos is milking this."

"Send them my love and hate respectively," the Priestess said, although whether she meant it in jest she herself was not sure. Rei nodded and smiled, before turning, red hair gently lapping at the back of her top as she walked away from…

Images and senses flashed across the mind of the Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode, and she spoke up before Rei could vanish into a nearby alleyway. "Wait!"

The Tamer and partner paused, the girl turning to face back down the path and calling out a sharp "yeah?"

"There's one last thing…one last thing I know…one last thing I feel."

"What?"

The Priestess clung onto the thought as much as she could, like a dream wafting from one's memory in the morning. It finally snapped into clarity in her mind (as clear as it could be, at least), yet she still struggled to turn it into actual words. "Rei…this girl…when you meet her...your time will come to an end."

"An end…wait…you don't mean…I'm going to die?"

Rei stared into the Priestess' eyes, searching for answers. The shaman could feel the time-traveller delving around in her soul for a clue, anything that could help her solve her present dilemma. The mere sight broke her heart, as the crushing reality that she couldn't help hit her full-force. "I don't know."

Rei froze up, not saying anything in reply. Realmon looked ready to talk to her, but before she could, the girl turned and walked away, only pausing to quickly say "thanks".

"I'm sorry," the Priestess said to thin air. Her mind spread into overdrive, as the sight of a winged redhead spread on the floor, plastered with blood, flashed across her mind for but a painful instant.

Things just couldn't get any worse.

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

"You done yet?"

"Mwwmmhh mmmmyyy dwwwwwnngg…"

"What?"

Kazu took the wire out of his mouth, holding it in his hand. "I said, you try tightening a knot in a wire like this." As if in response, the end cackled with electricity. He replaced it into his jaw, while he set both hands back to work in tying it around one of the steel brackets on the edge of the dish. Its size and lack of flexibility made it unwieldy, however, as was the fact that he had to hold it further down from where the exposed end so as to avoid electrocution.

Ayaka sighed, accepting that this might take some time. She leant back on her hands where she sat on the edge of the dish, keeping her bottom far enough from the point of no return so as to avoid falling back out of forgetfulness. Her hands, meanwhile, clung to the edge to avoid the other threat, sliding down along the oh-so-slippery dish.

Guardromon, meanwhile, clung onto his Tamers leg, the boy stretching himself out down the dish. Lightning clapped against its surface not far away, leaving Ayaka wondering why they hadn't all been electrocuted yet.

"_Brass…copper and zinc…I swear that should conduct electricity. Is this just how the Digital World works differently? Or maybe the water is…"_

Ayaka's pondering silenced as Kazu cursed through a clenched jaw, his colourful language accompanying his severe difficulty in making the wire do anything at all. Calling it a wire, of course, was misleading, it was a cable. A huge cable.

Why had he volunteered for this? Was this just normal Kazu, risking life and limb for his friends whenever he could? It was something she hated about him, and yet, loved.

Even so, why had she volunteered…in fact, insisted…to come with? Didn't she trust him to come back safely? _"Screw that – of course I don't trust him. Everything about this just screams impending doom…and I'm not just going to stand back and watch him kill himself."_

The cable twitched like a snake next to her as Kazu continued his attempts. How long would it be until he gave up? Would they survive that long? The lightning seemed pretty erratic, and certainly made no point of avoiding the edges of the funnel, as much as she hoped it somehow would be safer.

"HEY!"

She heard the voice from behind, while Kazu glanced up briefly. Ayaka nodded to him, before turning and looking over the edge, down to the group standing far below.

Dizzyingly far.

Miki had her hands over her mouth, shouting up to…

The sight vanished from Ayaka's vision all too quickly as a sharp pain hit her leg. Her hands slipped from the edge of the dish, and she quickly realised her turned position was far from stable.

As she grabbed for the side again, she found it too far, but her hand, as she slid back, grabbed something else.

The cable.

"Ayaka!" Kazu exclaimed, after at first simply flustering over the cable quickly pulled out of his attempt at a knot.

Everything happened rather fast for Ayaka.

The metal presented no grip whatsoever for her, her chances of holding on worsened exponentially every second by the surface becoming wetter and steeper, so she clung onto the cable for dear life. She had grabbed it a short way up from its end, leaving the electrified end flailing around loosely where it looped away from her. The sight transfixed her briefly, as it cackled with electricity.

Her speed increased rapidly, to that point known to all where it was simply 'too fast'. Sure, those enjoying rollercoaster's or a few other thrills might have a higher tolerance, but there was always a point where enjoyment gave way to a lack of control.

Surprisingly late, she screamed, as the cable simply gave and gave. Her wet hands began to slip from it, not helped by the burns it gave her which made those same palms beg her to let go.

Finally she gave in, self-preservation beaten. Without the taught wire draping over the edge of the funnel, however, her speed increased.

Looking over her shoulder, she could see the water cascading over into…nothingness. Or at least, it seemed like that. Would she get stuck in the tube? Cut up by the turbines? The distance she would fall – it would surely kill her!

Something grabbed her wrist.

"Ayaka," she heard a voice cry, before it groaned. Looking up again, she saw Kazu clinging onto the cable and her wrist at the same time. She fed her hand up, gripping his wrist in turn while she moved her other hand round to secure her grip on her, even though the weight against the gradient seemed to pain him. "Don't…let…go…" he said through gritted teeth.

The thunderstorm clapped overhead, and the funnel groaned and shook. The wire was holding them in place now – it had fully extended. The thought made Ayaka briefly felt safe, until the pair of them dropped suddenly, the wire going taut again.

Was it getting stuck round things? She desperately tried to think back to the layout of the city below, recalling its many buildings which the shockingly-strong cable was forced to wind round. Or…maybe their friends were holding onto them…

She could see Guardromon flying towards them, as they juddered down once again, getting closer and closer to the abyss in the centre. The soft whirr of turbines grew ever louder. "It's not working!" she panicked.

"I kn…"

Kazu screamed in pain, as Ayaka felt tingles rush through her. To her horror, she realised Kazu had grabbed the exposed end of the cable so he could reach out far enough to grab her.

His hand going into a spasm from it all, Ayaka quickly found herself sliding again, only now she was holding tightly onto someone else as she fell. It wasn't much relief, and their screams quickly filled the air as they headed straight for the hole in the centre of the funnel, water pouring over the edge and out of sight onto the louder and louder turbines below.

Grabbing Kazu tightly, she could barely mouth "sorry" before they plummeted.

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

"I'm more than troubled," Rika replied, pushing her palms back through her red hair and looking into her grandmother's eyes. The two were perched on a step on the edge of a home – not their present 'home', but a seemingly unoccupied one. It was practically indistinguishable from their own – there was practically no sign of any attempt at personalisation whatsoever. "I feel like I did something…and I feel angry at them for definitely having done something…but I also know why they did it. But I still don't think it justifies that something. Do you know what I mean?"

"I'm afraid you've rather confused me with that all Rika," replied the warm voice of Seiko Hata, the group's resident agony aunt, it seemed, and someone who Rika found herself always able to be more open with than her own mother. Nonetheless, the older woman's slight smile seemed ill-placed considering the circumstances.

"Ugh…I just want to go back to a few hours ago when I didn't have to worry about all this. We have enough problems already. I don't care about the actions of…some random village."

"I don't believe you are really that careless about it."

"Okay, okay, maybe I do care about it. But it's because it's _my_ random village…the village where Renamon is from…this place seemed so perfect before, but it's just…just a shell. It's so…fake."

"The Digimon here seem happy enough."

"But it's like…what would you do if you realised that everything you had ever lived for was built on someone else's pain? If even your best friend…" Rika said solemnly, looking aside to Renamon, who sat on a step on another house nearby and kept watch, ensuring Rika and her grandmother's privacy, even from the Digimon's own ears. DarkBiyomon, alongside her, simply stayed silent and deep in thought. "…was part of it all. A really big part too."

"But isn't the army like that?"

"Armies fight armies – _they_ kidnapped innocent girls who didn't even want to be involved."

"Rika…do you believe what they did was truly wrong?"

"What do you mean, truly wrong?"

"You know what I mean."

"I don't know…I don't think it was. It just…oh, I don't know."

"Do you hold anything against Renamon for this?"

"No, I don't. But Renamon still picked me. What does that say about me?"

"Everyone goes through troubled times Rika. These Digimon….they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a girl seeing a psychiatrist and a bad hair day. And you've changed so much since then. Rika, you've made me so proud as I've seen you grow up. I can't believe the half of it, even if I saw things like an early pregnancy before with your mother, but…I don't think you should regret how you used to be. You have to live on."

"**I would imagine that mine and Renamon's historic link played its part, even if to her it was a random decision," **Harmony chipped in.

"That doesn't matter, 'cause…ugh, never mind."

"Don't bottle things up Rika."

"Well…all those other girls. They're all now…trapped. They can't even escape or someone will have to die. And they wouldn't remember anything even if they did. It's horrible what the Priestess made happen…how could she believe that was the right thing to do? Even the old one believes it too…I mean, I know it wasn't necessarily truly wrong to them but…ugh, they just didn't stop. They hurt them all and it feels like it's all my fault. I created this place."

"But I thought it was Harmony who did that?" Seiko seemed rather (understandably) confused.

"I _am _Harmony. Everything that happened in the past…that wasn't some other person doing it, it was just me in a different body. Hell, I still can't get Naoko's thoughts out of my mind…it feels like I'm schizophrenic at times."

"**Well, you do have voices in your head."**

Seiko seemed oddly unfazed by the almost seamless switches in speaker. "You can learn from the life mistakes of loads of people then. How is that a bad thing?"

"It is when you're finding it hard enough to concentrate on your own life," Rika sighed, head drooping. In response, she felt Seiko's arm wrap around her.

"Come here," she said, pulling the girl close. "I think you need to calm down Rika. All this stressing, all this worrying, it'll never do any good for you."

Rika sighed, breathing deeply as she leaned onto her grandma's shoulder. "But I feel like I need to…"

"We have all the time in the world to help those girls. Act tomorrow, act in a week's time, in a year, anything. The only reason you feel like it's pressing now is because you learnt this all today...and I think you're afraid of seeing the Priestess and everyone again."

"Of course I'm afraid of it. They might kick us out, or…"

"You don't believe that either."

"How do you know that?"

"You're my granddaughter – I've seen that expression every time you've been struggling at homework, or pretending you didn't need to go potty. It's when you're telling yourself something you don't even buy yourself."

"God, it's like you're reading my mind," Rika said in a put-off voice, leading Seiko to simply smile.

"The real reason you fear to see them is because you don't want that conflict Rika. You fight a lot, but in the end I don't think anyone could want those bigger battles."

"Of course not: they come along soon enough anyway. And I get the feeling we're going to have a million before I see my own bedroom again. If Rayleigh hasn't already destroyed it."

Seiko's expression turned rather stern. "Even if this is a diversion Rika, that is no reason to believe that the thing you are trying to avoid is the worst thing in the universe. I've seen all of you beat things like the D-Reaper. Don't tell me that a British man is a bigger threat.

Rika unconsciously rubbed one of her shoulder-blades. "The gunshot to my wings says otherwise."

Her grandma frowned. "But at least this time the whole world isn't at stake. And what's more, people will find out eventually that you didn't do it."

"Not if Rayleigh keeps manipulating the evidence. I don't think I would ever get a trial to defend myself either. And that's presuming we even get home – even want to get home. Although I'm not sure where I dread more right now, here or there."

"Like Terriermon always says: Momentai."

"Oh grandma, not you too."

She smiled slightly, as did Rika. "You're not alone in this …you have your family, and Takato's family, and all of the Tamers and Hypnos behind you. You have Takato, and I know you could rely on him even if everyone else betrayed you."

Rika nodded. Once she had doubts, but now…now she was sure of it. Thinking of him, meanwhile, reminded her of a certain baby who hopefully he still had at this point, which in turn led her to ponder whether she could breastfeed properly in this world, and if there were any risks to…

"Rika, I can see in your eyes that you're still worrying."

"Sorry. But I really need to go and make sure Rey's okay," Rika mused, looking to the dark night and yawning. "And I think the darkness is getting to me because the thing I want right now more than anything in the world is just to sleep." Somehow, however, she knew she was in for a restless night, even with her grandmother's help. The tiredness in itself was odd, given she had had plenty of time to sleep on the train here (even if she hadn't been able to use all of it thanks to Rey), which suggested it had something just to do with the virtual 'time of day'.

She pushed herself up, lending her grandmother a hand. "Thanks Grandma."

The woman smiled. "Any time."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Right, hope you all enjoyed that, mind-benders and all. They do appear to be my specialty, hehe. Speaking of which, next time might leave you all very stumped about one very particular important thing. Or rather, four things. Wait and see…

Anyhow, I have a ton of exams throughout June, so again chapters are likely to be delayed. But then it'll all be over, and I'll have my free time back! So hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace. Hopefully.

Until next time…

B.C.


	36. Phase Two: Calamity

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE**

**Phase Two**

_Calamity_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Cody Hida**

* * *

"Hmm…it's gone dark since I was last awake."

"I get the impression that in this Digital World that doesn't say much."

"Hmm…"

"Did it feel like a migraine then?"

"I can't even describe what it feels like. Sort of like every cold I've ever had," Cody's grandfather said, coughing unexpectedly into a hand before wiping it apologetically on a handkerchief. "Add a dash of a terminal sense of weakness."

He pushed himself onto his hands, before going to stand, Cody stepping forward quickly in concern. Surely, he shouldn't have been doing that?

"Of course, I was pretty strong to start with," his grandfather insisted, although the boy couldn't quite buy it. The man still looked rather wiped out, colour drained from his face, almost bordering on a corpse, yet he seemed able to manoeuvre and speak normally, albeit with coughing. Was he just going through a good phase? Maybe this illness wasn't all that bad? Dr Imai certainly hadn't been able to diagnose it.

"You should get some rest grandpa. You're not really looking yourself right now."

"With all the sleep I have had, if it helped I'd be cured by now. I'm feeling energetic all of a sudden, and I'd like to explore this strange new place."

"Let's just hope that isn't just another symptom," chimed in Armadillomon, yawning as he arrived from across the room from where he had fallen asleep near one of the walls. Evidently, the night meant something rather different to his mind than it did to the boy's grandfather, addressed by those other than his grandson as Chikara Hida.

"Like how you feel warm before you die of hypothermia," Cody noted, before cursing his choice of words. He didn't want it to be a parallel.

"Ah, yes, and you strip your clothes off."

"Please don't do that grandpa." Now he definitely did not want it to be a parallel.

"Aw…damn…Henrrrrry…why do people have to use those words so misleadingly all the time?" came a new voice from out of the blue, or rather, over by the large sliding door, left ajar to let plenty of air into the room. Terriermon frowned from Henry's shoulder.

"Terriermon, I don't even know why you'd want humans to strip off. You're a Digimon."

"Yeah, so? I'm still male."

"But you're…oh, never mind…hi Cody, Armadillomon, Sensei," Henry greeted them. Cody had to admire the guy a lot for managing to stay sane even when partnered to a Digimon like Terriermon.

"I somehow doubt he'd want me to strip off anyway," Chikara chuckled, Cody smiling in amusement but more nervously. "And I prefer Chikara."

"How are you feeling gramps?" Terriermon asked.

"Terriermon!"

"Momentai."

"Better than I was," the man replied, taking a step forward to prove it before breaking down in a coughing fit. Cody too took a step forward, hoping to help, but the man eventually cleared his throat and finished with. "Slightly. Now, I've heard you're interested in Kendo?"

Henry nodded. "I've done various martial arts since I was young…but not usually Kendo now."

"Shame…I find it is a great equaliser. Whether you are tall or short, well-built or skeletal, everyone uses the same shinai."

"Not that helpful if you bump into a rough character on the street though," said Terriermon cheekily, wagging a finger. "Unless you just happen to have a pole on you. Or me Henry," he chirped down to his partner.

"I think a pole would be more help," the teen said dryly.

"Hey!"

"I know that Kendo is a pretty powerful martial art even without the pole. I'm guessing you don't do many other styles?" Henry ignored his partner. Cody's grandfather shook his head.

"Not too much at my age, much less in my current state. But, if we can find a big enough space and some equipment, I think we could work off a few of our frustrations."

"Where are we going to find something like that in this village though?" Armadillomon asked. "You and Cody dress up with so much stuff you two look like robots."

"And I don't think many Renamon really need a sword to fight with," Henry mused. "Although, I do think I heard something about a dojo earlier. If that kind of thing would be anywhere, it'd be there."

"Sounds perfect," Chikara agreed, before casting a careful eye down to his grandson. "If I feel any worse for wear, I'll stop," he said, seeming to read the boy's mind.

Cody nodded, but couldn't help but take in the man's pale skin. Just what was this illness?

"Now, have I missed anything while I was asleep?"

"You have _no_ idea," Henry said, his tone laden heavily with the inevitable.

* * *

**Kazu Shioda**

* * *

He stopped, but his breath carried on downwards into the swishing blades below, while his hand held on tight to his newfound girlfriend. The light had gone dim, the gray clouds above seen through the hole above casting the gold around him a malevolent shade, as the water sprayed over his clothes.

"Thanks buddy," he called up to Guardromon, the robots engines whirring away as he began to ascend away from the threat. After a quick glance down to Ayaka to ensure she was alright (and notice her petrified expression at the far-too-real threat mere inches from her), he let Guardromon yank him up into his arms, holding ever-tightly onto the girl until he knew the rust-coloured android had her safely in his grip.

But even then, Ayaka's hand refused to let go of his. He glanced into her eye, seeing her difficulty in taking it all in. That was a close one. An extremely close one. And here, floating inside the wide pipe between the surface of the dish and the turbines, a mere accident had almost killed them.

"Sorry," the girl mouthed, tears of fear in her eyes. It felt cruel to point it out, because…

Guardromon lurched suddenly, Kazu clinging on for dear life as Ayaka's hand clenched tighter around his. He could feel her falling away as Guardromon's grip weakened significantly, before finally returning, his voice screaming a robotic squeal, his flight stopped entirely.

"What was…?" he began, his breath taken even further away from him.

It hit him before he could even finish asking. There, tangled around Guardromon's leg and caught in the winding handle around him, was the cable.

"Ah. That is not good," the Digimon assessed. "I must have acquired it on my hurried flight here," he noted. Kazu's hands were already on it, pulling on it, trying to free it as fast as he could, before another jolt ran through it. Why hadn't those below turned it off yet?

Why was it moving this far at all? Before, when he and Ayaka were dangling, it seemed to have reached its full extent. It'd seemed quite lucky because they had picked the cable at random, hoping it would at least be enough to reach the top of the dish. In the end, they had had to route it around a lot of alleys and buildings between the transmission station and here.

"It must've become caught on all the buildings before." Ayaka clearly was thinking along the same lines as him. Was the wire taut now? Or could it fall still further?

It didn't take too much to free it in the end. Guardromon's flailing and flight, and the fact Kazu had had enough trouble securing it intentionally before, made for that.

Unfortunately, Kazu didn't consider a certain consequence of loosening the cable. Once it had broken free, it dropped, falling down.

Towards the turbines.

In the coming minutes, hours, perhaps even days (if he survived that long), Kazu knew he would ask himself again and again why he hadn't the foresight to grab the cable when untying it so such a fate could not befall them. But, right now, his aggravation was expressed rather more succinctly.

"Oh crap…"

The funnel groaned painfully as the cable became caught in the turbines, entangled in them as the water continued to rush down. Around them, the walls juddered, before shifting sharply towards the direction the cable came from, and the place they had first stepped onto the dish.

"How can that cable be so strong?" Ayaka asked, and as if to answer her question, it suddenly snapped near them, a flicker of electricity passing along it, dangerously close to them. The other end shot away into the sky, lost beyond the edge of the dish.

Guardromon was holding onto them as tight as he could by now, and he looked up along with his Tamer, ready to fly up before the most horrendous sight greeted them.

Bursting over the edge of the now heavily-slanted side of the funnel, was a huge wall of water, blocking out the clouds above for the first time. It smashed into the other side of the tube with a thunderous roar, before barrelling down on them, forcing Guardromon down and towards the turbines.

Their screams were drowned out, at first by the sheer noise, and then simply by water filling their mouths.

"_This is it…I have to admit, I never saw it happening this way…" _Kazu thought as he fell free of his partner and towards the turbines, spinning faster than ever under the force of the water. He was about to be cut into a million pieces.

The last thing he knew he would hear would be Ayaka's screams, as she clung to him.

And her screams grew loud. And…clear. And…

Something was amiss. Something was definitely amiss. Kazu found his eyes closed, his body unmoving, and an uneasy feeling he should've still been falling. Finally opening his eyelids, he found the world to be pink.

The roar of water now sounded muffled, while the dripping of water off of him, the girl now with her arms clung around his chest from behind for dear life and the android fallen bemused nearby, all sounded perfectly clear.

Looking up, he saw water cascading over the edge of the pink heart above, its shape distorting unnervingly as it began to rise. It felt like coming up from diving deep into a swimming pool, only less wet.

"We're alive," Ayaka said in surprise as she let go of him.

Kazu stood up, nodding distantly as he looked out, seeing the funnel below still tilting, moving ever so slightly, but moving ever so slightly faster and more with every moment that passed. The water was funnelling down from one of its sides rapidly into the funnel, the same rush that had threatened to kill them moments before. The water on the other side seemed undecided between copying its brethren or cascading off the other side of the dish and down, no doubt, onto their Tamer colleagues below – if they hadn't the sense to move, that was. The storm above intensified, while he could hear loud bangs in the city below, its form gradually being exposed as the huge brass funnel fell further and further.

A bolt of lightning clapped off the edge of the pink heart, MarineAngemon looking truly tiny outside compared to the horrific majesty of the funnel below. Once they were free of the funnel, the bubble began to move sideways, heading back towards where they started from.

A place that was rapidly looking ready to be crushed. The more they moved, the direr the situation looked, the dish's angle further and further over with every moment.

The familiar forms of MetalGarurumon, Beelzemon, Cherubimon and Rosemon came into view at the edge, the water pouring down them and forcing their hands to slip every moment or so, the others having to take up the slack. Getting a grip at all looked to be difficult enough. They strained, their faces pained. How heavy was this dish, to be able to overwhelm so many Mega-level Digimon?

Lightning hit the dish, and the Digimon's grip loosened rapidly, before reaffirming, but they had lost 10 degrees of movement in the process, while the dish had also shunted sideways, it presumably falling free from its base.

"I did this," Ayaka cried, drawing Kazu's attention away from the spectacle outside to the girl, kneeling and staring on in horror inside the bubble with him.

"What?"

"If I hadn't slipped…"

"Hey, I let go of the cable…this is both of our faults." Kazu realised it probably wasn't the best defence. Rather than freeing Ayaka from her own encroaching guilt, he had just brought himself on it, perhaps egotistically.

Light suddenly began to beam over them, and Kazu blinked, casting his eyes back out of the bubble and seeing the storm…ceasing. No lightning, no rain, and the funnel was already fairly dry from its newfound gradient which meant the majority of its water was simply leaping down and over and into the hole.

"Is that…good?" Ayaka wondered, getting to her feet and looking up. The sight of the sun again left Kazu at unease as much as it seemed to leave her. Something nagged him about all this, something which made him think this was going to have severe repercussions.

A pained creak and a cacophonous crash called their attention back to the funnel below, as they saw the battle had been lost. The four megas had floated back, free from the blast zone, a veil of dust suddenly rising.

Their bubble descended, and so did Kazu's stomach. Ayaka's seemed to do more than even that, as she violently lurched over and went to throw up. Kazu stepped towards her, grabbing her sides before simply settling for holding her hair back.

The smell did nothing to help his gut, and when the bubble finally landed and popped on the meadow below, he swiftly helped Ayaka to get away from the unpleasantness.

Looking up, he saw the whole of the vast dish now almost perfectly facing him, fallen like a gramophone. Dust drifted away from it, while voices shouted from inside. All those Digimon…were they alright? Would they have got free in time?

The floor was wet, while all the water had now left the surface of the funnel. As Kazu put his arm around Ayaka's waist, he could feel that Ayaka's clothes were as drenched as his. The girl leant onto him. "You feeling okay?"

"Hell no," she complained, her fragility rapidly ceasing as her voice once again toughened up. "What are we going to do?"

"Hey! What the hell happened there?" called a new voice, as MetalGarurumon landed, Matt speaking before the Digimon broke apart into Tamer and partner. Around them, one by one, Impmon, Suzie, Lopmon, Mimi, Rosemon and MarineAngemon assembled, the pressure from their teammates only heightened by the fact that they had no idea of the exact details.

"Uh…" Ayaka's nervous voice began, before she stood free of Kazu and stepped into their gaze. "It was an accident," she said with a forced confidence.

A volley of footsteps nearby caught all of their ears, as rather than reply to Ayaka they cast their eyes to their fellow Tamers, Mercurymon, Sorcerymon, Starmon, Datamon and a vast number of Digimon, heading towards them on the meadow, pouring out from either side of the fallen dish.

They were definitely not happy.

"What is your explanation for this?" Sorcerymon demanded, eyes livid with anger, a surprise from a fairly relaxed leader as he had once seemed.

"It was an accident," Ayaka said, but no longer could she even attempt to sound assured of her words.

"What happened?" Kenta asked, Miki's hand in his as they looked over to the caramel-haired girl. Words ceasing to come to her lips in the face of all the pressure she was under, Kazu stepped forward.

"The cable broke free, and got caught up in the turbines," he said, glancing to Ayaka. They didn't need to know anything else. It had been an accident, after all. And it was both of their faults. Still, something still made him feel mad at the girl. She should've been holding on more tightly. She knew the dangers of this world. She had been the one going to make sure he kept safe, and then she didn't even pay any attention to herself!

He took in a breath. He didn't want to be angry at her. He loved her, for god's sake. Wait…he loved her? He hadn't expected that mental wording.

Pausing, he told himself to think about his spontaneous thought when he had more free time to devote to it. Right now, he found his 'audience' assessing his words, and amidst all the uncertain faces and noises emitted from them, he could see Sorcerymon going to speak.

"I don't think you quite understand the gravity of what happened," Sorcerymon said.

"Were many Digimon hurt?" Ayaka asked, her voice fraught with worry.

"I sincerely hope not," Mercurymon huffed, clearly ready to pour scorn on the Tamers by his tone of voice.

"I definitely leapt clear at that blooming noise," Starmon noted. "Thank Christ my pub's on the other side of town. Think of all the poor sods who haven't got a home now. My pub'll be dispensing beers on the house for months."

"I had a feeling this was a bad idea," the large, green, mirror-laden Digimon said forebodingly.

"We'll fix it," Matt stepped in, representing 'his' Tamers. "Whatever we have to do, we'll get that dish back up again."

"You're daft to think it'd be that simple," Datamon interjected.

"What do you mean?" Jaarin asked. The small, robotic Digimon rose a finger to speak, but the world around them began to illustrate far faster what he planned to say.

As quickly as day turned to night, the grass beneath them turned to sand.

Every flower, every blade, every little thing that had made this beautiful meadow so attractive when they had arrived, was now replaced with uniform, dull sand, in a long wave that swept towards the village, converting all the ground in sight. Kazu lifted his foot, tapping down into the substance in shock.

"That's…" he began, but couldn't finish.

"The weather machine is what kept this meadow here. It's what kept us safe," Sorcerymon explained, as loose winds gusted over the sand, kicking it up into the air. "Without the rain to keep it perpetually running, it's falling away."

"Worse still, thanks to your blundering stupidity, we will all now be torn asunder," Mercurymon added. "Look!"

As he raised a mirrored hand to point, the ground began to rumble, before the sound took manifest on the sand's surface. All across it, little pockets began to shift, forms breaking free from their captivity.

Kazu's mind hurried to identify the Digimon, some of whom he had only seen before in cards. A horde of Scorpiomon surrounded several Cerberumon, howling to the air with their three hound mouths. Humanoid forms grew upwards from the sand, the effect like a zombie, Loweemon arising from the sand. The bird-like wings of a dozen purple Velgemon fluttered into the air for the first time in who-knew-how long, screams of insanity from their beaks. At the centre of it all, a huge pair of sharp gold wings surrounded a black lion-like form, flanked by brown and gold similar Digimon.

AncientSphinxmon with a triad of JagerLoweemon.

The army from the sand, filling the newfound desert, although with how they began to beset upon each other, Kazu suspected they were rather less controlled than he had originally feared.

"They…look…pissed," Jun summed up the feelings of all concerned.

"Guys…I think this is our time to run," Matt said, his voice beset with worry as he took a step back.

"Are you kidding me? We can fight them!" Impmon insisted, punching a fist into a hand. "I beat a thousand uglier things than that in the past!"

"The yellow-haired one is right – if we get inside Bolton, we might be able to shield ourselves," Sorcerymon assessed.

"How?" Jaarin asked.

"Back in Yggdrasil's time, we relied on his holy technology to put a shield around us," Mercurymon explained. "We shall have to use it once again."

"Fair doos, but with the amount of power t'city has now the weather machine's broken, I wouldn't bet it'll last too long."

The ground suddenly rumbled as AncientSphinxmon roared, rearing up before crashing his mind legs down. "DARK BLAST!" A dark energy orb swept out from his mouth, sweeping through an assortment of Scorpiomon, Loweemon and Cerberumon, many already at each other's necks. The data swept into him, and there were plenty more random Digimon to get, the horde filling the desert as far as the eye could see.

"It's better than nothing!" Kazu decided, pointing towards the town. "We need to get out of here right now," he announced.

"He's right…we need to get over there, activate the shield and then start fighting back," Matt insisted. "No-one has to die over this!"

A horde of Scorpiomon rushed towards the group, making their escape plan increasingly look threatened. A squeal of pain came from MarineAngemon's lips before he emitted a huge love-heart around the massive group of Digimon and Humans, it lifting lightly into the air and drawing the attention (and fire) of many of the Army of Sand.

As the combination of Velgemon beaks and Impmon's fists pounded at the outside and inside of the bubble respectively, its sides wobbled worryingly. It floated back into the town and flexed around the buildings, the sand Digimon disappearing from sight behind the huge form of the funnel.

The bubble finally popped, Kazu landing back on the hard concrete again with much appreciation before looking about. Some went off to go and activate the shield, others gawked at the sight of the funnel, the flattened forms of a great many buildings eking out from its bottom like squashed fruit.

But Kazu simply wandered towards Ayaka, who stared back into his eyes, both in common agreement over one very important thing.

"We really screwed up, didn't we?"

* * *

**Henry Wong**

* * *

"I was wondering if there was any chance we could borrow your dojo." Chikara was led the talking, talking to a figure who Henry had first mistaken for a Taomon, a case of mistaken identity quickly suspended by a few things. Firstly, there was the lack of paintbrush in his hefty fists, the short-like wear, the muscular and masculine body and the sterner eye. And secondly, perhaps more obviously, there was the voice.

"Hmm," the deep voice let loose, even the simplest of exclamations coming with a deep, booming bravado. "For what purpose would that be?"

"Let off a bit of steam, pass some time, have a bit of fun…I don't suppose you have any prune juice, by any chance?" For a man who had just learnt about the sinister truth behind the society that existed here, he was surprisingly upbeat in his request.

The Digimon snorted. "Fun? This place is for fighting. Preparing our very best warriors to fight against the horrors of the world beyond these walls," he said, before looking down his short nose at the pair of Tamers and Digimon. "Horrors which on this very night have descended to wreak havoc with our ancient castes."

"Geez, you sound like you're from a movie."

"Terriermon!" _"I am never getting a career as a negotiator."_ Yet another career Henry had to strike off his list.

"A movie?"

"Never mind. You gonna open up? 'cause you know how this'll end anyhow. Come on, we'll have this banter, then you'll open those pretty little doors, we'll have a bit of a spar, and we'll all collapse down tired," Terriermon predicted. "Amirite?"

"Uh, I think you just made him a bit madder Terriermon. And are you sure all that stuff's gonna happen?" Armadillomon asked, as the warrior's face hardened up.

"Presumptive little rabbit. In our society, we leave our predictions only to those who have shown worthiness, and so we may live by those predictions and prosper. We have survived even the near-total destruction of the Digital World by both the red chaos and the coming together of worlds. We have fought to protect ourselves from it all…to protect the Digital World." He looked Henry in the eyes, the boy tensing up a bit under the gaze. He felt like a child being told off by the headmaster.

Glancing away for just one moment to escape the burning stare, he noticed his D-Vice blaring out a few choice details. **Taijimon, Data Type, Ultimate Level**. And a rather long list of attacks, which almost made him gulp given the fierce anger behind the Digimon's voice.

"And yet the arrival of your people…you judge us. And yet, I am no ordinary Digimon in this village – I know of humans and your actions. I am one of the Priestess' inner sanctum, I am The Warrior of our village, and I am kept well aware of events and the nature of our two worlds. I have lived past the death of the old Priestess, and witnessed our fledgling ruler stumble through so much hell and high water with sheer incompetence. But I have loyalty and trust to her, and I will _not_ watch her be shamed."

"What, so taking innocent humans and imprisoning them to what is basically death is right?" Cody's voice heated up greatly, as his grandfather looked on in surprise.

"They gave their lives to a higher cause."

"You took their lives."

Taijimon glared into Cody's eyes, the boy staring back with almost the same force. Given the rather substantial height and build difference between the pair, it was a fair sight to behold, and eventually, quite surprisingly, Taijimon's glare faltered. "We all give our lives for something," he said, yet his head moved aside somewhat, as if he wasn't ready to meet the boy head on again. "What is your name?"

The fifteen year-old was caught off guard by the question at first, before replying with "Cody Hida."

"What have you given your life for?"

"Well…I wouldn't ever put it like that, but I want to protect my friends…and my world. I can't stand seeing innocent people suffer."

"And would you give your life for it?"

The boy's glare had dissipated completely, his eyes instead looking contemplative and unsure, while his grandfather, if caught similarly by surprise, didn't show it as much as Henry expected. "I've never thought about it. If it was to protect my friends…I guess I would." Henry knew he couldn't answer any differently himself. Whenever he and his friends had been in danger, they'd always tried to distance themselves enough from it. Sure, Rika had a habit of hot-headedly running into things with the result usually of almost killing herself, even more so ever since she had first become Sakuyamon and taken on a strange new attitude towards the world. While Takato…Takato's death, if ever, would surely be the result of one of his typically Goggleheaded plans failing, but Henry suspected it would be to protect his friends.

He shuddered at the concept of any of his friends dying. They always tried to stick the concept so far from themselves. Even Chiyo's death had been a shock. But, alas, she had been their enemy. What Taijimon was talking about was actively giving one's life for something. Thinking in advance, Henry found himself unable to stomach it. How could he let himself be killed?

He found himself disgusted by his own reaction. Takato would give his life without a moment's notice to save a friend. Maybe that was it though, maybe you couldn't think about it in advance. _"If we did…maybe we'd just all go mad."_

"You lack bravery. But you have spirit. Besides The Priestess' horrid attitude, no others dare to speak back to me here," The Warrior replied, taking a brief pause before shunting the heavy wooden sliding door aside completely with what looked like barely a slight tap. "Enter."

Cody seemed to recover from the surprise first, glancing to his grandfather before bowing lightly in appreciation to the Digimon, entering the dojo. Henry mimicked him, and one by one they stepped forth into the room.

It was not wide. Not wider than any of the other houses, at least. But it was long, exceptionally long, with doors at the ends leading him to suspect there were other rooms beside it. The room, like most in the village, seemed so…bare. Wardrobes by the doors at the end of the room, submerged into the wall, were the only telling sign of homeliness.

At least, that and the thousands of scratches and pock marks on the doors, walls, floor, everywhere.

"The aggregate of a thousand spars," Taijimon lectured, noticing Henry's downward gaze at a particularly large crack. "Every one created by a proud warrior. Male or female, we have no preference. But, nonetheless, only the females ever ascend to the highest echelons of warrior hood."

"How do you fight here?" Chikara asked.

"Using our attacks, weapons, our fists…every single Renamon or Renardmon I have ever trained, whether Light or Dark, is prepared for any combat situation with whatever they have available. They will never give up the fight so long as they have an ounce of their digi-core remaining. And I do not allow them to ever resort to their special attacks either…as much as the new Renamon regularly seem quite prone to it at first. This is a level playing field for both genders. I leave others to deal with their spiritual needs."

"Hmm," the grandfather mused. "Do you deal with martial arts?"

The Digimon nodded. "Passed down through ages, yes. Their inventor is unknown, but their power is great. Power with care, power with restraint and precision."

"I feel like I'm hearing two of Cody's grandfather talking here," Armadillomon noted quietly to Henry and Terriermon, a disdainful look on his face.

"You may spar here, if you wish, to 'have a bit of a spar' as the rabbit puts it," The Warrior said, gesturing to the end wardrobes. "We have an array of equipment and weaponry if you should wish to use it, for every art at our disposal."

"Thank you for your kindness," Chikara nodded in respect, before turning to his grandson. "Would you like to spar?"

The boy opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Taijimon putting his hand up. "If it would be okay, I would like to be the first to contest with the child," he swung his eyes from the grandfather to the grandson. "I would like to see how far I can stretch his courage."

Cody looked uneasily to the Digimon, and then to Chikara.

"Do not worry, he won't be harmed."

"They always say that."

"Terriermon!"

* * *

Henry couldn't help but hold back a bit of his strength as he swung the shinai – his Kendo 'sword' – at the older man. He was in a bad enough state already, and even though he had a bit more colour back in his face, Henry could tell he was still weak. Just what was wrong with him?

The man's rod ricocheted off of Henry's men – his facemask – and he doubled back. He wasn't so used to Kendo as other martial arts, but he knew he was slacking, and Chikara didn't pause to point it out.

"You're not using your full strength."

"I'm a bit distracted."

"Come on Henry, whack him one!" Terriermon yelled from the sidelines, the teen glancing aside with a glare before returning to look at his current Sensei.

"By him?" the man asked, but the blue-haired boy shook his head.

"You're not looking too well."

"If you were genuinely that worried for me, you wouldn't have begun to spar. I don't believe that is what is distracting you, Henry."

"_Perceptive point," _Henry mused, wondering just how easily he was showing his cards to the word. Or maybe Cody had said something. But what, he didn't know – Cody knew little of his current (or rather, months-long) dilemma. "Imagine someone keeps telling you you're something really important…but…you can't rise to those expectations."

"Someone?"

"Well, everyone."

"And something?"

Henry paused, letting his grip on his shinai loosen slightly as he chewed his lip. He looked across as a shinai barely missed Taijimon, the boy evidently a lot better at the martial art than Henry himself. The Warrior nodded in appreciation, before catching the boy off guard with his replying shot.

"How much has Cody told you about our group?"

"He had told me that you are an Angel, of sorts."

"I'm surprised he told anyone that. Most people would call him insane if they heard."

"He has simply told me, or at least, I believe that is what he's done. I imagine you confide in your Sensei, do you not?"

"Yeah, I do. It's nice to have someone outside your life to tell things you couldn't tell anyone who would actually really make a difference."

"It's not the same for Cody and me, as I am his grandfather, and his mother regularly tries to find out what I have been told." A light smile crept onto the man's face. "But he has my trust, and I would not abuse it."

"I see."

"Now, what is bothering you?"

"I don't think it is real."

"How do you know it is real?"

"I…I don't know. Last year, I got in trouble. Big trouble. And the only way to solve it was to awaken me as an Angel. My friend, Rei, she's a time traveller – so she knows about things none of us know yet. She told me I was an Angel…simply doing that is enough to force us awake. But I don't think it worked. I think it went really wrong."

"Do you have any evidence that it worked?"

"I can't hear foreign languages any more. I spent ages on the net, seeing just how much knowledge I couldn't access before. It's this ability – this 'Babel fish', as Ryder always calls it. But he has it, and Mari has it, and so does Rei. It's not unique. None of what I have is unique. Ryder can play with time and probability. Mari can manipulate space and coincidence. You could write a whole book on what Rei can do. But me…after all these months, nothing has happened. At first, I was afraid I might accidentally kill someone, unleash whatever I can do at the wrong moment."

As he pondered, Henry's mind chanced upon his ideas about the laptop. Maybe…maybe that had something to do with it? They had seemed to have come out of thin air, although ideas usually did. But it was a pretty useless power if it was – particularly since Ryder's and Mari's, by comparison, had proved to be exceptionally useful both in and out of battle, even if rather tiring for them to use in any significant way.

"So are you afraid you'll kill someone now? Is that why you're holding back on me?"

"I really just try and forget it all. I'm really just worried that one day I'll let people down when they're depending on me the most."

"Has anyone ever let you down when you're depending on them?"

Henry paused, chewing his lip as he let his shinai fall to touch the floor. Cody's grandfather failed to take the opportunity for an easy shot, his eyes instead seeming to pore over every detail of the boy's face. It was something he found rather unnerving, in fact, and somewhat like Renamon's ultra-perception.

"Possibly." From small moments in battle where a shot that could've been blocked had been missed by an ally's mistake, to the at-the-time hurtful loss of their partners to his father's mistake, the feeling of being let down wasn't unfamiliar to him.

"You're still alive."

Henry had to nod, for obvious reasons, but it was true. He'd never truly been badly harmed, or even permanently harmed, from such a let-down. He lived with dependable people on the most part too. "Just because the past says something doesn't mean the future will be the same." And he found his own failure far more probable than those of his fellow Tamers.

"Hmm," the man mumbled. "But still, it is worth contemplating that…"

A loud smack sounded upon the air as weapon met weapon.

Henry had thrown up his shinai at the last moment as the older man's rocketed for him, almost crashing into his helmet and catching him completely off-guard. The man looked at him, first with a deadly serious gaze, and then a rather lighter, smiling one.

"I never usually attack in the middle of talking, much less stop talking."

"I know, I wasn't prepared for that at all," said Henry, his breath still short from surprise.

"But you still stopped it."

"Barely."

"Is there any difference?"

"I'm more out of breath now."

The man shook his head. "No more than you usually are when fighting. You're just surprised. When things happen that we don't expect to happen, we all fear that we won't be able to react in time. A car swerving towards you, your baby grandson using his spoon to launch his food at you – life is full of things we think one day we won't see in time. Things that we don't know about. Things that we haven't seen before. Somehow, I don't think you were expecting what you learnt about today from The Priestess."

"It's something I'd never even thought of. I still can't really take in the idea without cringing. I was meaning to ask: you barely blinked when you heard about it. Doesn't it surprise you at all?"

"Why should the unexpected surprise us? Even if it does, why shouldn't we be able to react in time? You did just now with your shinai, and I'm pretty certain you would do if your friends were ever depending on you."

"But what if I don't?"

"Then your friends should have your back. Very few things can end the world Henry…" he began, before his lungs rattled him into a cough. "Even this horrible illness," he said, still with a smile in spite of the clear pain he was in. "I think we should make this our last round."

"Henry, this is boooooorrrinnng! Whack him one!" Terriermon called from the sidelines, Henry sighing and pressing his hand against his head.

"Yeah, okay." If only because Terriermon needed to be silenced, and his shinai was right now otherwise occupied…

And so, weapon cluttered against weapon once again.

* * *

**Cody Hida**

* * *

"I'm very impressed, but I still feel you hold back."

"I've never been that aggressive."

"I did not say anything about aggression. I can tell you are constantly holding your fire, afraid of hurting me. You do realise my level and power? I have to handle so many fiery characters here who are so full of aggression they feel fit to release it on me every moment they can, and then ask why they fail so miserably. Aggression does not come into this. What you are doing is more like cowardice. Now hit me."

Cody paused as he looked over the stern figure in front of him. He never tried to hurt his grandfather, although they'd inevitably had their fair share of scrapes in the past, ones forgotten about quickly with only the odd stern frown from his mother. He always aimed to hit just as hard as he needed to in order to succeed, no more, no less – that was how he had been taught. That was all he had needed to have done so far against the Taijimon, and he was more than holding his own.

But he knew in his own mind that hurting this fellow would be rather difficult, and that any pain would be more likely to be welcomed than reviled at this particular juncture.

He threw himself forward with all his might, driving the shinai towards the Digimon…

But completely missing. Before he could think, the Digimon delivered a reply back to him, albeit it was a fairly painless affair.

When his eyes finally met those of The Warrior again, through two Men, he saw a smirk. "I lied. The aggressive ones are the best. And those who fall for their opponent's taunts are the worst."

It had been a trick. A trick he wasn't quite expecting in what, up until then, had been a fairly fair duel, briefly broken by the odd pep talk and cheer from Armadillomon.

"I thought humans were masters at deception. Especially self-deception. Looking onto your kind is like looking into a shaken lake – you see all of it but it sees merely a splintered view of yourself."

Even though he agreed with much of what Taijimon said, Cody still felt the need to defend his race. "Digimon aren't that different."

"Digimon are the same. But in this village…we see a lot more than most Digimon. The barriers of god and priestess which protect this village prevent outside forces from obscuring what the highest of our kind see. And what we see makes no sense."

Cody nodded, remembering something he had planned to ask about at the time. "You mentioned the 'coming together of worlds'. We call it the Cataclysm, but we didn't think anyone knew about it but us?"

"Cataclysmic doesn't go far enough. Neither does paroxysmal. The whole world is cracked. The world is wrong. In every action, every reaction, everything we see from this village, there are problems. You should not even be in this realm, but you are. And no-one even questions it. Four worlds collapsed unto one, and no-one notices. Sense has been discarded on the altar of convenience."

"I know what you mean. I'm still not quite sure how, but all of our Tamers remember everything."

"Your parents do not. I assume that the whole of the rest of your world is like that."

Cody nodded.

"Do you ever wonder quite what could cause such a convenience?"

The boy paused. Certainly, while they had dwelled on it plenty in the past, eventually they had put it down to one simple explanation. "I thought that the world simply ended up like that because, well, otherwise things simply couldn't exist. People couldn't remember four past lives."

"Do you really think the world caters to small minded humans? That every atom and speck of data in the universe serves to perpetuate your world view? If so, then I pity you. Something bigger is afoot here, something well beyond even our perception."

"Like what?"

"As I just said, it is beyond our perception. I talk to the Priestess about it, but she barely seems to listen to it – the holy, narcissistic child. After this evening's façade, I doubt she will ever listen to me about it. This is what puzzles me about almost everyone I have ever met – they prioritise the less important so much."

"Yeah, but…if we always live in what's really complicated, we miss out on the simple things in life. Like love, or fun, or whatever."

Taijimon's face showed little sign of warming to Cody's point of view. "Your world has much poverty, does it not?"

"Yeah."

"And do you help?"

"Yeah. Our school does a lot of charity things, and I always try and help out. We've raised a lot of money over the years."

Taijimon snorted. "And yet you miss the bigger picture. Sure, you help the one or the two, in those simple ways that my insights into the human world from Taomon and Sakuyamon have given me, but poverty remains. The complicated answers are ignored because humans are far too…simple to even begin to consider them. Digimon aren't much better – thanks to their constant thirst for power, we have lost out on a more advanced society like yours and descended largely into anarchy with pockets of order, whereas I believe your world is the opposite. We are too busy killing each other as a way of individualism, while you kill each other as armies and as movements."

"So what are these complicated answers meant to be then?" Cody found it harder and harder to keep up as the Digimon continued on, there being logic behind his words but it being from an oddly-removed point of view. It was like how he used to hear from his friends he had met around the world back when they had been fighting off Oikawa but was never able to mentally picture the lives they left, so similar yet so different from his own. Of course, since the cataclysm, all their letters had ceased, a fact he rather mourned. It was yet another 'crack' in their universe.

"With poverty, the way you lead your lives, and the way you let others lead theirs and control yours…from this distance I can almost laugh at the hypocrisy. One step forward, two back. So maybe one day you will find the solution, the more complicated route, but it would take a step-change in your lives, a completely different way of living and looking at your world. People and Digimon alike have a habit of avoiding that bigger picture and hoping things will resolve themselves. And they might, but further problems will only result. If you ignore the cataclysm for too long, we might just see the true power of whatever force it is that puts almost every being in existence beyond the ability to even see it. There may be resolution, but I somehow doubt you would like it."

Cody paused again. What was he meant to do? This higher-order thinking was nice and contemplative, but he found himself unable to really get any answers from it. Who was he to challenge the way the universe worked? Although, Taijimon seemed to have no qualms in challenging his idea that this was simply the way the universe worked in the first place.

"Just a thought," The Warrior replied, as the boy's pause turned out to be rather longer than he had thought. "Look beyond the end of your nose. Now…as much as you may believe I enjoy thinking about all this, I would much rather return to our sparring. After all…I cannot deny that the 'simple' provides a lovely distraction from the 'complicated'."

"So this is where you ran off to," a voice called in, the 'simple' once again returning to dominate their lives and thinking as Cody's mother stepped into the room. "I was worried sick Dad," she said, Dr Imai sliding the door closed just behind her. Cody's eyes trailed across to his grandfather, now beginning to undress from his outfit, his face paled again and his expression dour.

"I needed a break from sleeping." In spite of the boy's worry for his mentor, he still found himself amused by the way the man seemed like a teenager being told off.

"You have no idea how many patients tell me that when I catch them watching TV," Fumiko sighed, before walking over to the man. "I think I need to give you a check-up. Although, from the way your face is looking, I'd say you need to rest again," the doctor presumed. "Kendo, right?"

"Yeah," Henry said, looking rather guilty as he removed his Men, leaving in on the floor with the rest of his outfit. "I hope I wasn't too rough with him," he said, his eyes flicking to the doctor, Cody's mother and Cody himself as he said it. Terriermon was back on the blue-haired boy's shoulder in a flash.

"You were fine," Cody's grandfather assured, while his mother was quickly occupied with unease at the muscular Digimon whose presence seemed to rather dominate the room, without even a word being said.

"I don't think we've been introduced."

"My name is The Warrior, and I am a Taijimon, responsible for the upkeep of this Dojo and training of our elite warriors. From your appearance, I believe you are Cody's mother, are you not?" There was that perception again.

"Yeah," she said, looking uneasily across to Cody for support. Like all the parents, she still seemed to find the masses of Digimon around them hard to deal with, particularly ones who looked able to snap a human in half like a twig without breaking a sweat.

"He is a fine young warrior, and I am impressed with his technique and attitude, although he still has much to learn. And, from what I have seen of your father, he is fairly wise, and a strong fighter, particular since I believe a human's physical capabilities tend to taper off in later life?"

"Uh…I'm glad to hear that."

"Go on then, if I must return to that room again," Cody's grandfather said, frowning and putting his hand out to the doctor. "Have you had any more ideas what this could be yet?"

Fumiko shook her head. "If I did I'd have said by now. Maybe you were already ill?"

"I did feel slightly off, but by no means was it this bad," Chikara mused.

"This is the Digital World – your illness could be affected by that," Henry suggested, as he began to, for the first time (to his surprise), ponder exactly what did happen to those tiny little microbes when they came to this world. For that matter, what would happen to the (doubtless multitude) of insects and perhaps even some larger animals which would've inevitably wandered into the portal beneath the hideout. Were they digitised like humans were? Would they act the same?

"If that were the case, I'm afraid I'd need to do a lot more research and testing, and I really don't have the facilities here to do anything. If we could get you home, maybe…and maybe then the disease might even just vanish on its own, or return to how it once was," Dr Imai said, before groaning. "I really have no idea. But I think we need to start with a bit more rest. It looks like it helped you earlier to get a bit of your health back."

"Yes, it did. But, first could I possibly have a bite to eat?" Chikara suggested, clearing his throat mid-speech. "I saw plenty of plates on the way out here, and they smell as good as the best cooking I have ever had." He turned to face The Warrior. "Would you care to join us?"

The Warrior paused briefly. "I may not approve of all humans, but a fellow martial artist is a step above your average human. I accept your offer. In any case, I feel the need to eat to calm my nerves – we Digimon may not need food for sustenance beyond healing battle wounds, but the pleasure from eating is certainly not something I would immediately turn down."

"Great – lead the way."

* * *

**Suzie Wong**

* * *

"Yggdrasil's death knocked this system out of commission," Datamon explained as he played with controls inside the transmission station. The light beaming in from outside was now rather changed from before, the drab tones replaced with an optimistic (and thus ironic) brightness. A few pieces of old-looking equipment inside the station still worked, as did the lights (before they had turned them off to save power), but it was clear they were running on reserves from the odd flicker here and there. The dial on the feed from the Weather Machine's generators registered a flat zero.

"Can you get it working again?" Jaarin asked, as Suzie looked up to her bigger sister and knew they shared the same hope here. She could still feel her skin crawling from the sight of all those Digimon mere moments before, and the dread she now had every time she thought about the D-Reaper (an experience at the time she was rather too young to fully contemplate) was creeping up on her fast. Antylamon stood by the door with Rosemon and MarineAngemon, keeping a constant watch on the outside.

"Hopefully, but it won't last too long – it uses a lot of power that only Yggdrasil could provide permanently. After he left, we had to find a different solution, and it worked perfectly until today. You know I'm blaming every one of you for this bull's up. We were fine until you all dropped out of the sky."

"Blame us later," Kenta insisted, as the soaring noise of missiles from MetalGarurumon screamed in from the door. Explosions rang upon the air, a good sign no doubt, but weighed out by the constant noise of attacks from the horde of enemies, both on their own kind and on the townspeople.

"Digimon are dying out there," Miki agreed, sheer horror in her voice. The reality of what was going on, and the death that was fast-resulting, was clearly a lot for her to take in.

"It'll just take a few more moments," Datamon said, some lights dying and others alighting for the first time in ages as his hands played across the various panels at his mercy. Finally, with a great groan, the lights stopped changing, and the sound from outside became rather more muffled, the light streaming in taking a haunting blood red tint. Suzie first went to clasp Lopmon, but had to fall back on grabbing her sister's leg. It was like a sick horror movie.

"Sounds better," Jaarin mused, looking down to her sister. "Are you okay Suzie?"

"Yeah. But how long are we safe?"

"A few hours, if that," Datamon answered for her. "And don't think t'lights or anything will work now – every ounce of power in this system is going into that shield, and with that army attacking us I wouldn't count on it lasting forever. I'd love a load of Royal Knights to come save us now…the creatures of t'desert kept down in fear of those guys. When they went, they all just came and attacked us…wanted all of our data. Without t'Weather Machine, we wouldn't be here. If you humans don't solve this, and fast, you're going to have a lorry-load of murders on your hands."

"Hey, talking like that isn't going to help things," Palmon said from within Rosemon.

"Yeah – we need to fix the machine as fast as we can."

"A few hours is a few hours to regroup and get ready to fight them off," Kenta agreed, although there was a clear level of fear in his voice that left Suzie unnerved. Sure, Kenta wasn't exactly the bravest in their group, but he'd come a long way. Suzie found herself admiring pretty much every other Tamer than herself, in fact – everyone else seemed to have it together. While she did want to blame her family for constantly babying her, she knew it was a tad unfair.

Now was her time to prove herself. It couldn't have been in worse circumstances.

She looked to her sister again, the woman physically shaking with worry, her eyes quickly hopping from the Digimon to the dials to the light streaming in. "We'll beat this," she insisted, clasping Jaarin's hand. "Lopmon and me will hold them off if we have to. Even if they are really scary-looking things."

Jaarin looked down, simply nodding, her face half-surprised and half-doubtful, her lips pursed. "Please don't get hurt…I don't know how I'd ever be able to look mom and dad in the eyes again."

"Beelzemon's beating on the edge of the shield," Rosemon said, an unimpressed tone to her voice. "Doesn't he realise he isn't going to get anywhere like this?"

"He's worried for Ai and Mako," Antylamon answered.

"We're all worried about everyone back home," Miki said. "I'm worried about Jeri, and Takato, and all the others too."

"I'm betting they're really worried about us too. I don't really want to justify those worries," Kenta said, frowning deeply.

"We need to all get back together and work out what we're going to do then," Mimi said, Rosemon gesturing out. "Let's find Matt and the others, stop Beelzemon punching the air, and try and fix this Weather Machine," she ordered, to nods from all those in the group who could actually contribute.

"Good luck," Jaarin said, her eyes particularly tracing over her little sister as she said it. "I'm not sure there's much I can do to help you guys other than stay here and keep an eye on the equipment."

Miki nodded in agreement, looking uneasily to Kenta. "Please don't get yourself killed."

"We'll be fine," Kenta said as MarineAngemon returned to his shoulder, chirping in hollow agreement.

"I really just hope that Ayaka is smart enough to keep out of harm's way and come here too," Miki said, frowning.

* * *

**Jeff Newman**

* * *

"Looks like we're not alone in this game," was the 'good news' that Jeff heard as he returned to his team of Monster Makers, sitting around with rather proud faces as Lindsay gestured to a computer screen with a smile. On it, another IP address was shown below their own with its further details dissected in a pop up window and compared with another rather familiar set of 0s and 1s, entirely lit up in green to show their similarity. "Shibumi's usual surprising work, and signed too. God only knows what sort of supercomputer he's managed to find out there. Haven't yet managed to get a message through to him yet, but we're t…" she said, before her smile collapsed once she saw Jeff's full expression.

"The government is shutting us down," was, unfortunately, Jeff's bad news in reply.

"What?" Babel exclaimed, standing up from his chair, and almost knocking his breakfast coffee over. "Why?"

"They think we had something to do with the murder in Japan. Or, at least, the rest of the world does, and until they've finished 'investigating' us SDCO is out of business," Jeff's hands stayed in the pockets of his suit, his lip well and truly chewed. "FBI agents will arrive soon to 'ensure compliance'," he said, raising his fingers in inverted commas.

"Well, I'm sorry if that puts you out of business, but we're not part of your operation," Lindsay said, rising from her chair and picking up her coat from the back of it. Evidently, she wasn't ready to be manhandled into closing down their rescue efforts, and Jeff didn't blame her, which made it significantly harder to tell her the worse news.

"They're shutting down this building and everyone in it is being arrested, along with anyone connected to our work and projects. I don't know how Rayleigh is doing this – this government just shouldn't be folding this fast to that pressure – but I get the feeling he doesn't want anyone messing in his affairs."

"We're being arrested?" asked Michael as he and Willis stepped into the room, a soda can in hand and the same worried and confused expression on their faces.

"I'm afraid so. But I don't think they'll have any evidence to bring most of us down with. The problem is, we won't be able to act or do anything to sort this all out until this is over,"

"Wow, my mom is going to go nuts when she hears about this," Willis said, pressing his hand into his forehead.

"How long do we have until the FBI's men arrive?" Rai asked, while the sound of fingernails tapping anxiously against a desk came from someone in the room.

"An hour at best, and I was told that there'd be severe ramifications if we resist arrest."

Rai glanced to her two Monster Maker colleagues, a nod passing between them before they returned to their chairs and turned back to their computers, fingers tapping away furiously and all dialogue (and breakfast eating) ceasing. Jeff stood and watched, resisting the urge to scratch his head.

"What are you doing?"

"An hour is a lot of time to get stuff done," Lindsay answered, never once turning her head back to face the man.

"Yeah. Make sure my mom and family are alright, get in contact with a few old friends, and, of course, see just how far we can reduce Rayleigh's pay scale before he shuts us down," Babel explained, his multiple monitors displaying a ridiculous number of applications at the same time.

"And we can still try and get through to everyone in the Digital World," said Rai. "This equipment isn't anywhere near as good at scanning the Digital World's surface as what we have back at Hypnos. Looks like hacking there is our first priority."

Watching them, Jeff couldn't help but be impressed, although he had the feeling the investigators on their way might well count this as 'resisting arrest' if they were to find out about it. Would they be successful with anything substantial in time? The Hypnos system had stood up to pretty much everything they'd thrown at it with its improved security system.

"Hmm, that's weird," said Rai, as the tapping of her keys stopped all of a sudden, and she tilted her head at her screen. "Very weird."

"What is it?" Babel asked, all tapping in the room ceasing altogether as Lindsay, Jeff and Babel began to stare over their colleague's shoulder at the data on the screen. It resembled a map, but not like any map one would normally see. Instead, it looked more like one of those false-colour satellite images, with colours ranging from green to red – the amount of data in that given area of the Digital World. Jeff was pretty used to seeing this map by now, and while it didn't quite match the high-resolution imagery Hypnos' secretive systems provided, such was not necessary to see the bewildering sight on the image.

Various black circles swarmed across the map. They looked stationary, but were evidently not, as trails of 'green' followed their path even in otherwise 'red' areas of the map.

"Looks like they're taking up data as they move. Just what are they?" Lindsay asked, as Michael and Willis joined them in looking at the display.

"I can't quite tell. If we can get into Hypnos, we might be able to send a probe down there and find out what they are," Rai suggested.

"Do you think the Tamers out there are in trouble?" Michael asked worriedly.

"No idea."

"Black, shadowy dots taking up data…I'd be surprised if they weren't dangerous. We need to warn our friends," Babel said, turning back around to move his computer chair back to where it belonged. But, before he did so, he froze. "What the hell?"

Jeff swung round, caught off guard by the man's loud shout. He went to ask what was wrong, but quickly realised he didn't need to.

As sounds of disgust emanated from Lindsay's lips, Jeff couldn't help but be mesmerised by the images he saw, all clear as day and in full colour, even if that colour only helped to increase the impact of the gory sight before their eyes.

A body on the floor, the gun in a brunette's hand, the shot from off to the side but showing practically everything there was to see.

In the next, blood pouring everywhere, seeping down through cracks in the paving and being soaked up in the grass of the park. A close up of the glazed eyes, the wound, the bullet lodged therein and the screaming agony on her face. These images weren't all from the exact same time, but together they pained a truly horrible picture, making the words down the side on one of the screens almost completely unnecessary.

**The Murder of Chiyo Suzume**

**24****th**** October 2010**

**If you are reading this, then you have dug too deep, and you have left me no choice but to show you your wrongdoing. This collection of images shows the dark side of your Tamers, the people you rely on so much to keep your world safe, even when they have twice killed humans in order to do so. The Tamers who are backed up by the Japanese Government, a government so afraid of genuine justice and a true solution to the problems that the Digital World poses us that it prefers to fund a group of potential rogues, simply out of its own fear. This situation benefits no-one, and if we allow it to continue it shall kill us all. So I have acted to destroy the Tamers once and for all, and to have them tried for their crimes. Humanity will never need to fall back on the monsters that seek to destroy us again. The governments of the world have failed to protect us, but I will ensure that humans never again have to pretend that murder can be justified. But, I can't let you delve into this system any further. Assuming that your actions, however, demonstrate outsider interference in my work, I regret to inform you that this message will now be released to everyone who tries to access our systems as a warning, and that security protocol 29 has been activated, shutting down the external link into the computers of our organisation. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. **

"Rayleigh?" Michael asked.

"Seems like it," answered Jeff.

Lindsay turned on her heels to look away from the images. "It's making me feel sick. The Tamers did what they did for the right reasons…I know they did. Chiyo was going to kill them all."

"It's a security blanket," Jeff mused, frowning as Curly locked his screen to hide the disturbing images. "I wondered why it was so easy to hack this far."

"The link is down," Rai noted as she returned to her own terminal to find her image of the Digital World had frozen up, a frown on her face and the feeling of defeat heavy in the room. "Looks like he was telling the truth."

"I thought that map was from our own systems?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Then even worse – our internet connection is gone," Lindsay explained.

"The FBI isn't taking any chances," said Curly, the three programmers now facing Jeff from their spinning chairs in the middle of the room, as he was forced to concede defeat.

"Then that's it. There's nothing we can do. Sorry."

It was over.

The image of Mari's face flashed across his mind, along with that of all the other Tamers he could remember. His own parents, all of his programmers downstairs, his colleagues at Hypnos and all the Monster Makers…he'd failed them all. But most of all, his mind returned to that thought of Mari, the girl in his care who he had let go back into the wide open world, and seemed more and more likely now to be destroyed by it.

"_God save her soul."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Woo, my exams are finally over!

Except, I'm off on holiday tomorrow for two weeks, so this'll again be the last update for a while. I've had to hold over the big scene at the end of this chapter until next time, but I assure you it will be well worth the wait. Anyhow, apologies if I have taken a while to reply to reviews and PMs lately, but I hope you understood my situation and weren't too offended. Feel free to email or PM me if I've completely forgotten to respond to you about something. I'm aiming to finish Book Seven this summer, and once I'm over this middle bit with a lot of scenes from various places to deal with it hopefully should get a lot easier.

Until next time,

B.C.


	37. Phase Two: Clairvoyance

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR**

**Phase Two**

_Clairvoyances_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Riley Ootori**

* * *

"Rayleigh has no appreciation of confidentiality," Eiichi said, almost dismissively, upon seeing the pictures cast upon the laptop's monitor, yet an undertone to his voice let his humanity shine through. This was undoubtedly not the first grisly dead body he had seen, nor was this likely to have been the first time he had seen this collection of photos, the latter a situation shared with everyone else in the room. The morbid convenience, as a result, was that they did not need to explain the situation which led to these pictures to anyone.

Riley's throat flared up. "Chiyo," she heard Tally barely utter.

"What are these pictures doing here? What did you do?" Yamaki asked, looking down to Shibumi at the keyboard.

"I managed to crack the password. I was surprised too: it was remarkably easy, the code was far shorter than the cipher length suggested."

"Almost as if someone _wanted_ us to find these pictures," said Rob. "What was the code?"

"'The Tempest'," Shibumi answered.

"The Shakespearean play," Eiichi explained, raising a hand. "I would put money on that quote from him in Hypnos earlier sharing the same source."

"He's playing games with us," Yamaki said, his voice scathing and annoyed. Riley cast a worried gaze upon him. His hair was ruffled from one too many stressful run-throughs, while dark shadows hung beneath his eyes, almost as dark as the night beyond the doors. The laptop's newfound power, somehow gifted by Henry under 'golden goose' conditions, had given them a chance, but with this new development they had not only lost that hope but also had been left with a sour taste in their mouths, as the text bluntly reminded them of their past actions.

How was this man, in his early 20s, doing this? Riley had met and heard of plenty of prodigies in her life – Yamaki, for one, and she herself was hardly stupid – but this man was beginning to compete with the likes of Einstein and Hawking. It was possible, of course, that he fell into that sort of super-genius category, but didn't people like that try to change things for the better? Or did he genuinely believe what he was doing was right, no matter how sick it was? Did something happen to him to make him this way?

The words hung on the screen, flexing to fit within the space available as the images scrolled across, filling the screen.

**The Murder of Chiyo Suzume**

**24th October 2010**

**If you are reading this, then you have dug too deep, and you have left me no choice but to show you your wrongdoing. This collection of images shows the dark side of your Tamers, the people you rely on so much to keep your world safe, even when they have twice killed humans in order to do so. The Tamers who are backed up by the Japanese Government, a government so afraid of genuine justice and a true solution to the problems that the Digital World poses us that it prefers to fund a group of potential rogues, simply out of its own fear. This situation benefits no-one, and if we allow it to continue it shall kill us all. So I have acted to destroy the Tamers once and for all, and to have them tried for their crimes. Humanity will never need to fall back on the monsters that seek to destroy us again. The governments of the world have failed to protect us, but I will ensure that humans never again have to pretend that murder can be justified. But, I can't let you delve into this system any further. Assuming that your actions, however, demonstrate outsider interference in my work, I regret to inform you that this message will now be released to everyone who tries to access our systems as a warning, and that security protocol 29 has been activated, shutting down the external link into the computers of our organisation. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.**

That penultimate line left no doubt as to the status of their attempts. Hypnos was locked down. Riley knew just how sophisticated the protocol was, not least because she had a lot of involvement in proofing it against every government, zealous hacker and business from Apple to Zimbabwe, and, in the process, against they themselves. The only way to remove that protocol was to be within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building itself – in fact, one would have to be in the Hypnos control room, or at least have an internal link. The precaution, once the Americans and SDCO caught wind of it, did cause some silent controversy and highlighted questions of trust, but their own hacking, ironically undertaken by Rayleigh himself, demonstrated that SDCO had already undertaken a similar move twelve months prior.

You had to know who to trust, or trust no one.

That reality made this job, a programming job permanently entwined with domestic and international security, a lot less exciting than it should've been.

She knew she could trust Yamaki and Tally at least, and perhaps Eiichi, even if he was about as useful within their organisation as (as Yamaki had put it) a tea towel in an oil spill, but the further she went beyond the confines of her own group. The mantra of not entirely trusting the Tamers had been repeated by Rayleigh enough that it was able to have some impact, enough for her to question their involvement within the organisation even if that question was reflexively dismissed.

The trio of her, Yamaki and Tally had worked together for so long they were practically inseparable, and the relationship between her and Yamaki, not least due to its sexual nature, naturally gave them a tighter bond and trust still, even if it had stagnated at the hands of work and fallen, like their day-to-day work, into autopilot. Ironically, this very accidental and unintentional trip to a very dangerous and worrying world had broken the lock of that autopilot greatly, even if Yamaki's worries about what was occurring by far dominated their conversations.

This was a man used to being in control and understanding things, a man who had been elevated to the top job through his intelligence and planning, who was now being challenged by someone far younger than him. Sure, the Tamers had done the same all those years ago, but in that case Yamaki's thinking was clearly flawed and his intentions were, at the end of the day, good even if his means were not. Rayleigh had been using Yamaki as his toy for months, firing and re-hiring him, and using his job and the blonde himself as a stepping stone. At the time, his end goal was unclear, but now…now everything made sense. And, as much as Yamaki preferred to have control, given Rayleigh's seeming invulnerability to authority's attempts to sanction him (turning a hearing into a promotion) Riley highly doubted there was anything he could've done to stop these events.

This trip to this world, a world she had heard so much of but never been to, certainly was a silver lining, particularly for their relationship, as it injected a certain degree of excitement and discovery in their lives. But she wasn't sure if that made up for the hair-pulling stress that they were currently being crushed by.

"What can we do now?" Janyuu finally asked, breaking a long silence of reading and contemplation.

"I could try to access the system, but I don't think Rayleigh's lying about this one," Shibumi mused. "I don't think accessing Hypnos is an option anymore."

"Who else can we contact?" Izzy asked. "Hypnos isn't the only organisation that'll be working on this."

Shibumi nodded. "I noticed that another IP address from the USA was also trying to connect to Hypnos. SDCO at work."

"Can you contact them?" Yamaki asked.

"Their IP address just vanished."

"I don't think they're the kind to give up just like that," Rob said, sighing deeply. "I guess there's only one conclusion we can come to."

"I hope they're alright," Janyuu, his voice thick with worry, prayed.

"Lindsay is meant to be on that side of the states…and, well, without any sign of the remaining two Monster Makers, I'm just hoping that means they're working together." Rob crossed his fingers for all to see.

"So what's the plan then?" Tally asked, looking up to Yamaki, ultimately the decision-maker here even in spite of the lack of an official organisation to bind all of them.

"I don't know." Yamaki paused, glancing to Riley periodically and across the whole of the group. The admission wasn't exactly the most reassuring thing. "By the looks of it we can't rely on Jeff and SDCO, so…I think we're almost out of options."

"Almost?" Eiichi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Pray, tell."

"Don't get your hopes up. I meant unless someone else has any better ideas," Yamaki answered. The reply was a groggy combination of 'hmm's and a few yawns.

"I think we need some rest," Riley finally suggested. "I doubt we can think like this, and we've been working so hard that I don't think anyone would blame us for doing so either."

"But what if someone tries to contact us, or something comes up?" Tally asked.

"I've got a program installed to play and text an alarm if that happens," Izzy replied, before letting loose a slight smile.

"Your late nights aren't obvious at all Izzy," Tentomon quipped dryly, peering over his shoulder as Shibumi nodded and passed the laptop to the redhead.

"As much as I don't want to let my guard down, I could use some sleep," Yamaki said, looking to Riley. Was he accepting the plan because he was tired, or because she suggested it? She'd seen him working hard in far more tired states. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she was pleased he accepted her suggestion regardless.

"We'll approach this with a fresh eye in the morning," Rob McCoy said, albeit there were still tinges of uncertainty in his voice. "Or whatever the morning is here."

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

Matt took a stagger back as a blast of energy ricocheted off the shield next to him with a loud zap-like noise. It wasn't the first time he had heard the sound, but it was far too close for comfort this time. Sense would dictate he, and the others with him, would be wise to move away to a safer place within the town, but he knew they were the front line of defence once the shield fell – unless they could think of any better ideas. But, sealed within this protective dome, they had barely anything to work with on that front, not without leaving the townspeople (who were at risk due to them) in the line of fire.

He glanced right and up, looking to the funnel, now lying on the town like a fallen pin. They'd had enough trouble keeping it up, let alone lifting it up from scratch. There was another problem too: the shield currently meant that the funnel, as it was lifted, would have to pass through it.

"_And breaking that shield could kill us all," _he mused, even though he knew it would break in time anyway. That power wouldn't last forever.

Particularly not with the actions of a certain Demon Lord involved.

"Beelzemon, stop it!" Mimi cried in annoyance, as Beelzemon pushed against the edge of the shield with all his might, it flicking and phasing around him, and, more worryingly, all the way up to the 'roof' of the shield too, zapping sounds following in its wake. Matt could feel the hairs on the back of his neck lift up, although whether it was from worry or the electricity in the air he wasn't sure.

"I can't waste any more time here. Ai and Mako could be anywhere by now and I can't leave them to get hurt," Beelzemon insisted, his fists clenched before he turned and threw one into the shield, the energy burning around it.

"You'll get yourself killed," Palmon said.

Beelzemon stopped struggling to have his argument instead. "We're going to fight them anyway, why not start now?"

"We need a chance to prepare ourselves," Kazu explained, the argument they had all been using thus far. Beelzemon shot him a defiant glare.

"How? All we're doing is prolonging the inevitable, and it's your damn fault that we're in this mess!" Beelzemon glared at Kazu, as the boy shied away from looking straight at him. His newfound girlfriend, also to blame, was back safely in the transmission station with the other non-Tamers, so did not have to be subject to the Digimon's cutting gaze.

"I would say it was the fault of all of your clan. And we are taking the weaker members of our society to safer hiding spots before this unneeded onslaught begins," Mercurymon began. "We will not let their survival fall onto your buttered hands."

"Hey, hey, I ain't saying we put them at risk, but we've got the upper hand now, ya know? Ain't you ever heard of the element of surprise?" Beelzemon protested. "And what do you mean it was all of our faults?"

"You all wanted to contact your world."

"Hey, I just wanted to get out of here and search – forget calling ahead. There's got to be a bazillion ways to get back to the real world, we've just never tried looking for them."

"Then why did you not leave when you could, rather than leaving your footprint on our fair town?"

"We stick together as a team and we've got each other's backs – I wouldn't want to end up knee deep in crap like we are now on my own someplace else."

"Hmm…your side confuses me."

"Our side, mirror hands," Beelzemon said, drawing one of his guns from its holster. "And we've got sand-monster butt to kick."

Matt twisted his head back to the view outside, not a single patch of sand visible, and certainly no meadow. This was not going to be an easy battle, and he knew that he and Gabumon, with MetalGarurumon's missiles, would need to bear the brunt of the battle.

"_Just have to hope the pub still exists after all this. I'm dying for a drink already."_

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

Ryder was lost. Hopelessly lost. The dark had set in (instantly) and completely changed the 'look' of a route he barely knew to start with. This village was full of identical buildings and passageways, which, while nonetheless beautiful and picturesque, felt like a labyrinth. Surely it hadn't been this big earlier when he looked upon it? He also found it hard to believe this was really a 'village'. He knew villages: this place didn't have a threatened post office and a barely-attended Church, and it was definitely bigger in size.

But, still, as he turned another corner, he once again denied the situation to his partner on his shoulder.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

"Absolutely not. I know perfectly where I am, reality just isn't matching it."

"Next you're going to insist your coma is working against you."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

"I should really stop encouraging you."

"Don't bother with the effort, nothing stops this runaway mind. Not even a bullet to the head," he remembered, cringing at the memory, and the death fantasy that followed. "But the less said about that the better."

Wandering to the end of another passageway, Ryder had that fantastic feeling of the familiar, no matter how remote, that all lost travellers appreciate.

"I know this place," he said, both to MiniDonmon and the steps leading up into the traditional temple above. The sight was, in fact, rather confusing, a bizarre cross between an old Japanese building and some sort of Mayan staircase, albeit rather shorter, placing the home of the Priestess far above its surrounding buildings. _"Call it elitism or feudalism or tradition, this place certainly heaves extravagance on the lucky."_

"Great…but we were looking for our place, weren't we?"

"Hey, it's a start."

"And asking for directions isn't?"

"Touché. And besides, I want to take a look around. Big old building towering over everything around, how could I resist?"

MiniDonmon gestured with his wing to the staircase, before shrugging. "If you want to climb that, I'm not stopping you." Firmly on the boy's shoulder, everything was an easy ride.

Ryder didn't pause, going up the steps two at a time thanks to his long gangly legs. As he went, he imagined a sunrise casting itself upon them every morning, and pondered staying up to watch it – right up until he remembered where he was. There was something to be said for analogue systems.

Reaching the top, he found an odd satisfaction from sliding aside the bulky wooden door (although it also made it feel like a break-in), before he stepped into what he could only describe as a reception room, except oddly absent of any Digimon at all, or indeed a desk. It seemed to serve no other reasonable purpose. The building seemed even larger on the inside than the outside, a corridor leading off from the main entrance straight through to the back with further sliding doors leading off it, while stairs went both up and down. It was without a doubt the largest building in town, and every wall was graced with perfect handcraft in its ornaments and painting. The air inside was still, yet not stale, while flowers were well placed around to give a sophisticated olfactory mix.

"Hello?" he uttered, taking a step forward. The urge to explore was high, even though he knew Mari and the others were probably wondering where he was, or would at least once they discovered he wasn't still getting a bite to eat.

"No one at all," MiniDonmon eventually said, sounding fairly surprised.

"Feels weird to see not a single security guard. In a place like this, I'd expect to have my bag scanned."

"I guess The Priestess can fend off anyone who might try to intrude. And I can't really see the Renamon stealing the furniture."

"I don't think the Renamon even know what furniture is," Ryder quipped, remembering the room they had. Japan in general left him rather surprised, and he appreciated his Western-style apartment, a reminder of the cluttered homes he was used to. Then again, it was hard to call Mari's fastidious tidiness 'cluttered'.

The thought reminded him of the drawers, the diary and the photo, but he pushed it aside for now. Those were questions to, possibly, be asked another day.

"Wonder what kind of secrets a place this old holds. However old it is," he mused, placing his hand onto the elegant woodwork.

"Wonder if they're worse than what we've already learnt," MiniDonmon mused, fluttering to the stairs and glancing up and down. "Which way?"

"You will end up at my chamber whichever way you go," said a new voice, catching them both off guard as they turned to face the now-familiar form of Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode, lit by both electric lamps hanging from above and burning candles on the walls, a bizarre juxtaposition that Ryder, in retrospect, found hard to justify.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to be nosy…just this place looks really amazing."

The Priestess smiled, her soft lips poking out below the edge of her facemask. "It's fine. I thought I would avoid you getting lost in here…it is bigger than it looks."

"Looks big enough already," MiniDonmon quipped. "Do you really need all these rooms?"

Sakuyamon chuckled. "Not in my lifetime," she said, before beckoning with her hand. "I could use some company," she said, her voice not pitching above a certain point even when she was trying to be optimistic, a clear sign that the obvious was on her mind. Ryder wanted to ask her about it, but had a feeling she would be sick to death of the subject by now. Still, as he looked over her body, he still found it quite hard to believe there was a girl inside somewhere. Heck, it was hard enough to believe with voluntary biomerges, particularly ones like Jeri and Elecmon's SaberLeomon which abandoned all elements of human-like appearance in their bestial forms. "Come on; let me show you my room. Although, if you're having difficulty with the size of this place already, I'm not sure you'll be able to take it in."

Ryder nodded, uttering "thanks" before following The Priestess along the long corridor to the back, the depth of the temple astonishing enough. The tips of the Digimon's dress trailed along the floor, and Ryder couldn't help but contemplate that, were it not for the fox-like ears poking out from her silhouette, she could easily have been a woman in fancy dress, albeit a fairly tall and well-endowed woman. The contrast between Digimon like Zhuqiaomon who detested humanity and the mega forms of many Digimon which, bizarrely, tended to imitate humanity in so many ways, was certainly helped by the Kabuki Mode. Perhaps there was something of Harmony in it? After all, it seemed highly likely that the Priestess historically would've aspired to resemble her God.

"Doesn't anyone else live here?"

The Priestess turned her head to look at the teen's bat-like partner. "The Elder Taomon has quarters within here, as does The Warrior Taijimon, but he does not usually occupy them." She came to the door at the end, pulling it aside with a slight smile. Clearly, she appreciated having company. Perhaps she was trying to acquire all the friends she could get? Certainly, Ryder felt the topic of the day hanging unmentioned like an elephant in the room. "And here is my chamber."

"This place looks like it's built for 700, not one," MiniDonmon exclaimed, as Ryder cast his eyes over the vast chamber. It spanned all three floors of the building at the back, and was perhaps the most carefully crafted room he had ever seen. The patterns in the woodwork became more intricate, light shone in through the roof, and a small fountain graced the centre of the huge room.

"My sanctuary."

The floor stepped down gradually towards the fountain, and the Priestess strode towards it, looking into the water briefly as she passed. She paused, looking into it for a bit longer, before taking a glance at Ryder, one that unnerved him. She seemed to shake something off before she continued to talk.

"Don't just stand there by the door," she said, her immature voice returning. All the time beforehand, it felt like she was forcing on more sophisticated words than she wanted to use. If her history was as it sounded, she had been dragged from normality into the highs of importance, and tradition had a habit of coming with such obligations as eloquence and taste.

"_A princess who didn't want to be a princess," _he mused. "This place is amazing." Images of the homes of the average Renamon still came to mind, nonetheless, although the Digimon seemed to sleep anywhere and with no complaints. This was the first room that he had seen to lack any cupboards around the sides.

"I feel like my predecessors would frown on me bringing 700 in here," she said to MiniDonmon, the 'sophisticated' voice returning for a moment. "Tradition."

"Just imagine the parties," Ryder chuckled. "A disco ball from the rafters, a DJ over there, it'd be great," he said, leaving The Priestess highly bewildered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, chewing her lip uncomfortably. "But…I'm guessing it's stuff from the human world."

"Yeah."

"Hmm…what's your name again?"

"Ryder. Ryder Mark Watson Stevens. At your service," he chuckled as he wandered towards the fountain, putting his hand out to be shaken before retracting it in jest. He didn't expect Sakuyamon to know what the gesture meant, after all, and certainly didn't expect her to appreciate the reference.

"Who are you?" The Digimon's head tilted, her look almost one of disbelief.

"I…I just said. Ryder Stevens. Were you talking to MiniDonmon?" he asked, gesturing to his partner as his words became lost in confusion. Hadn't he just answered that question?

"You don't make sense. Who are you?"

"I don't make sense?" Ryder made a mental check, confirming that he had the right number of fingers and toes, and didn't have any wings. Not that sense denied the latter these days, it seemed. MiniDonmon similarly checked him over, as if he had at some point been replaced by a doppelganger.

"You're…like an image overlaid on this world. You don't belong here."

"I'm not from this world."

"That's not it. The coming together of the quadrants brought plenty of extra-dimensional beings here, but none of them feel like you," she said, before pausing and reaching out towards him, hesitating before touching his shoulder. "Sorry…can I?"

"Can you what?" Ryder asked, staring at the human-like hand in front of him. In fact, were it not for its complete lack of imperfections, without a single mole, freckle or hair to be seen, he would've been certain that the being in front of him _was _human. A fairly tall and well-endowed human woman with long silver hair wearing a facemask, yes, but a human nonetheless. He'd lived in Japan long enough that seeing a 'human' wearing a pair of fox ears wasn't a surprise any more. In Akihabara, people dressed like this were a dime a dozen.

"Touch you."

"Uh…yes?" Something about this felt like what he had always been told to avoid as a child: 'stranger danger'. Then again, those posters hadn't exactly depicted a creature quite like this, and almost universally made the threat out to be a middle-old aged rather-disturbing white man offering candy to children, a long shot from a graceful and beautiful human-Kitsune simply asking for a brief touch.

She poked his shoulder, and he reflexively leant back on his heels before returning to a standing position. A confused look on her face, she placed a whole hand on the top of his shoulder, inspecting it closely as she pinched at it.

"What are you looking for?"

"An answer."

"To what?" While all this was going on, Ryder glanced aside to MiniDonmon, watching intently and with a look on his face like he was ready to defend his partner at any moment. Ryder was pretty certain that he could hold his own in a fight for a few moments, but beyond that there was no chance against a being like this. He saw the 'mop'-like staff she carried laid against the fountain nearby, surprising him that she was not constantly carrying it, even when she came to confront an intruder. It was either a good sign that, if she was playing sinister games with him, she would take long enough to attack him (because of it being away from her) that he could get away, or a bad sign that, to put it simply, she didn't need it with whatever sinister thing she may have planned.

Or he could trust her. She was meant to be one of the most benevolent beings in the universe. Yet, today's news had left him uncertain of the good intentions the village supposedly held.

A finger came to his lips. "Breathing," she analysed.

"What kind of answer are you looking for? What isn't right about me?"

Sakuyamon inhaled, returning her hands to her sides. "You have no destiny."

"Oh. I know, Rei told me so."

"She did?"

"Yeah. I'm not one-hundred percent sure why though. Is it that important?"

"For someone who has so many prophecies revolving around them, I'd say it was."

"Prophecies?"

"Things that'll happen in the future."

"I don't buy that our future is fixed, sorry. Whatever happened to free will, after all?"

"Why are you so cynical? Isn't the existence of two half-Gods in your group evidence enough of the supernatural?"

"Just because one thing doesn't make sense under our 'science' doesn't mean it's okay to generalise that anything's possible."

"You're no fun," Sakuyamon pouted, her serious attitude collapsing and an even more immature one returning, as her hands went to her hips and she took a step back. "Now what's making you so weird?"

"Maybe being stared at by a woman wearing a fox mask. Not exactly normal in my book, sorry."

"I could take the mask off if you want."

"Wait, so you're human-looking under there?"

"No idea."

"You've never taken it off?"

"Why would I?"

"Curiosity?"

"What'd be so interesting about it?"

"I…you know what, on second thoughts, never mind." His view of her as some respectable, amazing and beautiful being might be rather…destroyed if something ungodly were to be hidden beneath that mask. Why did she wear it anyway?

"You know, most people would be more curious about all these prophecies. Don't you want to know what's going to happen to you?"

"Ooh, let's see… you will face many trials this month, but Saturn is in your sign so persevere and you may find companionship in an unexpected place. Call this extremely high priced hotline for a personal reading."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Horoscopes. Barnum statements by any other name, giving someone gullible something so general that they adapt it to their own lives. Confirmation bias, the Forer effect, the self-fulfilling prophecy, et cetera. Or in English: bullshit."

"Wow, you're talking big for someone surrounded by talking foxes and being followed by a bat."

Ryder put his hands in his pockets and acted defiant. "I can explain that stuff. Please explain how some prophecy knows about my future, particularly since I don't have a destiny to read it from." Not that he entirely believed that concept either. How could their lives be so pre-mapped? Surely his existence, and lack of a destiny (with subsequent free will), meant that he could cause someone else's destiny to change, contradicting the whole idea? What would happen if there were others like him, also altering destinies? Surely that would result in a paradox? Or, maybe he was the only one that could: more evidence for everything here being a coma, with he being the only being able to exact real change in events.

"I don't know. I simply listen."

"Listen?"

"To everything. I sense everything. Every particle, every flick of data, I feel how they all move." The Priestess, possibly unconsciously, reached out a hand to the air, her delicate fingers waving up and down independently, as she gently moved her hand from side to side. "Everything converges and diverges…everything has its destiny. Except you. No-one knows what you will do."

"So you can't predict what will happen to me."

"I can't predict what you will do. But I can predict what everything else will do to you."

"Huh?"

"Prophecies don't predict the actions of the person they're made about. They predict the actions of others, what will happen to them."

"Oh. So…if everyone else's destinies, everyone else's particles, all converge on me, then…?"

"I can know the end result. At least…"

The Digimon left it hanging, Ryder eventually nagging her to finish. "At least…?"

"I think that's how it works. My predecessors wrote about the ideas…I don't think I could work that out on my own."

"_She seems pretty smart – I'd be surprised if she couldn't." _"Oh. So it could be for a whole other reason then, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Ryder, find out what she's prophesising already. All this talking is so boring," MiniDonmon whined, his head previously switching back and forth between them like he was watching a tennis match. "Get on with the juicy prophecies!"

"Do you have any objections?" The Priestess said, looking in agreement with the bat's sentiment.

Ryder looked to his partner and back, before looking to Sakuyamon again, frowning. "Yeah. One. Why don't you feel the same about MiniDonmon?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"He's in the exact same situation as me. He's from another world. Why haven't you said he feels super-displaced?"

Sakuyamon turned her head to look at the bat-like Digimon, cocking it slightly in a surprisingly childish way. "You…you have a good point there. I mean, he looks…not from here, but he has a destiny and everything. And I don't sense any particularly important prophecies about him either...although the world does not feed me them all at once."

"See. Something else is definitely afoot then."

"By the tone of your voice, I think you know."

"Huh?"

"Well, if you completely disbelieved what I said based on that, you'd simply have said that, but you didn't – so what else do you think is afoot?"

"_Damn, she's good." _Ryder increasingly felt like he was in court with how his words had been used against him. "I'm not sure. I don't think the world is as…clear-cut as it seems."

"Just now you were championing the side of logic, and now you're saying things aren't so simple?"

"I…think there's an explanation. For why I've got all these prophecies about me, and why MiniDonmon doesn't."

"Ryder…" MiniDonmon objected, fluttering in front of his face. "That can't be the truth. It just can't."

"What other reason is there? If you have a destiny and I don't, I have to be the one controlling this dream. It all adds up."

"But it's not a dream. I can think, I can feel, I can remember what happened before. Why don't you believe me? Didn't we just talk about this?"

Ryder's face dropped sharply into a frown, as The Priestess watched much like MiniDonmon had before, a confused look building on her face. "I know but…what else could be going on?"

"What _is_ going on?" Sakuyamon asked finally. "Or at least, what do you think is?"

Ryder turned, going to open his mouth, before MiniDonmon interrupted him. "Ryder believes this is all a dream, and that he's in a hospital in the 'real world' somewhere facing death," he explained. "Which doesn't make sense as I came with him to this world too."

"So you think he's not real? And I'm not real either?"

"Well, you put it in a really harsh way but…yes."

"Oh. Nice."

"Sorry. It's just a theory, after all, even if it has still managed to drive me insane." And so, while MiniDonmon's objections hadn't caused him to back foot on his idea, offending a stranger did. Ryder cursed his double standards, and made a mental note to apologise to MiniDonmon, someone he knew he should've trusted far more. But…it wasn't necessarily even the real MiniDonmon, so what was he so concerned about? Surely this was the last proof he needed for his idea, and in which case it didn't really matter how he treated them?

Or Mari. And yet, he couldn't contemplate treating Mari so harshly, the mere idea made him sick to his stomach. Why would it be so okay to put down MiniDonmon, his own partner, but not Mari? Was he so hopelessly in love with her that that was the case?

"I get it…if you're the one in the coma, of course anything I tell you will come true, because it's just part of your mind telling you what's up next in the dream. And us talking right now is just trying to make you believe this dream world is real. Right?" The Priestess finally spoke again, still looking unnerved and offended by the idea.

"That was my line of reasoning, yes," Ryder answered, again surprised by how the seemingly-immature Digimon was keeping up. Had she naturally been smart beforehand, or did becoming this Digimon make her so? _"Or…" _he mused, looking over her chest and stomach. That made the situation even sicker. Gaining advantage through kidnapping those girls and treating them like nothing…it made him shudder.

Like nothing. Just like how he treated MiniDonmon, Mari…everyone he knew right now. The irony wasn't lost on him.

"Hmm."

"Ryder, that's…" MiniDonmon began again.

"Do you want to hear them?" The Priestess interrupted, seemingly satiated by the explanation and, remarkably, quite accepting of it. "The Prophecies, I mean," she corrected herself with all the grace of a teenager presenting an assembly to his or her whole school.

"Uh. Yeah. Shoot."

"You see, that's where the problems begin."

"Huh?"

"What kind of problems?" MiniDonmon narrowed his eyes, his avid defence of his partner just making Ryder feel even guiltier for thinking he wasn't real. But this world…it could be trying to do that to him on purpose. A form of torture from his self-conscious, although for what reason he wasn't sure. He did know, however, that his mind was far from being the most stable in the universe.

"Ryder, there are so many prophecies revolving around you that I couldn't discern any of them from a distance. I thought if I got a bit closer to you, I might be able to work them out. But you still burn so brightly with them, a star of blazing chaos…and I still feel so many prophecies about so many other things."

"So what are you going to do, get inside me?" he asked cynically, not speaking the other half of the sentence but knowing it was there. _"Or will you take me inside, like with that poor girl?"_

"I need to close off all other stimuli so I can just focus on you, and how the universe relates to you. There are so many minds here that the potential revolving around them is like a constant background chatter…I need to take you to a pocket dimension. Alone."

"No way, I want to come with," MiniDonmon objected.

The Priestess assertively shook her head. "I need to be able to just analyse Ryder here…you'll create interference," she said to the bat, frowning. "I'm sorry, but for this to work, it just needs to be me and him. You can stay here and make sure no-one tries to break my spell, if you want?"

"Uh…Ryder?" MiniDonmon called, evidently having problems with the idea of leaving his partner behind to such a situation.

"I'll be fine, trust me." _"Even if I don't seem to trust you…" _he mourned. "But I do want to know one thing. What on earth is a pocket dimension?"

"A closed space, separate from this world, where I can focus on just isolating what is so important about you."

"And how do you make that?"

"I cast a spell to fold reality around us for a short period of time. It uses a lot of energy though, so we'll have to work fast."

"Okay, okay, so let's say I go with you to this…closed space. What do you get out of it?"

"Huh?"

"You're so interested in these prophecies about me, but the only person they can possibly help is me."

"Oh. I…I'm curious."

"Curious?"

"You don't make any sense Ryder. I've never met a single being like you. Rei felt displaced in time, but she didn't feel like she shouldn't be here at all. But you…you are just…wrong. Plain wrong."

"Oh, thanks."

"Hey, you can't complain about insulting after insulting us," she pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "And if we are your dream creations, what have you got to lose?"

"You're taking me to another dimension. You could murder me, or rape me, or steal stuff from me, or god only knows what."

"I already know you can't die…I take in enough about the universe to know that. I've got an army of adoring Renardmon for sexual company, and I think they've probably got a lot more than you've got to peddle. And finally, what on earth do you have that's worth stealing? I've never seen such horrible clothes in my life. So garish and 'modern'."

"My wit and charm?"

The Priestess shook her head in disbelief, and raised her hand. Like a magnet, it pulled her 'mop' away from the fountain and perfectly into its grip, and in the process completely destroyed Ryder's ideas of how he could escape from this Digimon should she try to attack them.

"Let's go," she ordered. He had the feeling he no longer had any decision about this matter.

"_Oh well, looks like I'm stuck now anyway. I hope this pocket dimension isn't too small…I enjoy being able to breathe…"_

"We're here."

Ryder blinked, his eyes flitting from side to side, as he realised that his scenery had changed before he saw the Digimon even doing anything. The space immediately around them was still there, as was the view…almost. Almost because, where before the world had stretched off to the edges of the chamber in all directions, here only the fountain and part of the wooden decking existed – he couldn't even see the ceiling any more. The dimension was like a rather large bubble, and where there was nothing to exist but air he saw nothing but darkness, resulting in the odd effect of an entire world simply consisting of a circular 'stage' of floorboards and a fountain. The fountain had stopped since the dimension had been formed, however, with water no longer reaching it. The sound around him was dead, leaving him rather conscious of his breathing, while the floral scent had vanished, leaving him rather conscious of his scent, and whether the Digimon in front of him could smell it.

He whistled a long, impressed chirp.

"So what does this look like from the outside?"

"A bubble, but everything reflects outwards."

"So the reverse of this?"

"Exactly. I just took the area we were standing in and folded it in on itself."

"You make it sound so easy."

The Priestess took a sharp, deep breath, before shaking her head. "It isn't. We haven't got long before I can't sustain this anymore, Pandora."

"Oh, okay, we'd better work fast t…wait…what?"

"Pandora, that is your name, right?"

"No, it's Ryder."

The Priestess put her hand on her head, on the fox-like mask, her mouth quivering. "Sorry, sorry, sorry…the prophecies are starting to come through to me…the whole world is calling me…telling me things…"

"So Pandora is a prophecy?"

"Oh…I guess it is."

"Meaning…?"

"I don't know."

"Can't you listen a bit harder?"

"I'm trying as best as I can. The world doesn't make these things black and white, you know?"

"Okay, I'll try and help. I'm guessing you're referring to Pandora's box, right?"

"Pandora's box?"

"Oh, you've never heard of it."

"I don't think so. I never paid too much attention to the teachings when I was just a Renamon. I was too busy staring at all the Renardmon and getting piggy backs from Renamon and Renardmon."

"_And yet now you're The Priestess. How _did _that happen? I mean, you're nice and all, but…what were they smoking?" _"The story goes like this: Pandora found a box, and opened it out of curiosity. All of the evils of the world came out of it, from plague to death to pestilence, and she closed it as quickly as she could. But there was this voice, one last voice that called out from within, 'let me out'. Pandora wasn't stupid, she wasn't about to let out another evil, but then the voice said 'I am hope…even with all those evils in the world, I will make you able to fight them and survive, and live happily and prosper.' And she opened the box, and a beautiful butterfly flew out." _"I should have got a job on kid's TV." _"So what's that got to do with me?"

"You're an Angel, right?"

"Yeah. The First Angel of Time."

"First Angel of Time, Pandora, Ryder, Mark, Watson and Stevens – you sure get a lot of names," her hand was on her hip again. "I only have two, and only one of them is unique."

"True. Do you think that my names are important then?"

"I don't know. Do you know about the Demons?"

"Of course. I've fought two of them before…I've…um…"

"Killed two of them before?"

"How are you doing that?" Ryder promptly retorted, his eyes glaring at her with at least half of the intensity of Rika at her worst.

"Doing what?"

"Knowing stuff I haven't told you so easily."

"Ryder…I can feel everything…I notice everything. When you said that…your fingers moved, ever so slightly," she mimed, reaching out like she was holding something before pulling a finger back, and making a "pow" sound. "You were remembering. Did you shoot them?"

"Yes…I didn't want to! I really didn't! I didn't think I had any other choice though," he rushed to explain himself. "They were going to hurt people…I had to stop them. Chiyo almost killed Mari."

"Mari means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Thanks to her changing the subject, Ryder took a few moments to reply. "Yeah. She's probably what's been keeping me sane. Without her…I don't know where I'd be. Dead, probably, and with me that means endlessly agonising about being 'stuck' alive.

"So why don't you believe she's real then, if she's done so much for you?"

"I…I don't know. I want her to be real. But all the time I'm thinking: what if she's just another part of my mind? A part that's charitable enough to try and help me keep my sanity, even in this coma. My mind can't be all self-torturing, right? You see, I had this thought recently: what if everyone in here is like, a different facet of me? A huge case of schizophrenia, but…I just don't know what else might be going on."

"This could all be real?"

"Then how do you explain MiniDonmon's lack of destiny?"

"I…uh. I'm not sure."

Ryder frowned, going to apologise for pushing it too far with someone who was, after all, simply trying to help, before realising he'd done that enough to her already. She knew he didn't mean it, she simply had to. But, still, a long silence hung between them for a while, impenetrable by even the sharpest knife, before Ryder finally opened his mouth to speak again.

"So what did you start talking about the Demons for?"

"Maybe…maybe by coming here, you released the demons. Like Pandora released the evils into the world."

"How though? I didn't wake them up or unlock them or anything."

"I don't know Ryder. But did any of them attack before you arrived."

"…no. But…that doesn't mean they couldn't have."

"Are you sure you're not just disagreeing with me because you know I'm making sense?"

"Possibly…" Ryder guiltily admitted.

"You do that a lot."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. Whether 'Pandora' means that is another question. But we're running out of time, and I have so much more I need to know about your prophecies. So…bear with me…"

Ryder was about to speak again, but paused, nodding. Now was not the time to ask questions or interrupt the mega level Digimon, her mouth now firmly closed as her human-like hands gently twitched below, before grasping at the air. He stared at them, trying to take in the new concept he'd just had launched at him. Just what else might he uncover?

Was this a bad idea?

He'd already found something to suggest that everything that was going on might be his fault. That hardly seemed like the worst possible thing he could find out from all this, which simply left that still to come. And, at the same time, he began to worry just how deep these prophecies went. He didn't want…certain things to be uncovered. And, finally, there was one thing that was particularly bugging him.

"How can I prove your prophecies actually come true?"

Sakuyamon shook, jumped from her trance. "Excuse me?" she said in an annoyed voice.

"Oh, sorry, forgot what was going on. But still, how can I prove these prophecies actually mean anything? Have they ever come true before?"

"Yes."

"Such as?"

She paused and nervously glanced away, as if it were some kind of guilty secret, a look he'd been rather hoping to see a bit more with her earlier revelation about the biomerging controversy. "I predicted the death of Yggdrasil."

The answer unnerved Ryder, and he took a step back. He'd expected something small-fry: maybe predicting good fortune or the weather, or a nasty fall – not a death of such importance. Was Yggdrasil's death fated from the start? "Oh."

"I did not want to believe it myself until I saw what your group did. What _Chaos_ did. 'cause that's what he does, he goes in there and destroys, always upsetting the balance. Yggdrasil was far from perfect, but he was a stabilising force. Every day now, we get stories in from all over about the fallout from his death. This whole world was built around his roots."

Ryder couldn't help but feel partly responsible – Yggdrasil's actions were against them, not the poor Digimon caught in the crossfire. But still, he felt the need to negate what he was hearing. "The Digimon Sovereigns though…can't they help?"

"Don't make me laugh. Yggdrasil was a godly being even if he wasn't a god. The Sovereigns are just caretakers. Without his influence, our world descended further into anarchy. Everything since has been a sticking plaster – I mean, look at that program one of you made that swept across our world, giving us all these alien parts and roles. I anticipated that too. I mean, I'm not denying it's fun, but it doesn't work - Digimon are still dying out. Most societies are too small to reproduce properly – we're just lucky here that enough of us are alive to breed properly."

"Then maybe that's what the Digital World needs…a reason to choose life over fighting and death. If the survival of the species relies on surviving, Digimon won't be so nihilistic and destroy each other needlessly."

"I want peace too Ryder, but…you come from your overcrowded world and, _then_ feed me your morality about life and death? Digimon and humanity are not alike. The smallest of digital events now threaten the entire population with extinction, save for a few larger species. The diversity of the Digital World will be lost, and the harmony we once had will be destroyed. Yggdrasil ensured that there were the correct quantities and types of Digimon…without him, we are lost."

Ryder's arms crossed, as he seemed to not even notice her comment. His distracted mind had already picked up on something else, to the detriment of the rest of her speech being given a proper hearing. "There."

"What?"

"You did it again."

"Did what?"

"You constantly seem to switch between formality and informality."

"Oh." She looked like she already knew, and her lower lip may as well have been gum as she tried to string together a response. "I am, um…"

"In two minds?"

"Sort of."

"Do you think the girl has anything to do with it?"

Sakuyamon frowned, as if she did not want the subject brought up, yet her hand went unconsciously to her stomach. "I don't hear her voice, if that's what you mean. It's just…becoming The Priestess…" she began, looking at her hands and frowning. "It changes you so much. I want to go back to be that little Renamon again, without all this pressure, without all this thought, and without all these prophecies running through my head. Renamon and DarkRenamon went off to see the world…they came back so different. I want to do that too some day! But I'm stuck here, doing this job until the day I die, with my mind slowly changing until I become like every other Priestess. Everything that makes me, me is going to die."

"Can't you resist it? Can't you change it?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows. All the Priestesses wrote about it. I make them out to be amazing…but…they were all as scared as me, they all mention it in their writings. But they matured, and changed, and…became just like every other Priestess."

"Literally? The same personality and everything?"

"I don't know. But I'm worried that's the case. I'm not trying to put on a more sophisticated voice…not all the time. I can't help it. And I can't even tell anyone either…I'm meant to be here for them. The Elder would pour scorn on me if I put down the old ways, and The Warrior already thinks I'm weak enough without me giving him more ammo. Praying to Harmony never helps either. And with all that happened today, I don't know what to do anymore. All I can do is live like every other Priestess. I didn't even want this job."

"That…really sucks Priestess," was all Ryder could think to say, as he saw the Digimon's head dip in worry. She stood there for a long while, staring down at the floorboards, before eventually Ryder put his arms out, anxious that he was completely useless at trying to comfort her right now. "Hug?"

She finally broke her silence and chuckled. "I want to find out more about you. Because if I do, things might get more interesting, and change, and people might think I'm worth something. That's why I'm doing this Ryder. You seem important, and I need something important to change."

"Let's hope I can give you that then. So come on, what's this prophecy?"

She looked irritated, her hand on her hip again. There was the informality again. "Hey, you're the one that interrupted me," she argued. "Now shut up."

Her mouth locked closed, and Ryder held in his apology as she reached out her hand to the air again, her fingers making intricate shapes as her ears twitched. _"Listening to the symphony of the universe," _he thought, before promptly correcting himself as he glanced around the rather cramped pocket dimension. _"The _other_ universe," _he thought, before pondering if the dimension had gotten any smaller since they had arrived. Did it have something to do with the level of energy she had to feed into 'folding' it? Was this even a proper separate dimension to start with, or was it just like making a snowball in the middle of a plain white field?

And then he noticed. The fountain was gone. This world was definitely getting smaller by the second, a hugely frightening concept.

"I hear it."

There she was, 'looking' at him again. He imagined that beneath that mask her eyes would've snapped open, but he really couldn't tell: instead, his curiosity was plagued by wondering what would be under there. Would it be rude to ask?

He was about to ponder such questions, but then it hit him that perhaps it would be rather more appropriate to listen to exactly what he was in this dimension for to start with. "What is it?"

"It comes from everything and everywhere, every time and everyone…it is sung on the wind, in the hearts of all in this all so different world," she paused, her hands wide open at her sides, although whether it and the pause were for dramatic effect or a part of the prophecy-telling he could not be sure.

"What is?"

"The four black ships. The four black ships are coming."

"Four black ships? What are they?"

"I do not know Ryder. All I know is that they are coming."

"_I got that impression." _"What for?"

"I am not…" she began, before hesitating, her hand reaching out to grasp a 'point' in the air. "Wait…I feel it…"

"Yes?"

"The four black ships are coming, and they will bring the end of your story, Ryder Stevens. And I am sorry but…she is going to die."

Silence fell, total and utter silence. Ryder's face froze, his eyes wide open and his mouth drooping slightly like it could not decide whether to touch the floor or hug his gums. Opposite him, Sakuyamon paused briefly before her mouth hung open, her hand going to it, first in surprise and then in guilt.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she pleaded. "I didn't expect that…I didn't think about it before I said it."

"But is it true? _Is_ it one of the prophecies?" Ryder barked back, the revelation setting his mind into overdrive and leaving him wanting answers. Who was 'she'? Mari, Ivy, Rey, Sora, Rika, Mimi, a multitude of fellow classmates and adults he knew, along with half of the human population, not to mention all the Digimon. A death that would have something to do with him, by the sounds of it, and…the black ships. Just what were they?

"Yes, I am afraid so." The formal voice returned, but Ryder did not interrupt this time – bigger things dominated his mind, as he broke from their stare and began to wander back and forth in front of across the constricting space at right angles to the holy mega. His hands twitched, and his mind tried to conjugate what he was thinking. Finally he turned and pointed a finger sharply at her.

"Do you know who?" It was a long shot.

"I'm afraid not." The response was to be expected.

"So someone I know is going to die?"

"I don't even know if you'll know them. But they will be a woman."

"A human then? Not a child?"

Her informal voice returning, she stuttered out a correction. "Okay, a _female_ then, happy? All I know is they're going to die."

"Then I have to stop it. I mean, it'll be simple, I'll just work out who's at risk, and keep them out of it, and…"

"Ryder."

"I mean, there's no damage to me if…"

"Ryder, there's more to it. This prophecy is about you. So the death has to do with you."

"Is it my responsibility?"

"I don't know. Do you have any idea what these four ships may be?"

"Not a clue. Four horsemen of the apocalypse, directions on a compass and countries in the UK, maybe, but black ships? Am I meant to know that? I'm guessing you don't have a computer to hand, right?"

"Sorry."

"Damn it, so much for Googling," he cursed, clenching a fist as he continued to wear a trench in the floorboards. "What's the next prophecy you can find? Does it have something to do with it?"

Even from just a glance, Ryder could tell The Priestess was worried for him, and that only made him feel guiltier for being so short-tempered like this. "I…I'll see…one moment," she replied, bowing her head and putting her arms out again, those hands now far more likely to touch Ryder by accident now he was striding at right angles to them.

He didn't interrupt this time, but his mind failed to show the same consideration for his sanity. _"Maybe I kill someone again? Maybe I kill a Demon? But I don't want to, I really don't want to. Will I have met them yet? Oh god, and what if it's one of us? That'd be really horrible…that'd be pretty par for the course. I couldn't kill a close friend, I found it hard enough to kill Chiyo, and she hated us. Wait…if it could be a Digimon, maybe it's just your run of the mill biomerge? Or maybe it's just going to be collateral damage? I fall on a building, or push a Digimon on a building, or trip a gas line, and boom, some poor girl loses her life. Tragic, but not as bad for my conscious as killing on purpose someone I know."_

"You will lose a loved one."

"Bugger."

"I'm sorry," she apologised again, putting her hands together. "But that's the next prophecy."

"Is the loved one the same female that dies?"

"I can't say."

"Can't say, or don't know?"

The Priestess now looked rather irritated by his questioning and being angry with her, and snapped. "Obviously I don't know!" she bit back in her 'teenage' voice. "I want to know what this means just as much as you do. And also, wow, you're such a fantastic chap, your prophecies are all death, loss, gothic ships and unleashing of demons upon the world."

"That's not my fault." _"Even if it _is_ my usual luck."_

"So who do you think you'll lose?"

"At my hands…I don't know. Do they have to be in this universe to be included in a prophecy?"

"I'm not sure. I only hear this universe, but…I also learn from destinies, and MiniDonmon has one even though he came from outside…I could hear whispers of a future destiny, or the imprints of one destiny upon another, and…"

"So can they?"

"Possibly."

"Damn it. So if they have to be in this universe, it can only be Mari! If it's a girl who dies, it has to be Mari. Or, it's MiniDonmon who I lose, and some poor girl loses her life too, maybe even Mari. If it's outside, Ivy dies, and maybe someone else does too. How fantastic!"

"I'm sorry I can't be of more…"

"JUST MAKE SENSE! FOR ONE BLOODY TIME IN MY WHOLE STINKING EXISTENCE, JUST MAKE SENSE!" Ryder screamed, The Priestess taking a step back and pulling her shoulders up in fear, before it seemed to register that he was not shouting at her. Instead, the black sky above was taking the torment. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he continued, throwing his hands apart in a beckoning gesture. "IF THERE'S SOME SICK, TWISTED FREAK UP THERE, EVEN MY OWN MIND, PLAYING GAMES WITH ME, THEN I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE…WE NEED A LITTLE TALK!"

"Ryder."

"IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME, A…oh…it was you…" Ryder's now-hoarse voice finally came down to a reasonable level, as he looked across to The Priestess near him. "Sorry."

"You have some anger issues. No, scratch that, you have issues full stop."

Ryder nodded, frowning. "I feel like I'm constantly being played with, and like everything in my life just goes from one bad to another. This is exactly the kind of treatment my own mind would give me."

"Oh. Hug?"

"Huh?"

"Earlier on, when I was worried, you offered a hug. Whatever one of those is."

"Uh, it's…" Ryder began, before realising the best way was to demonstrate. He wandered over to the Digimon, and, with a high degree of discomfort and embarrassment (in addition to going on tip-toes to avoid an _even more_ embarrassing situation), put his arms round her. She didn't copy the gesture back, and the world's most uncomfortable hug ever ended within seconds. "That."

"Oh. Is that meant to help?"

"It's meant to make you feel better."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Wait…what were you saying just now? About how your own mind would give you this treatment?"

"Oh, right. Yeah – if I'm in a coma, this is exactly the kind of thing that…"

The Priestess' face suddenly flashed with alarm, and she took a step back away from where they stood close together, her eyes flung upwards before to behind her. "This place hasn't got long left. Sorry, but we'll have to do counselling later – I need to finish making my prophecies about you."

"Oh…okay…" Ryder noticed for the first time just how much the place had shrunk. The orb around him had contracted, and the circle on the floor below now contained a far smaller amount of floorboards than it had when they started. Outside, MiniDonmon would surely be panicking by now for his Tamer's safety.

The Priestess put her hands together, closing her eyes again, as Ryder pondered just how long he had left before he would have to start crouching. At least The Priestess would have to do so first, giving him a bit of clue as to what might happen. "Out of curiosity, what happens if…" he began, before realising that she was deep in her trance, and that she wasn't about to listen to his interruptions again. _"…the edges of this place catch us. Actually, for that matter, what happens if it closes completely on us?"_

Reaching into his pocket, he found a tissue, and bunched it up into a ball, before twirling on his feet and chucking it towards the edge. Before his eyes, it disintegrated. He mentally hoped that was just what things passing through the edge of a dimension looked like. Turning around, and silently laughing nervously, he saw The Priestess, and even though he could not see her eyes, he could tell she was glaring at him.

"I have a prophecy for you, and looking at this place, it'll be my last."

"Which is?" He became very conscious all of a sudden of the fact this orb only contained so much oxygen. Did Sakuyamon have to breathe it? He rather hoped not.

"Four is coming."

"Huh?"

"Four is coming, like I said."

"Well, I think you mean four are coming, but do you mean the Black Ships? Isn't that something you already said?"

"No Ryder, I meant what I said. Four _is_ coming."

"What the heck is four?"

"If I knew, I'd be telling you. Now, take my hand," she quickly replied, reaching out as she began to duck down slightly, gripping the 'mop' tightly in her other. Ryder, despite knowing he had a few inches to spare, did the same, while taking up her offered palm.

And then, suddenly, sound returned. Beautiful, quiet, echoed sound, in the far distance and questionable to whether one was actually hearing it, but sound nonetheless, all made into melody by the trickling water from the fountain. The chamber seemed so lively compared to the deadness of the pocket dimension.

Feeling returned too, as MiniDonmon practically leapt at him, grabbing his neck and face and clinging on. "I was worried you were gone!" he exhaled. "The dimension started shrinking!"

"It was fine," Ryder replied, smiling at the prospect of having MiniDonmon back. The words of "you will lose a loved one", spoken by the Priestess, flashed across his mind, but he tried to suppress them – up until he noticed the distinct absence of a tissue by the side of where the orb had been, and gulped. _"Close one."_

"Come on then, what did you learn?" MiniDonmon quickly asked, flapping back away from his face. "Are you going to become rich someday? The king of something?" he grinned.

Ryder frowned, shaking his head sadly. "Nothing at all like that." His head dipped, while Sakuyamon, looking surprisingly tired all of a sudden (no doubt thanks to maintaining the pocket dimension), decided to break the bad news to an already worried-looking MiniDonmon.

"Ryder is like Pandora…he has opened the world to nightmares…but we can't say for certain what."

"Four black ships are coming to end my story, and 'she' is going to die," Ryder continued.

"She?" MiniDonmon was taken aback by the waves of prophecies now launched at him. "Four black ships?"

"I'm going to lose a loved one."

"The same one as 'she'?"

"I have no idea. I might even lose you," he said, this particular part pushing tears to the edges of his eyes, and leaving Sakuyamon to read the final prophecy.

"Four is coming."

"Four? She? Black ships? What does this all mean?" MiniDonmon asked, looking back and forth between Ryder and The Priestess, his eyes moving so much in his balls that they looked ready to drop out.

"I have no idea. That's the worst thing," Ryder explained, wiping back the few tears that had manifested themselves. "And I don't know if I can even change it."

"But I can help," The Priestess said, stepping towards him with a hand out, her 'mop' now laid down by the fountain, its water springing forth with life again much like it always had, and hopefully, always would. "I…I may not be able to ever prophesise for you like I can for everyone else, but…I know what I'm looking for now. I know what to sense, what you 'feel' like, and what the world feels like when its events affect you."

"You know what he feels like?" asked MiniDonmon, before quipping. "What were you two up to in there?"

Ryder looked rather surprised. "You couldn't hear? I screamed at the top of my lungs!"

"About what?" MiniDonmon's eyebrow was now fully raised, and Ryder realised he had yet to dispel whatever twisted thought was now circulating through his mind.

"About how this world seems to torture me. The only being in this entire universe that could hate me enough, and that would have enough power, to do that to me, is _me_. So I'm sure of it now. I must be in a coma. Only a coma would be sick and twisted enough to kill Mari. To make me kill Mari."

"Kill Mari?" MiniDonmon's eyes looked set to bulge out.

"It makes sense. I'm going to lose a loved one, and a girl is going to die – and it has to do with me somehow. It has to be Mari, she's the only girl I truly love in that sense in this universe, and while we're not sure about it, I can't see who else will be able to get here. Ivy hasn't had any success, and she's basically vanished now. Me and you, we're the only ones from that other dimension here. And what's worse is that this prophecy has to do with me – so I have to be the one who kills her!"

"Ryder…Ryder…stop it!"

"What, because I'm making sense?"

"Because you're not making sense!" MiniDonmon complained. "This can't be a coma, it just can't. And the loved one doesn't have to be the girl who dies."

"Then I'm going to lose you. You're the only other being I love in this universe."

"Well…they might not have to be from this universe. Right, Priestess?" he asked, hopefully looking to one side to the red-clad 'woman'.

"I do not know."

"That's all she can ever say…no-one knows how this works enough. Heck, maybe I'll wake up and lose you all. That'd satisfy all the prophecies."

"Not the black ships. And four. What are those about?" The Priestess asked, her teenage voice back again. "I can't work them out, Pandora…I mean Ryder. So you're going to have to work them out yourself."

"What difference does it make?"

"You didn't believe this stuff before Ryder, and now you're believing you can't change it? Ryder, I don't know how this works, but I know that you can only be better off for knowing it all," The Priestess explained, as Ryder's lines of anger and panic across his forehead began to subside. "You can try and stop things happening Ryder! I don't know if you'll manage it, but you can be one step ahead of the game now. No-one has to die, you don't have to lose a loved one, and as for the other two…well, I don't really get them, but they don't have to come true either."

Ryder paused to compose himself, taking in breaths. "You're right…you're right," he said, sounding not yet completely convinced. "I can do this, I can fix things. I must be able to. If this coma world can play games with me, then I want to take that challenge head on. I'm going to prove that I can play games with it."

"This coma thing, Ryder. Why are you so certain that it's the case still?"

"Because everything seems to be pointing its way. The fact MiniDonmon has no destiny, the fact that I have so many prophecies about me, and…"

The Priestess snapped, evidently having had enough of this, and interrupted. "Ryder, you're talking to a Digimon you've never met before, who you just went in a world like nothing you've seen before, and standing in a village you never even knew existed."

"And you live in a country you've never been to," MiniDonmon chipped in, knowing where this argument was going.

"How are you having all these experiences you've never had before in a dream? Dreams can't contain new things," Sakuyamon explained. "Our dreams are our memories being recycled."

"But I could be imagining it all. I could've made this all up. How would I know?"

"Uh, because everything here is real?"

"When you're dreaming, you don't know that you're dreaming. Even biomerging – I could just be imagining what that might be like. And as for all the weird and wonderful things I've seen – well, I bet a big purple flying spaghetti monster could appear out of nowhere, and I wouldn't question its ability to exist. That's what a dream's like. But I've been in here too long, become too conscious, but I'm stuck here until I recover and wake up, so I'm endlessly just fighting it out with my subconscious. An endless battle to create something convincing enough that I believe it, and…"

Slap.

Or more of a backhand. Either way, Ryder was brought back from his thoughts by a painful feeling on his cheek. "Ow," he mumbled, rubbing it and looking to The Priestess, who looked completely unapologetic about her actions as she seemed to contemplate the intactness of her hand, looking closely at it. "What was that for?"

"You're boring me!" Hand-on-hip again, she pointed out her other hand directly at him. "Ryder, I've heard you talk so much about this, but everything can be explained away. You like to pretend you have, but you have no definitive proof – either that this _is_ a dream, or that everything else _isn't_ real. You challenge me for being logical! And yet, without any certainty, you go around hurting people by telling them about it. Look at MiniDonmon, he's crying! Haven't you noticed yet? And you all call me immoral and emotional for neglecting things that should be so obvious to me."

Ryder barely heard the last sentence, his eyes now meeting MiniDonmon's, who wiped the tear from his eyes with his wing. "I'm fine," he obviously lied. The boy reached out, pulling the Digimon into his arms, and feeling the tiny arms and wings clutch back.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he apologised, wiping more tears from his partner's eyes. _"Is this world just trying to keep me here? I really can't refuse…"_

"So that's what a hug should be like, huh?" he heard The Priestess mumble, before he and his partner's eyes swung back in her direction, MiniDonmon now returned to his pride of place on his partner's shoulder. "I'll admit this _could_ be a dream, but you have to prove it."

"How?"

"You need to prove that this is real, and you need to do or see something you couldn't possibly imagine. You need to make sure you know whether you're really alive Ryder, because I think you're being so blind to other explanations," the Sakuyamon reasoned.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But that doesn't mean they don't exist."

"Oh."

MiniDonmon looked assertively into Ryder's eyes. "Ryder, you have to tell her."

"Tell me what?" The Priestess asked, looking confused.

"He means Mari. I have to tell her about what I think is going on. I've been so cruel to her keeping it back all this time…I didn't want to 'break' her world."

"So don't tell her then."

"I love her, Sakuyamon. I really do. I don't want to lose her by accident thanks to some prophecy, so I damn well don't want to lose her by breaking the world either. But…I know that she trusts me…and I trust her, and I feel I'm being so wrong by doing this all around her, and by lying to her about what's on my mind. I keep so much back from her already that this just isn't fair. She's already wanted to know about what I saw when I died…so this is the time to tell her."

"If you're sure?" MiniDonmon affirmed.

"I haven't a clue, but this seems like the time to do it!" he said, clenching a fist. "Priestess…thanks. Thanks ever so much. I'm going to try and change what happens. But I'm also going to try and avoid hurting too many people in the process. And I want you to know that, dream or no dream, you've been a real friend today."

"Thanks. Maybe that'll just go a small way towards making up for what I did," she said, her head drooping.

"Hug?"

"Better not, I don't think they go that well with me."

"Ah. We'll be leaving you in peace then."

"I think I'll need that to take this all in. I can't work it out yet Ryder, but you are important, and I hope that one day I'll understand why," she said, looking at Ryder before reaching for her face, removing her mask finally, leaving the pair of them speechless.

"So…you're almost completely human…looking?" MiniDonmon stuttered, looking as surprised as his partner at the sight. A pair of beautiful blue eyes sat below, yellow and white fox ears still pointing out regardless. Her skin was pale yet flawless, and her smile finally made sense with the whole face visible. It was a face like that of an older teenager or a young woman, even if her silver-grey hair suggested age, while a few purple streaks across her cheekbones reminded them of her Renamon origins.

"You look…amazing," Ryder stuttered. "Why would you ever cover that up?"

"I don't look Renamon," As she began to gaze down into the water in the fountain to see herself, the water stopped without explanation, the flat and reflective surface left like the most perfect of mirrors. She frowned as she gently tweaked one of her fox-like ears, still poking out from the sides of her head. "This is a village of my kind…this mask is my identity…my history. It reminds me of the Renamon I once was," she said, turning to face the Angel and Digimon. "So…as curious as you made me about it…and as much as I like what I see underneath…I'm not going to stop wearing this mask," she said, looking at it in her hand closely.s

She replaced it to her face.

"Thank you."

And the Priestess smiled.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Feels like ages since I last wrote this, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This last scene is something I've been building up to, anticipating and worrying about for a while, so I hope it's been worth the wait. It didn't end up exactly how I imagined it, but none of my scenes ever do perfectly. I'm now back from holiday and finished with exams, so I'll have a lot more time to write, and therefore should be able to get through the next few chapters in a jiffy. That's the theory at least. Whether it applies in practice too…we'll see…

Until next time,

B.C.


	38. Phase Two: Catharsis

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE**

**Phase Two**

_Catharsis_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Yamaki Mitsuo**

* * *

Yamaki normally fell asleep at this point. So why couldn't he right now?

"_Too much on my mind," _he assumed. It had been a long day, and an exceedingly difficult one too, and he was far too uncertain about where the next one would lead (or, indeed, with how chaotic this world seemed, how soon it would arrive), so there was plenty to populate his thoughts. But, oddly, he found himself absent of them. He found himself oddly content…happy even.

He glanced to the woman, the futon's cover's feeble attempt to conceal her modesty completely pointless: he had seen all there was to see. His arm wrapped around her, as she gently slept. They were far from their typical waking positions, usually facing opposite with mouths wide open and suggesting a high degree of snoring had been involved during the long night. Right now, everything was organised, proper…perfect?

Certainly, the situation would be a nightmare if he didn't have her, and worse still if she were still stuck in the real world away from him (or with the other Tamers in god-only-knew where). With the latter he doubted he would be able to get her off his mind and act professional (as much as he prided himself on not letting personal relationships get in the way), while with the former he wondered if he would feel empty, or simply not have known what it felt like to be…loved.

He had to assume that she loved him. Of course, love was a tricky thing; even the words "I love you" didn't necessarily mean it was deep. Nor did their absence echo a shallow relationship.

It had to be deep, of course. Nothing else could withstand such a career, such stress, such…non-sexuality. Programming, government, military-style protection and secrecy…it hardly made for romance novels, let alone the disturbing world of hentai.

But was it out of necessity? The blonde found himself uncertain. He had hardly had the time nor incentive to go out in the evenings like a regular man of his age and former relationship status to play the dating scene. They had simply ended up together thanks to work: they both needed an apartment near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Again, a complete lack of romance, and he was surprised that they had stayed together, given his attitude during the initial days of the Digimon situation. But when it had…gone further…was it just because they were both in the same place, and happened to be of opposite genders? Convenience, much like one of the myriad of TV dinners in their fridge (now going uneaten), not depth, like a well-cooked meal.

Did it matter? Did she care? Did she feel the same? He found himself uneasily like a teenage schoolboy, only in retrospect he found those dilemmas simply far misplaced, and his feelings weak.

His hand stroked down her wrist to hers, the redhead not waking as he caressed her ring-finger ponderously, contemplating the real question in the depths of his mind.

"_If we survive this…"_

And if he needed anything to make him fight to do so, for their sake and for everyone else's, there was surely no better thing than Miss Riley Ootori.

* * *

**Unknown**

* * *

He wasn't sure what to shout when he got no answer initially. Not that he needed to press the doorbell, of course – the gate was opened, seemingly by force – but it felt like a courtesy given the situation.

Eyes flicked up and down the street. Not a soul to be seen. Perfect? Maybe not.

The gate opened without a creak, a testament to its housekeeper. Whoever that could be. Was she still living with them? This was certainly more of a symptom of her presence than of the other woman he suspected still lived here. The damage to the house from all angles, a targeted damage aimed to break in, only seemed to agree that this was the house. This was the place he needed to look for them.

The front door was ajar, and his hopes for finding anyone inside fell quicker. Even if he did, they would have to be hiding (and he could barely remember the layout enough to remember anywhere worth hiding in) or, worse, tied up in some way. And the man on the news hadn't given him the impression that the latter was the kind of thing they were aiming to do.

"Maybe there's a clue…" he pondered, looking into the living and kitchen room, ornaments fallen and sofas flipped. From what he knew of Digimon, from what every random bloke on the street knew, this was the sort of damage they could do. But he got the sense: it was too careful, too inspecting…looking for something. And even if he couldn't tell from that, the news had said enough to let him know what, or who, had broken in.

Wandering through the hallway, he glanced into rooms, cupboards all wide open. The first…Kristy's? How old would she be now? Long gone were all the toys he recalled her getting when she was born, excepting a teddy bear or two as a lifetime memento. She was growing up, a few posters of bands on the wall. A teenager. It just seemed like a whole different world.

Wandering further, he came to another room, this door wide open and the cupboards open too. It was as relatively Spartan as the one before, but one feature was particularly notable about it.

A wooden crib.

Yet, the brief pleasure he got from seeing it was tainted by the fact he saw it was empty, a blanket tossed aside hurried like the cupboards opened around them. But this was not a sign of lacklustre parenting – no, it was an escape. The door wide open, the porch door wide open, and the devastation to any semblance of order in the household. The break-in was fast and unexpected.

Leaning on the side of the crib, he stifled the urge to cry. What did she look like? The brief pictures on the news and the internet, a dashed picture from afar, simply couldn't help: he couldn't imagine her. Would she have Rika's hair? Or blonde? Or what?

That cinched it. No longer was he going to be fearful of interrupting, no longer was he going to step so far out of affairs that he simply didn't exist to them. Sure, they'd lost contact, but the news had awakened him to what he had lost in the process, and what he stood to lose if he didn't take this one chance now.

They would be home. They would be home at some point. They just had to be. Rika couldn't have killed the Prime Minister. She'd find justice soon, she had to.

He scrambled to the kitchen, opening cupboards and drawers as he gripped onto his enthusiasm for dear life, practically shaking. All those years of fear. All those years of not knowing what his daughters really looked like in the flesh. They had to end now.

A pen.

A piece of paper.

Would they want him back? Would they accept his offer? Could he fix things, make up for lost time? His mind raced as he scribbled down his thoughts, his feelings, his phone number. He wouldn't force them. He couldn't. He'd wait, wait until they were ready, hope they would be ready. Frowning, he knew that the days ahead would be even more painful than the day he heard of the PM's murder, and the day he heard of Rika's pregnancy.

His signature.

**Kiyoyuki Nonaka**

Promptly, he glanced around, looking for a secure place. Somewhere the soldiers, if they came back, wouldn't immediately grab it. He hurried around, looking around increasingly unfamiliar surroundings. He rushed through into Rika's bedroom, and, hitting a brainwave, lay it beneath the covers of Rey's crib.

Putting his hands together in hope, he stood there as silence fell. There was no more to it. Now…he had to go back to his hotel, and wait.

* * *

**Takeru Takaishi**

* * *

The water gently rippled in the lake, the area tranquil even here, at the closest side of it to the village. The gently sloping bank provided a perfect sitting point for the blonde – perhaps even a 'designed' sitting point by how convenient it was. Even in the dim light, the other side was reasonably visible, but the thick forest beyond prevented him seeing much further. The trickling sound of water from the stream was soothing for the boy's stirred soul, as he resisted his urge to deep his feet in it. He doubted it would be too cold.

Perfect.

And yet, events had given him a bias, of sorts, against perfection. Perfection meant inaccessibility, heartbreak, sorrow. Perfection meant pain.

"Takeru."

That voice. Too familiar. The boy clenched his eyes shut, wishing she wasn't there. Why had she stumbled in on this moment? Why? A moment when he was trying to forget what still plagued him, even when so many other things were so much more deserving of his attention.

A hand, softly on a shoulder, a familiar form gracefully sitting down beside him. "Hey," he said, without his usual enthusiasm.

"You 'kay?" Her voice rang of childlikeness, innocence, and yet she was far from that now. She was a woman, practically, and she showed it in both body and spirit. But those memories still rang back from the old days, that voice that could do no wrong, even when possessed by an outside force.

"Yeah. Just a long and weird day, and doesn't look like things are set to get much better."

"I'd believe that if it weren't coming from the Digidestined of Hope."

"We'll get home and stop Rayleigh, I know. It's just tiring getting to that point, you know? Everything in the world seems to be acting against m…us."

She let loose an ordinary laugh, but to Takeru, it was so much more. "When did we ever have good luck?"

"Good point. Where's Gatomon?"

"Sleeping."

"Patamon too. I couldn't get to sleep. I'm surprised you can't though," he mused, for the first time taking the luxury of actually looking at her face. And instantly regretting it. Dear God did she look beautiful in this light. If anything, her eyes only seemed brighter, her lips softer… He grimaced, trying to suppress those thoughts but knowing that, like always, it would be futile. _"This is Davis' girlfriend," _he thought, reminding himself of his best friend (well, one of several) in order to dispel it. But that only made him end up hating Davis, and Kari (even though he knew he genuinely couldn't), and, as a result, himself, for even trying to hate them. A downward spiral of self-loathing. "Is…is Davis snoring again or something?" His words were nervous, fearing that pointing out flaws in his 'competition' only drew scrutiny on himself.

Kari brushed a hand through her hair, matted from a pillow. "I slept in a room with Tai since I was a kid…I'm used to having people around snoring. Anyhow, Yolei is worse," she chuckled. Their group of 'New Digidestined' had wound up in one of the larger houses together, but it was a room Takeru had barely been in at all so far. His parents were with a few of the other folks, the pair probably having an argument as always. "Just don't tell her I said that."

"So why are you here then?"

"I…was worried about you." She uncomfortably jabbed him in the shoulder in a friendly manner. "And…I can't get what we learnt today off my mind," she quickly added with a shudder…one that looked oddly fake. Was she trying to take back what she had just said? Why was she worried about him? Did she know? Or had she just seen him leave in a flash? Or, indeed, barely seen him at all for most of that evening?

He wanted to ask about what she had said at first, but his gut wrenched and pushed him to take the easy option. "I'm still torn about it."

"It's pretty clear cut Takeru," Kari sounded offended rather fast. If there was one thing that quickly riled Kari up, it was someone acting against her principles. She had quite a black and white perception of the world at times: not unexpected for the Digidestined of Light, of course, but which often led to arguments. "They stole those girls against their will."

"Mhmm," Takeru agreed for the sake of agreeing. He could see both sides here quite clearly, and for all his brain-wracking he couldn't see any clear 'victor' morally. But he didn't want to argue with Kari, partly because of the fact that he didn't want to sour this evening, and partly because he didn't particularly like that fault of Kari's. He insisted to himself, of course, that he could grow to love it, but it was an empty insistence. "I wonder what it's like for them."

"Must be lonely. Being in Ophanimon would drive me insane if I didn't know Gatomon was there to talk to me…and being stuck there without knowing how I got there…" Another shudder. "I wish we could help them. Even if just to wake up and know what's going on."

"Maybe they do. Maybe that's who we've been talking to all this time," Takeru mused. "The Priestess does seem to have multiple personalities."

"Hmm…"

The pair fell into silence, half out of contemplation and half of exhaustion, both of energy and topics to talk about. The lake joined them, aside from a nagging, dripping trickle from the stream that increasingly tapped at Takeru's mind the more he consciously acknowledged it.

At that point the calm silence changed into an alarmed one, one of 'what to say next' rather than 'I wish this moment would last forever'. He hung on the edge of sentences, topics surfacing in his mind to discuss but always being too trivial or too deep to be talked about right at that moment.

He swallowed another subject, about where the water came from. After their deeper, meaningful conversation about the Sakuyamon and Kuzuhamon, it seemed too…simple. And he doubted they would be able to work out the answer either. This place often didn't have answers to questions like those.

Unfortunately, this pushed him onto only one remaining thing he could talk about, the elephant in the room for them right now. An elephant hiding an even larger elephant behind it. "So…uh…what did you mean when you said you were worried about me?"

There was a pause, Kari frowning and glancing away into the water. "I thought you might be cold…or have got lost."

"I'm fine. And you found me pretty quickly." The blonde found himself refuting her suggestions too harshly, something he instantly regretted, although he did wonder how precisely she had managed to find him.

"I thought it'd be easier to look around the village before trying to find my way about inside. Besides…I thought this place looked beautiful and I wanted a look around. I was just hoping I'd find you really."

"Why's that?"

There was an intense pause.

How a pause could be so intense, Takeru didn't know. But time seemed to slow as the verbal bullet shot from a loaded gun. She picked at her fingernails briefly, the first grazes on her otherwise perfect tips. And then, there was that horribly clotted feeling at the base of his throat, a breath taken in to try and clear it as butterflies threatened to overspill out of his stomach.

"We need to talk."

So often were those words heard from girlfriend to boyfriend, followed soon after by such revelations as 'I'm pregnant', 'I think we should see other people' or 'I don't like your dog'. But they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, and he found himself envying the position of someone who was in such a situation, even with such revelations. He didn't know why he envied such a case either: it was rarely good to hear the words 'we need to talk'. Somehow, however, that position seemed elevated above his, and he imagined in another timeline, maybe if he'd never met Kari, his position upon hearing such words could invariably have been better (even if those words made it subsequently much worse).

"Do we?" The words stumbled out stupidly, staggering around in simplicity before sliding over and admitting, with a sigh of submission "…yeah…we do." His head hung. Anything to get away from her eyes. He knew he needn't have bothered though, she wasn't looking in his direction at all. But he felt wrong to subject her to a lot of pressure in this situation.

"Takeru, I think you have a crush on me."

There it was. Not a question, as he'd been expecting. She had to have known for a while. A long while. He felt embarrassment and cringing creeping up his spine, laughing at him as they poked at his mind.

He found he didn't say anything at first. He was too busy thinking. Could he deny it? Pretend that he didn't have one? _"If I was planning to do that, it'd have probably been a good idea not to have waited this long to reply though," _he pondered, the thought which finally led to his admission.

"I do, yeah."

One weight was lifted off his shoulders, as another was firmly dropped onto them, panic rising in his heart. He was used to panicking, but not about stuff like this. Not about anything even remotely close to this. And at least normally, when he panicked, there was someone else running around like a headless chicken with him.

This time, he was alone.

Kari paused, looking uncomfortable herself. Takeru knew why. This was hardly your normal situation, and there weren't really any manuals for this. Heck, even if there were others who had been in a similar situation, he speculated that few of them were as friends with the object of their desire. But he had known Kari for so many years now; they had been into the heavens upon Spiral Mountain and into the depths of hell in the Dark Ocean, and had come through it together. They were hope and light, the partners of Angels…and some of the best friends you could ever know.

And that was why he wasn't surprised by what she said next.

"Takeru…it's…difficult."

"I know, I know, I'm really sorry," he apologised unreservedly, but the guilt and regret lodged in his heart failed to budge. There was no way out of it. They had to have this painful conversation, in full. His hand rose to push through his blonde hair, but was stopped when she put hers on his, gently lowering it.

"It's okay," she softly said, in that gentle voice that seemed to make everything okay. But it was only the calm before the storm, the levees breaking before unleashing a wave of words upon him, her thoughts broken open in one fell swoop "It's just…we are really good friends Takeru. Really good. I'm better friends with you than I am with Davis…and I know that's probably not how things are meant to be," she paused in contemplation, and to catch her stopped breath. "You know all of my secrets, and I know all of yours…we've known so much about each other…but it's too much. You're like…a brother to me…and I know it hurts to hear that, but it's a compliment."

He was a kid again, nodding along to his parents' arguments while not entirely agreeing with them. He wanted it to just pass by.

"Takeru, we've been through so much together…me and you…but…I don't want to spoil that."

"I don't want to either."

"I know you don't, but…"

"I love you," he quickly uttered, jamming it in while he still could. She paused for breath, while his eyes dropped to the ground.

He felt like such a bastard for even trying to say it. Yet, at the same time, he wanted to lash back. But the word felt like a curse. This was _love_. Love was meant to be good, better than anything – it was what they had always fought for. A billion songs were sung about it, probably more. It was the only emotion that could rise up and fight hatred.

But…somehow, now, it was wrong, bad – disgusting, even.

Before he could check her eyes, he felt her arms wrap around him tightly, a tighter embrace than was ever the norm for them. The back of his mind knew it was a courtesy, a consolation prize, a…joke. To her, it was just being friendly, trying to comfort him when she knew she couldn't do anything else.

But to him…it was a moment he didn't want to end, as fake as it was, and for all the seconds it lasted in real life, to him it felt like an eternity. The smell of her hair as it brushed past his face, more pleasant than freshly baked cookies. The soft feel of her top beneath his hands. The gentle push of her breasts against his chest, a false sharing of comfort, as his hands urged to pull her closer and never let go…

His attempts at restraint were pointless. For to his lost and lonely mind, once his reservations of friendship and pleasantness were put aside, he was in heaven, even if it were for such a brief, platonic instant.

But a brief platonic instant it was, and she pulled away all too soon. "I'm sorry. I love you too. But like as a friend. I just…don't feel the same way."

The world cracked around him, a sense of falling in his heart, mind, everything. There was the truth. The solid truth, something he had always known but never wanted to admit fully enough. That glimmer of hope that there was something else, the little flame burning in his heart in spite of everything, blinked out, and darkness enshrouded him.

There was another silence.

She averted her eyes and head over his shoulder, and hugged him…not an embrace like before. Everything felt a step short of what he really wanted. He could reach out and touch it in his mind, but the cold, hard, solid bonds of reality held him back, told him that life could never be so simple, could never simply be rewritten to turn out the way we want it to.

"It's okay," he cried. He knew he was crying more than her, he knew his tears flowed more freely. This was the whole world to him, but only a small part of hers. And it would never be anything more.

"Takeru? Kari?" called one of the larger parts of Kari's world, the voice undeniably familiar.

It was Davis.

Takeru didn't want to look, fearing this scene was already too much. She held him in her arms, the aftermath of a tighter (and perhaps mistaken) hug which he had just taken too far…hell, even without any of that, he had just confessed that he _loved_ her. It was like that inevitable scene in a movie you'd seen a thousand times, the one you wished never happened when you re-watched it and instead wished for an alternate version to just happen to have made it onto your copy.

In his mind's eye, this could only go one way. Davis would be the jerk of a boyfriend who he hated, asking what Kari was doing out here with another guy, and would have good reason to doubt her faithfulness after what he'd probably seen. Takeru himself would be the timid boy everyone rooted for, but knew was about to be punched in the face. Would Kari end up being the sort of girl who broke up with him for such a thing, or who was so love-crazed that she stuck with that kind of jerk and left the audience hating her?

But Takeru was deluded in his sadness. For this wasn't a movie. Davis wasn't a jerk.

"Is Takeru okay?" was, instead, his first question. Takeru cracked open an eye through tears and wandered worriedly towards them down the slight incline, Kari looking sadly to her boyfriend and clearly not wanting him to be there for once. But she could hardly tell him to go away.

Because Davis was worried for Takeru. Even if he had seen the rather overly tight hug too, his first thoughts were for the crying boy, the boy who he had to have known liked the same girl he did.

Kari went to speak, but Takeru wanted to speak for himself. He wasn't about to let this completely cripple him into a crying wreck for the rest of the day, let alone his life. He just…couldn't. "I'm okay Davis, thanks," he said with the utmost sincerity, yet he didn't mean any of it.

"What's wrong?"

Takeru glanced to Kari, hoping that she'd speak for him, but she looked just as worried. Here it was. The question that they had been dreading.

The blonde stood up, freeing himself from Kari's embrace, and standing face to face with Davis. And yet, he felt lower down, not just thanks to the slope he was on. Davis was so much better than him right now. He'd done nothing wrong. And yet Takeru wanted him to do something bad, for the red mist to descend. He unconsciously braced himself for violence, even though he doubted it was coming. Sadistically, he wanted it. He wanted some reason to be able to take a higher ground. Or, at least, to have some sense knocked into him.

"I love Kari."

His lips had betrayed his attempts to say anything softer.

The Gogglehead reacted with surprise, and as a result so did Takeru. Did he really not know? How couldn't he? Wasn't it obvious? Or was it only obvious to Kari?

Davis' brown eyes flashed with a sense of anger, and Takeru remembered how painful a punch to the face would probably be, moving his hands forward slightly in worry. To one side, Kari watched on, the scene almost straight out of a movie as she stood between her two boys.

But it was a flash, and only that, for Davis moved into a frown, his usual talent at inspiring words failing right now. "Oh."

"She doesn't feel the same way," the blonde added. "But I'm sorry. And I…I obviously won't do anything," Takeru became apologetic, putting his hands up, bracing himself against the mental attack now more than anything physical. "I know it's going to make things weird between all of…"

"It's okay Takeru," Davis began, his eyes closed for a moment before they opened with a smile. A smile that threw Takeru for more of a loop than anything Kari had ever said or done – indeed, more than anything had ever done.

Kari's curiosity echoed his. "Why are you smiling Davis?"

The boy chuckled, furthering the mystery and weirdness. "It's just…I always imagined something like this in the old days, but I never thought it'd be _this_ way round."

"What?" Takeru asked, thoroughly confused.

"I always expected to be _you_ in this situation, and _you_ to be standing right here shouting at me." Davis was jovial, almost too jovial, as Kari watched him gesture about, the girl looking completely bewildered by this turn of events.

"Wait, so you expected me to end up with her?"

"Duh! I mean, I always used to, at least. Come on, think back to when we were fighting the Digimon Emperor and Arukenimon and everything…I was crazy about Kari but you always seemed to be the one who actually got her heart. You and her both had Angels and a load of history, and I had a hard-headed dinosaur with a cross on his chest. Even _I _could see there had to be something going on there, as much as I hated it. And yeah, when we grew up and nothing happened I realised it was just my overactive imagination and jealousy, and, you know, you guys and everyone just playing games with me. But…" His amused tone dropped into a deeply honest one, as he looked straight into Takeru's eyes. "I imagined so many times what it'd be like to be like you are right now, and how much it'd hurt so bad. Even when she kissed me for saving her life back in Domain, I really just expected it to be a kiss of thanks. I still thought she really liked you. But…I guess that isn't exactly what you want to hear about right now. But still, I know how much it probably hurts, and I'm probably within my rights to hate you right now but…I just can't Takeru. You're one of my best friends, okay? And that's not gonna change no matter what happens."

Silence. Not a peaceful silence, not even an uncomfortable one, just one to take things in, and consider words that could be said. Davis, meanwhile, looked _extremely_ uncomfortable, and was probably fretting that he'd said something stupid, or simply too much. He had certainly been talking for a long while without anyone trying to interrupt. He even went so far as putting a hand out, waiting for Davis to return something.

"Thanks Davis," Takeru finally mustered up, freeing the poor boy from his flustering and taking his hand, the pair leaning in for a standard 'guy hug'. "I really do appreciate it."

"Just don't tell Veemon I called him a 'hard-headed' dinosaur," Davis laughed nervously, pulling back.

"It was a compliment, obviously," Takeru said sardonically, the tension having finally passed, even if there was still so much to talk about. "Where is he anyhow?"

"Sleeping," Davis yawned. "Geez, we must all be insular to still be up at this time."

"Insomniacs Davis," Kari corrected.

"Oh. Right. Thanks. Where would I be without you," the Gogglehead laughed, Takeru noticing uncomfortable glimpses towards him. Was Davis…nervous about being _with_ Kari now? This was something he hadn't ever really contemplated. Davis had_ won_, so why would he be nervous? Or was this just Davis? Seeing him be so insecure seemed so…unlike him. He would usually disguise his weaknesses with excuses, not least when they played basketball.

"Are you okay Takeru?" Kari was now looking at him too, and he increasingly felt compelled to lie. Truth was, he wasn't okay. This had all come too fast for him to be okay with it yet, but the fact that everyone around him was increasingly happy made him feel like they were insisting he was. He hoped he would be in time, but right now he just wanted a break from everything.

So he bluffed. "Yeah, I think I am. But…thanks. Thanks for all of this. Where would I be without friends like you guys?"

Kari and Takeru glanced to each other, giving the same relieved smile. "I'm really sorry Takeru," she said again, but he could only shrug. All words had been said by now, and anything more seemed like pressing the issue more than the tone allowed.

"It's fine."

"I'm sure you'll find someone some day," she added, trying to put a hopeful side on things. Takeru knew that was meant to be his job.

"Yeah, I'll set you up with someone," Davis said bluntly and with no end of enthusiasm, making Takeru feel like the 'bad guy' for putting out that particular fire.

"Uh, no offence Davis, but every girl I know you know."

"Oh, right," the boy replied, scratching the back of his head and chuckling. "Well, if you ever want to talk, or anything, just ask, okay? I hate to see you cry like that."

"Thanks Davis," Takeru nodded, taking in a deep sigh. "But what I want right now more than anything is to go to sleep. I'm wiped out."

He knew that was a lie too, at the back of his heart. But something had been lifted. Something very heavy, and while something only slightly lighter had been dumped in its place, he knew it had to account for something.

Kari didn't feel the same way. He would never get that out of his mind again. The bliss of that veil of ignorance had passed.

The girl reached out a hand for his, and Davis patted him on the back, the trio beginning to walk back to their current accommodation, and their (probably still sleeping) partners, who had missed everything. There would be one almighty catch up in the morning with Patamon, that much was for certain. He still partly wanted for Kari, and Davis especially, to have been rash, for him to be the only victim. But that was only the darker part of his mind speaking, for right now he knew that he wouldn't have had it any other way aside from one, and even that would've led to hell with Davis. So…maybe this was for the best. Takeru found himself smiling, even only lightly, and took a glance either side to some of the best friends anyone could have.

Sure, he still had a huge weight on his heart, but he had some pretty damn strong people to help him lift it.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Big emotional scene to end this chapter – even more so than the one I wrote for Chapter 10 of the rewrite of Book One. But there are a lot of similar themes in it, which worked quite neatly, and these two scenes couldn't be more different on the most part. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed the insights into Yamaki's thoughts and…well…my other little (okay, big) tease. Hehe. Bet you didn't expect _that_ one.

This chapter was intended to be double the length but I felt that a lot of these scenes needed their own space to be contemplated (rather than being shoved together with equally big or bigger scenes in a rather larger chapter that would've 'drowned' them out), and it meant I could update a bit sooner rather than leaving all you guys hanging. I'm going to focus on Book Seven again for a while now, but I'm glad I got some work done on the rewrite.

Meanwhile, I'd like to let you know about a new forum I've set up here on this website, accessible via my profile. It's called The Writer's Corner for Digimon, and is intended for two things. Firstly, it will allow anyone who has an idea that they can't/don't want to use (a plot bunny) leave their idea for 'adoption' by another writer. I've had a lot of these in the past, and it always seems like a shame to let them go to waste. Secondly, it will be for discussion of Digimon writing in general (and any other writing if you feel like it), both from a writer and a reader's point of view. I hope it gets popular, but so long as it provides a place to drop off any random ideas I have (but can't use – I have a lot of them), it'll serve its purpose, and I hope others do the same. It is co-moderated by Crazyeight and I, so at least it has one pair of capable hands managing it. Hint: they're not mine, heh.

Until next time…

B.C.


	39. Phase Two: Climax

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX**

**Phase Two**

_Climax_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Kenta Kitagawa**

* * *

The shield collapsed with almost no drama. Well, except for a sharp, loud, zapping noise, unfortunately calling the attention of all the mindless hordes of Scorpiomon, Cerberumon, Loweemon and Velgemon, fighting one another mindlessly on the other side, while AncientSphinxmon and his triad of JagerLoweemon swatted any who dared near them with ease. Between their empty space, and the Tamers now revealed by the bubble's collapse, a virtual carpet of Digimon stood.

"We're screwed," was Kazu's assessment from within HiAndromon, Kenta uneasily looking up to him and feeling rather vulnerable in a mere heart-shaped bubble with a small pink partner. He even questioned whether his partner's abilities would work on this foul mess of Digimon, given that few looked like the kind to even _have_ hearts to work on.

The mass advanced upon the city, the vast numbers of Scorpiomon leading the charge. Beelzemon grinned with amusement. He was the kind to love a good battle, something that couldn't be said for Kenta. Sure, a card game match was fun, a one on one or two on one with bioemergences was relatively fun in a way that was probably quite sadistic. But…an infinity on one match (as it increasingly seemed)? _"Count me out."_

MetalGarurumon leapt forwards, missiles sweeping straight out at the front line, advancing far faster than they had anticipated. Sure, the small-minded Digimon were still attacking each other for data to make themselves stronger, but they appeared to be smart enough to see that there was a lot more data to be obtained in this pretty looking town behind Kenta's back. Rosemon flung out her whip, swinging a number of the beasts into each other with such force they disintegrated, but they just kept coming.

"I don't like the look on his face," Gabumon said from within the metallic wolf, coming to a floating stop above them and gesturing with a paw to the AncientSphinxmon. The mega level was casting horribly twisted smirks at them all, conveying pure evil even though he did nothing but move his golden wings together.

"I don't like the looks of his wings," Palmon added, unabsorbed data from the horde's fighting beginning to gather between them.

"Maybe it's time we give him some posing lessons then," Beelzemon decided, cracking a knuckle. But, before he could move, he was forced to stop in surprise.

Out of the data ball between the beast's wings reformed another JagerLoweemon alongside him.

"Oh come on!" Kazu complained, HiAndromon taking a step forward and clenching a fist. "That's no fair!"

"That's it! We've got to take him down!" Beelzemon decided, and swept his hand down, playing a data trick of his own. Soon enough, the unmistakably familiar sight of Behemoth appeared next to him, a smirk manifesting on his face as he boarded it. "Hey old girl."

"Right," echoed Rosemon and MetalGarurumon, flying forward, while Beelzemon (still in his standard mode) rode straight across the horde on his bike, crushing Scorpiomon heads and dodging the Velgemon on the way.

"Kenta," the boy heard from one side, as he found it was just him, HiAndromon, MarineAngemon and Cherubimon remaining. The horde's attention, thankfully, was diverted by the advance of the three megas before them, bright shiny things moving fast seemingly meaning more than any strategy to them. "I'm worried for my sister…these bugs are coming a lot closer than I thought…" Suzie said worriedly from within the angelic clown.

Kenta glanced back, as HiAndromon stopped firing at the now-retreating Digimon. "Yeah…I'm worried for them too. They're sort of alone back there. And that transmission place sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Then let's get them to a safer place, and fast," HiAndromon decided.

"If you're going to go, go with haste," Mercurymon insisted, speaking on behalf of the other Digimon all gathered around the edge of the barrier, some already beginning to fight while others looked wary of the ferocity of the warzone. "We Digimon shall hold our position _without _your help, but we are not moronic enough to turn down your help, and so we would hope you are not foolish enough not to provide it."

"We'll be back before you know it," Kazu said with misplaced enthusiasm. Hopefully their Digimon allies would not be another victim of their mistakes.

Kenta nodded, and glanced to his partner, the bubble around him starting to shift, following Cherubimon and HiAndromon down the main street of Bolton. The bubble's speed was a lot faster without the weight of a huge number of people and Digimon, like MarineAngemon had had to shoulder so much lately.

All that Kenta had on his shoulders, meanwhile, was the thought of the girl who had won his heart losing her life.

"_Please be safe."_

* * *

**Michael Washington**

* * *

"I should've known when I took his job," Jeff moaned, whacking his head into the nearest wall. "All those fantastic head positions in all the other departments, and I went for the cool one. I could be so secure right now, but instead I'm going to prison," he sighed, before turning to face the group of Monster Makers and the pair of teenagers. "Sorry guys."

"It's not your fault," Curley said, trying to put on a brave face but sighing. "We have too many enemies."

"It'll all work itself out in court," insisted Babel with perhaps misplaced certainty. These would not be any ordinary court proceedings, and would probably take at least a year or so to confirm, such was the security involved and the high level of the breach. A world leader had been murdered!

Yeah, but all our work. From defending the city to Project Replica, all of it will be for nothing," Jeff mourned.

"For nothing?" Michael spoke up, surprised. "What do you mean, nothing? We've achieved so much."

"When the government gets here…they'll close down the project," Lindsay spoke for Jeff, the stress in the man's eyes clear from a mere glimpse. "I'm sorry…but I don't think you'll ever get any Digimon."

"But we _have_ Digimon. We've been part of this program for months now," Willis insisted, a sense of outrage growing in his voice. "What'll happen to them?"

"They'll be…decontaminated," Jeff said. In all the time Michael had known him, he'd never been one to be so euphemistic, but the man was clearly finding it so hard to tell them the truth. The blonde wanted to feel sympathy, but instead he felt sick.

"You mean they'll be killed," Michael translated.

"I'm afraid so."

"There has to be something we can do to save them," Willis mused, scratching his chin.

"Yeah, maybe Willis and I can smuggle them out of here?" Michael agreed.

"If you act against the government, they'll just extend your sentence, and it'll make you look guilty as hell," Christopher 'Babel' Newton said. "And you've still got your whole lives ahead of you…we can't get you involved in that."

Michael turned to face the head of SDCO, looking him in the eyes with a great sense of certainty in his words. "I want to see my partner…once more. Please."

"Same," Willis agreed.

Jeff frowned, before smiling the smile a parent gave to a child learning they had cancer. It was a smile of pride in someone for dealing with something in spite of the odds. But it was a sad smile nonetheless, as he reached for his key card off the desk.

"Come with me."

* * *

**Beelzemon**

* * *

Behemoth roared as he easily kept up with MetalGarurumon and Rosemon, flying above, the squelch of Scorpiomon crushed under its wheels as much an attack as any shot from his gun, even if unnamed. The ultimate levels often survived, albeit with some quite significant wounds, some discouraged from attacking by it and others attempting but failing to keep up.

Its rider, meanwhile, had no problem with driving one-handed, the other firing bullets from his Berenjena shotgun into Loweemon in his way and Velgemon in the sky.

But they were not his target. That was the smirking AncientSphinxmon, standing taller than all, and doing absolutely nothing about the three mega level Digimon that approached across the horde.

The four JagerLoweemon by his side, however, failed to follow his example. They unexpectedly rushed forward, leaping at MetalGarurumon in front of them and biting down jaws of black energy, the metallic wolf thrown back through the air in surprise, launching his rockets randomly in the hope to take out whoever had attacked him.

"Hey, watch it!" Beelzemon stepped back to avoid one of them, while others careered into the horde of Digimon around them, leaving gaping wounds. AncientSphinxmon swatted one aside, it laying waste to a relatively harmless Scorpiomon by hitting him head-on. The data was gathered without a pause between the wings of AncientSphinxmon.

Hearing a growl, the biker Digimon swung round on his heels, firing a bullet at point-blank into the skull of a JagerLoweemon. The specks that were left were 'whipped' away from him before he could absorb them or otherwise, another JagerLoweemon forming alongside the mythical beast.

"We need to stop him doing that," Rosemon surmised, rather obviously, as she came to float down next to him. A scathed MetalGarurumon joined them.

"We might need some more help then. These Digimon are everywhere," he growled, turning back to face Bolton. "Hey, where'd they all go?"

Beelzemon turned as well, although had the distinct feeling that with AncientSphinxmon and his minions there that wasn't the best of ideas. And sure enough, as MetalGarurumon had suggested, HiAndromon and Cherubimon had vanished, and if MarineAngemon and Kenta were still there, they certainly couldn't be seen from here. "What are they playing at?"

"Everyone's so vulnerable there now," Rosemon noted, fluttering up into the sky. "I'll go and hold off these freaks from getting into the town…you boys'll have to deal with AncientSphinxmon here on your own."

"That helps the odds so much," Matt sighed, the female mega level Digimon frowning at him and nodding before flying away. The wolf turned to the Demon Lord, as he reloaded his missiles, no doubt expending valuable energy in doing so. "What's the plan?"

"We use plans? I usually just shoot a lot at things."

"We have to take this guy down," MetalGarurumon ignored him. "And he seems pretty strong too. And…" The Digimon paused, smacking a paw down on a Scorpiomon who had taken a particular liking to one of his hind legs. "These things are getting annoying."

"You tell me. They…" Beelzemon began, before he found himself destabilised, and on the floor. The humiliation of it all was only heightened once he turned round and saw a swarm of Scorpiomon 'swimming' away with Behemoth, and he growled, reaching for his shotgun. "DOUBLE IMPACT!"

They blew up the Scorpiomon with no trouble at all. And the same could be said for his bike.

"That was smart," Matt said with no lack of sarcasm, as Beelzemon shot him a glare of certainty. "I know what I was doing," he insisted, turning back to face the bike's smouldering remains, bursting into data which merged with that of the Scorpiomon and began to drift in a particular direction. _"Sorry old girl, but I need you for something else…and that's not to be one of Lion-face's cats!"_

Leather boots pounded at the floor, while the sounds of MetalGarurumon taking to the air and swatting away a few more of the pesky arachnids rang in his ears behind.

"Not today, Lion-face!" he taunted to AncientSphinxmon with a smirk as he leapt into the air, surrounding himself with the data and absorbing it before it could join the Digimon's collection. **"Beelzemon, Mode Change to…Beelzemon Blast Mode!"**

A pair of black wings sharply swept upwards, clearing away the remaining smoke from the explosions and driving him up to join MetalGarurumon on high. All the while, he focused his third (now green) eye on AncientSphinxmon, his Positron Cannon grasped in his right hand opposite his trusty Berenjena.

"Flashy," Gabumon noted from within the wolf.

"No, this is," Beelzemon said cockily, holding it out. "CORONA BLASTER!"

AncientSphinxmon then showed a remarkable capacity for speed they hadn't quite anticipated. Sure, the blast still caused deaths, smashing through a JagerLoweemon and a dozen or so Scorpiomon as it scorched across the desert soil, but its target was nowhere to be seen.

Three eyes couldn't see one place, however.

"DARK BLAST!" Beelzemon cringed as he heard the hideous voice from behind, but it was barely a movement compared to his screams and wracking in pain a moment later. A sharp explosion on his back was followed by a powerful smack downwards, the Demon Lord crushing a Loweemon below under his weight. He absorbed half of the data in an attempt to heal himself, but the remainder rose rapidly and joined AncientSphinxmon's collection, the beast floating above and looking down with a disdained expression. "Too arrogant," his surprisingly-royal tone mused.

"METAL WOLF CLAW!" MetalGarurumon cried, a blast of blue energy shooting across towards AncientSphinxmon. But it was too straight, and unable to cope with his rapid manoeuvring, while its executor simply looked surprised as a large lion appeared in front of him, ruby eyes glinting.

"NECRO ECLIPSE!"

MetalGarurumon fell to the ground and was quickly set upon by Scorpiomon. Beelzemon sat up to head across and help, but was quickly a victim of the same.

"Damn!" he cursed, as AncientSphinxmon laughed from above, a tail crushed in the Demon Lord's hand not enough to satiate his anger. "This bastard is gonna pay…and I'm gonna find Ai and Mako," he reassured himself in a hissing growl, standing up and taking his gun out.

"CORONA DESTROYER!" he cried, drawing a pentagram with the weapon and firing through it, a huge energy blast launching at the ancient Digimon. That had to do it…right?

Beelzemon sighed as the Digimon instead landed in front of him, and he was forced to grab the beast's jaws with his gloved hands to stop them cutting around him. Who was he kidding?

"_Just…stick this one out," _he thought, straining himself as he saw MetalGarurumon get back up behind.

This fight wasn't over yet.

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

The 'romantic running' scene is not unknown to movies. A hero, or, at least, a self-proclaimed hero, gallantly runs home, to a hotel, or to an airport, after a big emotional catharsis, and confronts his lover, whether she's in the arms of another or heading to a distant shore, never to return. It is, perhaps, a cliché, one of those things that never occur in the sobering arms of reality. But to Ryder, an idealistic cliché as it was, it served as a perfect definition for what occupied his mind in those frantic moments, even if most romantic heroes in such tropes had rather more flowers and rather less bat-like creatures following in their wake.

He was going to tell her. The coma stuff, the prophecies, the lot.

A lip was bitten. _"Okay, maybe not everything."_

He tried to avoid that fact denting his burst of enthusiasm, and ran on through the dark, pretending he wasn't badly lost and hoping upon hope that the next alleyway might come out to somewhere recognisable. It did, but rather more because pretty much every building in this village looked identical than thanks to any sort of geographical reorientation

"Slow down Ryder," MiniDonmon called, the boy stopping for a moment to get his bearings. He didn't want to stop at all. If he did, he could end up thinking about it, convincing himself otherwise.

"I think our place is…"

"Two blocks back that way. I tried to shout to you when we passed."

"Oh, right."

After (quickly) retracing his steps and heading down yet another passageway past a few houses, Ryder finally reached the familiar-yet-still-unfamiliar door of his temporary abode. It was a traditional place that shared little in common with his apartment back home beyond being occupied by him, Mari and their two partners. This building even lacked proper beds. He wondered whether he could sleep on a futon without an aching back in the morning, as his hands peeled back the thick wooden door.

"_Come on Ryder, here goes nothing…"_

The sight that confronted him burnt all the preparation in the world.

What had he missed?

"Oh, Ryder," Mari snivelled, wiping back a tear from her eye yet doing nothing to stem the streams already pouring down her face. A few drops landed in the pale-coloured bed sheet wrapped around her body, socks poking out from its corners where she sat cross-legged on the perfectly aligned floorboards. The blanket wrapped up into a pile as she dropped it, before a rectangular object was thrust into her nearby rucksack. "Sorry."

"What's up?" He dropped down to her level and to his knees, looking her in the eyes with his best sympathetic gaze, even if the majority of his thoughts right now were more of bewilderment than anything else. Across the room, he saw DarkRenamon, watching with a presumably reluctant distance – he couldn't imagine the fox staying so far away of her own avail from Mari in this state.

"Nothing, I'm okay."

Grimace. "What was that just now?"

"It was nothing, don't worry about it, I'm fine." Her senseless and somewhat unemotional run-on sentences were a rather-too-obvious hint that everything was not fine at all. He reached out and put his arm to her waist, but she nudged it away from her and it wound up uncomfortably on her shoulders. "I said I'm fine."

Ryder's eyes narrowed, as he leapt a step in his thoughts. "I know why you're crying Mari."

"I'm just tired. It's been a long and stupid day, and I've got a lot on my mind."

He was being blocked out. Why? Just why was that thing so important to her? "To do with the photo?"

She narrowed her eyes back, her tears ceasing as she looked bewildered, before anger broke her lips. "What happened to our personal belongings being private?"

"You're the one who said about the underwear drawer. Blame me for being curious. Besides, if there was anywhere _this terror_ was going to be, it was there." MiniDonmon pulled his best 'innocent' face (something which had always been equivocal to the poorest 'innocent face' of Ivy) as a finger was sharply pointed in his direction. In other circumstances, Ryder would've laughed, but right now he was trying to convince a girl of his own innocence, and he had an irritating habit of unintentionally pleading guilty at every turn.

She snorted from her nose, which did little to help her puffed-up cheeks deflate. "Fine, it's a photo of my parents. I should never have got it out, I always go like this. I miss them so much."

"C-can I see? I didn't really look properly before," he lied. Her parents were a touchy subject with her, an extremely touchy one. What had they been like? Mari hadn't been completely schtum about them, but they still seemed so…remote.

Pausing for a moment, she chewed the idea over, before a resigned sigh pulled the frame from her rucksack and pushing it into his hands, in the process getting his palm off her shoulder. "Here."

Blonde, brunette, smiles, family holiday. Check. Mari looked like every other sweet pre-teen, almost enough to make him audibly "aww", or poke fun at her baby fat in her cheeks, were she in a better mood. It was the exact same picture (not that he had expected anything different) with the same burn marks on the frame. Regardless, he pretended to give it a bit more thought, as if he _hadn't_ already seen it properly.

Still, something did…bug him about it. And he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Where's this picture from?" Would asking make her more upset? Was it worth the risk? It was better, he supposed, than the uncomfortable silence that otherwise looked set to befall them.

"Some holiday we went on. Why are you asking?" Whatever tears were on her cheeks had by now been wiped away by a swift move of the duvet, and he hadn't a clue if more were being held back.

"I don't know. I thought you might want to…talk about it."

"Sorry but I don't."

Ryder frowned. She was amazingly defensive about it all. What was so…problematic? He could, and did, easily talk for hours about his family: his father's attempts at barbequing, holidays to France, and a whole lot more besides. Obvious reasons had stopped him from asking too much from Mari in the past, but still, even though she had lost them so tragically, surely she'd want to relive the good memories beforehand?

Her eyes stuck on his for a moment, before a sigh parted from her soft lips. "Look, it's nothing to do with you, don't worry. I just…don't like looking at it all that much. It was only a moment of weakness."

MiniDonmon fluttered down to interrupt, as Ryder respectfully returned the frame to his girlfriend's lap. "Huh? What do you mean?"

DarkRenamon's disapproving stare in the bat's direction caught Ryder off-guard. Why didn't she want him involved in this? For that matter, did she want Ryder involved in this? And just what had happened beforehand to justify such restraint? _"Maybe I only walked in on the end of her tears?"_

"All the families here with their kids…everyone worrying about their _living _parents back home…they don't know how lucky they are…" Her head fell to one side, her words falling to a mutter of self-loathing. "Wow, I sound like a bitch."

Hands landed on shoulders, yet heads didn't turn. "I know how much it hurts, but…"

"What do you mean you know? You don't know anything." Her cold gaze hit him, as his hands were pushed aside sharply, by hands that then slowly recoiled, as if regretting lashing out. "Listen Ryder, we've had blow-outs about this all before, so I'm not about to let another argument happen. Yes, you have just as much right to miss your parents and your Tamers and…_Ivy_." The word was said with distaste, like a passing smoker had just blown in her face and left a sour taste on her lips. "And I miss mine too. Closest thing I've had to a dad these past few years is Jeff, and even he might be dead too now if they catch him. But…I want to move on. I don't want to keep living in the past. That's why I hid the frame. I want to try and be happy again. Life, liberty and the _pursuit of happiness_."

"I see." Ryder's hands shrivelled back to his sides, while his fallen lips were nibbled. With a flutter, MiniDonmon flew to DarkRenamon, and after a few moments of flapping in front of her, she, with a few, quiet words, grabbed him and vanished into nothing.

"That's Jefferson."

Ryder barely heard her, his eyes fixed on the now-vacant space. Was MiniDonmon safe? _"Ah, who am I kidding? DarkRenamon taking him away. It's his dream come true._ _Somehow I don't think he's gonna have Guilmon's luck though."_

A snort. "You _really _don't make sense, do you?" Mari's voice was a smiled cry, the voice one made when a friend made one laugh while bawling with tears. "Why do I love you so much when you're always like this?"

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say before?" Had it been really important? It was a name or something, right? She'd said the last bit…it had to be something important. Oh god, what was it, what was it?

She didn't bother repeating herself. "You're the only boy on earth who could get distracted by something _else_ in a girl's underwear drawer." Her voice elegantly coupled disdain and disbelief, the shadows of her hair dancing on her face as her head shook.

A nervous laugh. "I didn't want to look like a pervert, that's all. Oh, and, it felt a bit like taking advantage of the situation. Did you expect me to come out wearing a pair or something?"

"Amazingly, I think that'd be more normal." Her laugh was still rife with disbelief and sadness.

"Oh ha ha. And anyway, I wasn't expecting to see anything like the frame and the diary in there, what'd you…?"

"The diary?"

"_Stupid Ryder…" _Hand hit forehead, before being waved out in front in surrender. "I didn't read it!"

The unpleasant sound of grated teeth quietly echoed around the chamber. "I think I'd have minded less if you _had_ gone through my underwear. You're gonna touch it some day, after all. Anyhow, didn't it occur to you that I put them in there for _a reason_?"

"I know, I know. That's why I _didn't_ read it. You're perfectly entitled to keep secrets…I'm not going to end up calling the kettle black here." Speaking of secrets, wasn't there some reason he had been gagging to start a conversation with her? Its importance seemed to decline with every moment as he delved deeper into the girl's psyche. If this was a coma, she was an incredibly detailed figment of his imagination.

"Would you want to read it?"

"Uh…um…" he deliberated, not sure whether to be honest or tactful. "Yeah, yeah, probably. But I didn't, I promise. And I wouldn't either."

"Mhmm." Reaching into her backpack, she first pulled out a passport, followed by a familiar small chest, and finally the pale blue hardcover diary, her hand sweeping carefully across its surface. "See, I brought it with me so I wouldn't lose it or get it stolen. I-I let off a lot of steam in it."

"Like what?" Ryder felt wrong to pry, yet found himself deeply curious. Just what had she said? Would it be about him? Did he even want to know?

Mari said nothing at first, instead opening her diary and flicking through the pages, Ryder catching a few words here and there written intricately in a variety of inks. "1st January 2011. Dear Diary." She cleared her throat, before pronouncing in a completely unemotional voice: "Fucking fucking fucking Ivy!"

"Oh."

She clapped the book closed, its thick wad of pages coming together with a satisfying _clunk_. Just what was held within those sheets? Would it be more of the same? How far back did it go? Simply being deprived of the ability to know what was in the book made it interesting, even if he knew just as much about its contents as those of the books on the shelf in his bedroom that he 'still had to finish reading' (but never would).

"_Stupid curiosity."_

Every single entry in there would potentially give him entry to the inner workings of Miss Marie Flynn, her inner thoughts, her mind. Maybe even plenty of the answers he needed to what was really going on in his life. But he knew he never could, or would.

"_Stupid conscience."_

The blue cover was pushed against Mari's chest by her crossed arms. Protecting it from him? Or holding her thoughts close? "Like I said, it's all about my pursuit of happiness. I can't remember the past, when my parents were around, but I'm going to remember the today and try to find some solace in it all. I vent my thoughts so they don't cripple me."

"And do they?"

"What do you think?"

"Oh." He was asking questions he didn't want to know the answer to again, while her eyes looked ready to drip at any moment. Time for something more factual. "When did you start writing it?"

She chewed her lip. "I don't remember." Why didn't she just look at the first entry? "It's not all about you and Ivy, you know," she insisted, clutching it closer.

"I figured," Ryder half-smiled. Something made him think it was mostly a lie.

Mari frowned in response, placing the diary on the ground alongside her gently, ensuring its pages were closed. "Thanks for not reading it."

"It's okay. Besides, I've got all the time in the world to."

A glare. His joke hadn't gone too well. After an uneasy chuckle, Ryder reached for the chest, hoping it'd give him a reason to change the subject. Maybe a missing necklace or something? Wouldn't that be spooky?

Nope. All of them present and correct, from the holed triangle of '4' to the pair of circles on '8'. Mari's '2' glinted from her neck in the soft light of the traditional home, while he became aware of the slight weight of his '1' around his neck. Such beautiful and intricately crafted objects, lacking any imperfections (beyond his own accidental scratches)…who made them? Or _would_ make them?

"I can't even remember their voices." Mari held the frame in her hands again. She gently headbutted it in desperation, her hair falling over the glass. "Ugh."

Giving up on his attempts to divert his attention via the necklaces, he carefully slotted his hand around her back and onto her shoulder, pausing only to note how uncomfortable it was to sit cross-legged, particularly with his long legs. God only knew how girls managed it; even choosing it when atop a chair in the same manner. _"Less in the way."_

Once again, she failed to reciprocate his attempts to comfort her, instead calling the whole act into question with but a single concerned glance. No leaning into him, no nothing, but at least not a physical rejection. Maybe he was getting through to her, finally?

"You…said you were pursuing happiness…"

"Yeah. That's what we said when we got our independence from you."

"That _completely unimportant _fact aside," he said, to a snort. There was the British-American animosity again, strong as ever. "Do you feel happy now?"

A pause. "I'm on my way there, with a little help," she said, with a bizarre optimism to her words, as she planted her hands onto his thighs and turned to kneel in front of him with a half-smile. The tension in the air could now simply be cut with a knife rather than a laser cutter, but it still hung and made her reciprocation of his affection uneasy. At least they were getting somewhere. "I just want some certainty for once. I want something I can call mine, and know will be there to make me happy." Her eyes flickered with nervousness, as she leaned slightly towards him. And then a little bit more.

"_Amen."_ And then the reason he was here flashed onto his mind, as he gazed over her soft lips, letting out little gasps of air, as a tongue lightly licked bitten lips. The natural highlights in her hair, dropping down her sides and back. A mole on her neck, the curve of her cleavage. The smell of her perfume or deodorant, he wasn't sure which. Her eyes, peering over his form with such…independence. Could this really be a dream? Was his mind that advanced, or that cruel?

He felt like using this knowledge to take the easy way out, but he knew the guilt of keeping her in the dark all this time was fastened to his heart with more straps than that. But was the guilt worse than her knowing? At least only he had to bear the guilt. A problem shared was a problem halved, but meant someone else ended up with half a problem. Maybe it'd be better for them all if he kept these things in his own head?

But something at the back of his mind grew, fighting its way through that crowd of cowardly thoughts at the front of his consciousness, and leapt from his lips and into the open-mouthed face of the girl, overriding whatever message he was otherwise going to hear.

"A coma!"

Now, this thought wasn't really the most sensible thought, and Ryder's articulation only made it worse; it came across more like a happy saying by a small innocent yet ignorant child than the wise conclusions of a philosopher. Certainly, some context would've been handy. All the other muses, mumbles and mind-screws in his brain had to rush around rapidly to construct something half-hearted to replace it.

"I think this is a coma." It wasn't much better.

"What?" Mari's hands froze on his legs for a moment, her eyes widening, and her teeth briefly gritting, before she again tilted her head. Her knuckles gently tapped the floor as the palms dropped free, leaving with none of the soothing stroke with which they had been planted.

Scratch at the back of the head. Cheesy grin. Uncomfortable laugh. He was _so_ a Gogglehead, even without the accessory. "Well, I sort of…_deducted_ it."

"Deducted what?"

"That I'm in a coma."

"You're…in a coma?" From her look, he wondered if he had actually claimed to be a penguin or Barrack Obama. Then again, both would probably have been better understood. "In a _coma_?"

"Yeah." He cursed how optimistic his words sounded. This sort of deep thought always drove him to such mindlessness, even at his own expense in the shallow reality. "Don't ask me how I ended up like it, but there's a hospital bed back home with my name on it. I must be suffering some pretty significant head trauma to cause all this. Hence, coma."

"Sorry, but…_how _the_ hell_ did you _ever_ 'deduct' that?"

"I've had a lot of clue, not least when I died."

"You're going to have to be more specific." It was a response never before given to a statement never before asked in the history of…everything.

"When I got shot in that tunnel."

"Oh…" she mumbled, a cringe working its way up through her spine and betraying her reliving of the memory. He had said absolutely nothing to her when she found him. "That explains a lot."

"It was one of those death fantasies again. I floating around myself in a Wimbledon Hospital bed, hooked up to tons of machines." With anyone else that'd have sounded mad. With him, it was simply par for the course. So much for rational and logic in the world he found himself in.

"Was Ivy there?"

"…yes." Damn, she read between the lines. After all, why else would he have immediately not told her? _"Well, besides the fact it made me doubt her existence."_

Mari grimaced, as was to be expected. Ryder's previous fantasies had been rather…explicit about him and Ivy having a relationship, and this one only served to imply that relationship was in 'reality'. That 'reality' was a world now far removed from her, which made her whole existence…what exactly? No wonder she turned against the idea, denying everything, although the mere mention of Ivy alone would've done the same.

"Then it's probably not true. She appears too much in them – it's just not realistic that she'd _always_ be there. That's the dream Ryder." She kneeled up and moved closer, looking him right in the eyes as she desperately tried to convince him of the 'truth'. "I'm real. Believe me."

He couldn't deny that it was a bit unlikely Ivy would be in every single death fantasy of his. But then again, 'death fantasy'? What part of that _was_ likely?

"But everything sort of…slots into place when I think about it."

"Like what?" Mari hissed, her often-extreme jealousy shining through yet again and turning her from seeming open to the idea to being completely unconvinced, with all the fervency of an evangelist. So much for getting her help to experiment with his theory.

"Remember that phone call after the Chiyo thing?"

"The one you said was nothing but then went all weird on me…_again_? Yeah, I remember."

"Yeah, well…it was Ivy, asking if I could hear her. Doesn't that seem like something you'd say to someone in a coma?"

"Or someone on a bad phone line."

He ignored her pessimism, hoping still to convince her, in spite of the tall odds. Why, he wasn't certain. To prove himself right? Was this pride? Even if he did convince her, what difference did it make? Would that be the key to breaking the universe or something? More likely, would it be the key to breaking her heart? Again, he questioned what right he had, and regretted ever sharing this problem. If anything, the guilt had doubled.

"What about the fact I'm _surrounded_ by people from a fictional TV show? And all these weird events: not being able to die, meeting my dream girl, and…?"

"Dream girl? Who?"

"You Mari."

At first he thought she was blushing, but it faded to a cynical tone and dropped expression, unimpressed eyes conveying the truth behind her sarcasm. "I'm flattered Ryder," she patted him on the head patronisingly. Even if she _had _blushed, it was clear she didn't believe him in the slightest.

Heck, he wasn't even sure if _he_ believed _him_ either. Maybe he just thought it had been a dream? A dream about a dream within a dream. He felt fit to groan, as much as he tried to accommodate all the complex crossing over of thoughts and things within his head. They were slowly and painfully driving him insane.

"There was this show back home called _Life on Mars_. This cop got hit by a car and woke up in the 70s, but it turned out it was all a coma. I think. I never saw how its sequel ended."

"So you got hit by a car?"

"Hit by a car, fell in the street, who knows? But it explains everything: not being able to die, seeing fictional characters, getting messages through, and why I don't notice or remember everything that I really should. After all, you never notice a dream when you're dreaming it – you'd wake up!"

"But you _have _noticed it Ryder. We're having this conversation, and this whole place hasn't gone topsy-turvy. It's not a dream."

"What if this coma was really deep, with tons of levels and stuff? Maybe I can't wake up?"

"So what am I then? Your Id?"

A mouth opened, but the brain paused to compute this new theory, one which hit Ryder's head with just as much force as the original coma one. Was that it? Were all these people around him just different parts of him, of who he was? Takato, his uneasiness. Henry, his sensibility. Cody, his morality. Terriermon, his sense of humour. Henry, his logic. Natsuki…Ivy? Or his _image_ of Ivy? And if so, what was Mari? His dreams? There were such depths to be plumbed in this idea, and yet in doing so he felt that deep guilt return as he deprived Mari of her 'existence', turning her into a fictional construct yet again. It felt so wrong. But his mind wouldn't stop.

"I…don't know." He denied his thoughts a voice, hoping to stem their tide.

She leant over to him. "Ryder, I'm not imaginary," she laughed disbelievingly, placing her hand on her bosom. "Seriously, I do love your theories, but your jokes go a bit far." Denial.

Ryder had times when his curiosity would override any sense of tact and understanding about what affected real people. And with his ability to call those around him 'real' severely challenged, he was left in a situation where this overriding became even more likely. "But how would you know? You might just be my mind _tricking_ me into believing this _is_ real, to keep me in the coma." He found his words almost callous.

"Ryder, I'm real." The humour was gone, and her voice became forceful and insistent instead. "I remember. I exist when you're not in the room. I had a whole life before I met you. Heck, I know plenty of stuff you don't, and I somehow doubt your mind is telling you all that."

"But…"

"Look!" The diary was quickly shoved into his face. "I have a mind. All these things, you've never seen them before. All these facts you'd never think of. Read them."

He glanced down to the book, noticing the slight scuffle at the bottom of its cover, the rough feeling of its pale blue surface. His eyes flexed to hers for confirmation she was really saying what he thought. Wasn't it wrong to see all this? Or…would it be the one thing that conclusively proved or disproved this dream? Maybe it would be blank. Maybe it would be 'broken'. Maybe he'd open it and wake up. Reluctance stirred his nerves, both out of anticipation for what was inside and respect for Mari. It was only because of his theory that she wanted him to open it: he would've never have been able to otherwise. It felt like he was using her, exploiting her emotions. He didn't like it.

"Open it," she said, with a playful tap on his leg.

Swallowing his reservations, he gently opened it and read the first entry he came across.

**26****th**** August 2010**

**Dear Diary,**

**I kissed Chiyo today. I didn't want to, I really didn't want to, but she used her weird powers on me and my mind. Heck, even if I were a lesbian, I can't see myself fancying that whore. Now I feel mean. She dresses like one and she can be a bit of a bitch, but that's too far. I feel like Ryder with this stupid guilt. He just stood there watching – probably getting hard for all I know. A proper guy would've interrupted and kissed me and been all romantic. Stupid Ryder. He was practically egging her on to do it. Is that what turns him on? Are all guys like this?**

It was…vivid. And unexpected. He could give her that one. She blushed with embarrassment when she worked out what one it was, personally flicking the book back to another one before he could read on. Besides…he had been there for that event, and it wasn't a stretch of his imagination to work out what her thoughts would've been.

He looked down at the new patchwork of blue ink before him, printed in her delicate handwriting, and lacking the hurried anger of the one before it.

**23****rd**** May 2010**

**Dear Diary,**

**I've met this guy. This really, really, really weird guy, but I think I really like him. It's so random, he just turned up from Japan claiming to be a Brit but the UK says they've never heard of him and so he officially doesn't exist. Stupid bureaucrats. Still, I wouldn't have met him otherwise. Jeff made me interview him. Thanks Jeff!**

**He's my age, obviously, and he's got this really weird quirky hair that is cute in a strange way. I don't think I've ever been like this before about anyone. And he's tall, much taller than most of the people he's with. If that's how tall Japanese people are, I think I'd have a problem with bumping my head on things. And I just adore that British accent of his.**

**I sound like a silly school girl with a crush. Hehe, it's 'cause I am. He probably thinks I looked like a man in that stupid uniform, even if he said I was pretty. Maybe if he's from Japan, he's into the whole uniform thing? I wear jeans a lot though. I wonder if he likes that?**

**He's agreed to go out with me too. So far, so good. I kind of roped him into it though. Said I'd let him go free if he did. So sue me, it was worth it! How else was I going to ask? Still, I nearly ruined it already by breaking down in front of him and crying about the same old thing again. God, how stupid am I? Who wants damaged goods? I need to work on that. Maybe once we know each other better.**

**Oh! And he knows about the weird things going on too. I'm glad I'm not the only one. The world **_**did**_ **change four months ago. And everything translates in his mind too! A soul mate! Or someone as deluded as me. Hey, who cares, we'll be happy together!**

**And I get to monitor him all week outside his hotel! Every chance in the world to make this work. I really hope he's not just humouring me though. I feel like I have to really come onto him to get him to do anything. Please tell me I'm not completely delusional.**

**This apartment is too quiet and lonely, and I don't want to be alone for much longer. Maybe he'll stay? Or maybe he'll go back to Japan? Do I want to leave Jeff and SDCO? Maybe he will stay? But who changes their life for a girl they've only known for a week? God, I'm being so stupid!**

**Can't wait for this date. ****I probably need to calm down a bit. I'm thinking too far ahead again. Sex, marriage, they can all wait. I don't want to screw this one up. Come on Mari, let this work! Don't screw it up!**

Ryder closed the front cover, blank pages falling down atop the one he had read. No more. It felt wrong to look deeper into her mind than he already had. She still blushed lightly as she saw the entry it was, her fingers playing with her hair as she seemed to focus all her will in the world into speaking confidently, even leaning closer. "See. I think things you never see or hear."

"Yeah, and then some." He still felt stunned by what he had learnt. She had been so…keen on him. Not that he was entirely free of suspicion of the fact, what with her behaviour during those very strange days, but there were definitely things in here he never knew of, and would never have considered in a million years. It was her inner voice, no doubt.

"And you only dream of what you know."

Yet, in spite of what he had learnt, Ryder's curiosity and intrigue with his pet theory triumphed over tact yet again. "But that's only because that's how we _think_ dreams work. Who says an entire world can't exist in here?" He pointed to his head. Even it could be imaginary. If he took out his brain, what would happen? Other than his death and subsequent revival, of course.

"Ugh," Mari groaned, increasing Ryder's guilt. She had opened her heart to him, almost literally thanks to the diary, and yet he pushed it away, even for all it said. Her hands returned to his legs, and she kneeled up, staring into his eyes with such…passion. She was giving it her all. "What about experiences? You're having new experiences all the time!" She was sounding increasingly desperate to convince him. No wonder. Or was it the dream fighting him to maintain itself? "You said you'd never biomerged before. Or been to Japan."

That threw him even more. The exact same thoughts he'd had, brought up by her only moments after she'd started considering the idea. How? Was it because she _was_ him (in a way)? Her attempts to disprove his idea simply supported it, as Ryder once more felt like the whole world was being bent around him.

He dearly hoped he wasn't joining up dots that didn't exist. Either way, Mari would be pained by this revelation.

In spite of this, he still found himself fighting back. Was it a battle? Did he have to win? If he did, would he get out of here? "How do I know what I did is what biomerging is actually like? Who says I didn't just make up what Japan _might_ be like? I wouldn't notice the difference."

She looked over him, Ryder waiting patiently for what he expected was another rebuttal. It would be sound, but again, he would surely and harshly dispel it. The poor girl was practically fighting for her life here, her very existence.

Instead, Ryder found a pair of lips pushed against his, hands stroking his back. Once he got over his initial surprise, he (half-voluntarily and half by Mari's force) opened his mouth and kissed back, but it was all a bit too…vigorous for his liking. She was giving it her all. Why couldn't he accept that was enough to prove it?

But he couldn't. He couldn't concede this. It was emotional blackmail, it was a trick, whether by Mari or by his own mind in proxy, and that made him only fight back harder. He needed to rationalise this. This world played on his emotions to maintain itself, and the only way he was going to find out any more about it was by using cold, hard reason. He couldn't keep living in this world without knowing the truth. He had to find a way to find out. But how?

* * *

"Do something you've never done before."

* * *

"I don't feel alive."

"I don't know, just do something that makes you feel alive then,"

* * *

MiniDonmon had the right idea. He needed to do an experiment. But what? He didn't have any choices. Everything he could think of could easily be dispelled by his own words, that that was only the way we '_think_ dreams work.' He wished he could genuinely remember his dreams from home: were they like this? Maybe he never remembered? What did he _know_ about dreams? He only _thought_ he knew stuff, he couldn't be certain on anything. All he fell back on were the age-old assumptions, and if a combination of science and QI had taught him anything, it was that the age-old assumptions were more often than not horribly wrong.

She pulled away rapidly, looking like she'd climb Everest if she needed to. "What about that? Kissing. You'd never done that before you met me…uh…right?"

"I could be imagining that too."

"Ugh, you are _impossible!_" Mari finally snapped, seething in irritation as she rubbed a hand down her face.

"Why?"

"Why can't you face that all this might just be real? Why do you always have to flee or explain away your problems whenever they face you?"

"By 'my problems', you mean you, don't you?"

"Of course I do! Of course I do! Ryder, I said I wanted some stability in my life, and you tell me I don't exist. You drive me so mad sometimes. You are absolutely high in the sky, insane, unbelievable and completely and utterly useless. Now undo my bra."

"I am not useless!" he snapped. "Wait…what?"

"The clasp unclips horizontally." A casual air drifted around her and her words, the suggestion seemingly not bizarre at all, as she leaned forward slightly and gestured behind her with a pinching motion.

"Why would I need to undo your bra?" he laughed, wondering if she was getting her own back in her own way for his changing the subject earlier. She was doing it in style for sure.

"So you can fuck me." She leant amazingly close to him and put her hands on his shoulders, leading to the first instance in the whole of human history where the sight was less suggestive than the words involved. "Ryder, you have no idea how much I love you…how much you mean to me…" She breathed in, but let so much more out, her seductive tones playing havoc with the boy's mind. "…how much I _want_ you."

He laughed uneasily, his tone jarring horribly with that of the girl beckoning before him. "Okay, are you being serious?" His eyes were as wide as saucepan lids, as he tried to detect some hint of sarcasm in those brown eyes, some hint of sweated nerves in her perfume, some hint of a cheeky smile on those succulent lips. But as mischievous as it was, he had the feeling it had nothing to do with playing a trick on him.

Her fingers stroked down his arms to his hands, joining fingers with him as she stared into her eyes, Ryder feeling like he was looking into an abyss of honesty, of humanity. Could his dream make this? "Ryder…I want to prove to you that this world is one-hundred percent real. And if that means doing the one thing that you've probably always dreamed about, then so be it."

She licked her lips, as she glanced aside briefly to let a piece of fallen hair fall aside. She rubbed her fingers across his hands, as their eyes met again, that seductive Mari back and most certainly in business.

"And if that means I get a lot of fun out of it, then _so be that too._ Besides, you _completely_ missed my earlier hints. I've got to teach you a lot about what a girl does when she's coming onto you, or this is going to be so hard in the future."

"Mari, are you one-hundred percent sure about this?" He didn't want to make a mistake, or fall for a hugely-effective prank, as appealing as it was.

"I've never been more sure of anything. Listen Ryder, I can't lie that I haven't been dreaming of this too." If this was a big prank, then…well…she had certainly succeeded in fooling him. Was this even a prank he wanted to be shown up for? It seemed worth falling for it. "How does that old song go again? Girls just want to have fun." Was that a wink?

He wanted to bite his nails from the tension, worse than the last moments before a plane took off, before a rollercoaster dived down or before exam results came out.

The smell of perfume. Her gorgeous face, beckoning him on, her eyes staring deep into him and promising so much. The silence around them, the peace which probably wouldn't last for long, broken only now by her soft breaths, the nerves underlying her seemingly over-confident actions laid out before him plain to see. Her lips perched anticipatorily, while she had unintentionally (or perhaps not) pushed out her chest, showing…

He planted his hands on her knees, expression ever so serious. Her lips hung open as she anticipated his response, looking deep into her eyes.

"You know what. Screw you," he said, with all the emotion of a computer.

And then he grinned.

She soon grinned back, and leapt forward, pushing her lips onto his and kissing him deeply. Leaning into her, he pushed his lips and body against hers, slipping his hands up her thighs and onto her hips. He felt the smile on her face as she grabbed him far more forcefully, while her hair fell gently onto his face. His hands explored at first before sliding up her back, under her top, and receiving all the attention of his mind as he focused on getting just one thing right in this very moment, all the while trying to ignore the feeling of her hands on his body.

"_Don't fumble, don't fumble, don't fumble…"_

Up, down, diagonally, every single combination he could try, until he finally remembered her words from only a few moments before.

A soft click, and the feeling of something gently easing onto his chest, yet still being restrained somehow. He went to yank the bra away, but it got caught underneath her top, and it took a while before it was 'romantically' tossed away.

"Useless," Mari chuckled, and it rapidly occurred to Ryder how he had done it all in the completely wrong order, a blush manifesting on his cheeks over and above the heat from the moment. Ah well, it was Sod's Law. He'd get better with practice. Touch wood.

The numerical top crumpled into a chaotic pile as it hit the floorboards. Ryder leant back out of the kiss and saw something he had seen before, but never for such a prolonged length of time, and certainly never as a _whole_ like this. Her pasty skin softly rose to her belly button, the hidden pretence of crop tops and midriff completely eradicated along with any suggestions of cleavage. Before he could even think about what to do next, or even properly savour the sight, he realised her hands were on his, pulling up his own shirt and whipping it away. Their bodies pressed together for the first time, his heart beating so fast he was certain she could feel it.

He took in a breath as he realised what was happening, before a passionate kiss crashed into him once again, giving him space to do the worst possible thing for him.

Think.

This was it. The big moment. God knows where it had come from all of a sudden, but he certainly was not complaining. Besides, if his conscience asked, it was for 'research' purposes. He had to prove that this world was real or not, after all.

Besides, something about how her hands were clawing at his belt as she moved down to kiss his chest told him that this was not a new thought for her by any means. How had he missed all those hints? What was wrong with him?

But this was Ryder, and all his other worries blurred aside in quick succession to leave only one thing on his mind. One simple yet difficult rule, one which he was positively certain he would break soon enough if his usual luck held out. Indeed, for all it was worth, it may as well have been his life's mantra, applying now as much as ever, as his hands slipped down her hips into her jeans.

"_Don't screw it up."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

I seem to be making a record of surprise endings and chapters lately. Every chapter seemed to have a bunch of 'big scenes' in it. The previous chapter and this one were meant to be one six-scene epic, so just imagine what _that_ would've been like. But if you're still too busy imagining how the scene above ends to imagine that…well…don't expect me to write it for you, haha. I'm not _that_ kind of writer, folks.

Anyhow, I'm afraid that I'm away from Wednesday until Sunday, and so won't be able to post any new chapters until then. Apologies folks! Since, well, after this, I'm sure you'll all be so eager to know what happens next. And what happens in Bolton. And with Kiyoyuki. And just about everything else besides. Wait and see folks. Phase Two is approaching its final phases, and it's going to go out with a bang. An even bigger one than this one. (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Oh, and I use the DigimonWiki spelling of Loweemon. And all of that.

Until next time…

B.C.


	40. Phase Two: Sleep

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN**

**Phase Two**

_Sleep_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

Ryder Stevens couldn't sleep, as much as his biology and hormones (and just general tiredness) urged him to at this very moment.

Her naked body lay upon him, gentle breaths only giving hints of potential snoring. He'd heard about how some married couples became so engrained with each other's bad habits on that thorny subject that they could barely sleep without it. Others made another bedroom or slept on the couch to get away from it.

What sort of couple would they be? It was dreaming, it was imagining, but of a different kind to what he'd been used to in the past few hours. The dreaming was bright, a distant potential streaming through like the inexplicable light through the translucent panes nearby, far and away from the murky waters of philosophical and existential speculation which he had become so embroiled in as of late.

And it made him feel…hopeful.

His hand gently and unconsciously stroked her leg, only distant wonderings worrying if it would wake her. The smell of her hair was reaching the point where, like the smell of one's own home, it failed to register on his senses. Such was a shame for, in his mind, full of adolescent idealism and previously unfulfilled dreams of love and romance, this mixture of shampoo and natural odour was more delightful than any of the flowers whose smell and air had come to constantly enshroud him wherever he went in this village.

She shifted lightly, but stayed in her land of sleep, a contented smile fixed in her face.

"_So…that was it, huh?"_

That same thing had been repeated over and over again by his mind for all the time he had been stuck with this curse of wakefulness, and god only knew how long that had been. But this echo was not disappointment, no, but simply an inability to believe that such an event had happened, an inability to take in reality. If, of course, this were reality. After something which felt so much like how dreams were meant to be (a dream with plenty of fumbling and shifting, of course), he couldn't even be certain of his own theories either. Yet they had, surprisingly, left him largely in peace, if just for now, leaving the sudden actions of the brunette whose head now rested on his chest to dominate every thought in every long minute that passed.

MiniDonmon had vanished, leading him to be certain that DarkRenamon had taken as least a cursory (yet invisible) glance into their quarters at some point, even if just brought on by the unusual sounds and smells which her senses were far more trained to detect. Hopefully post-coitus, of course, although he somehow doubted that Digimon, thanks to Terriermon's rather faulted patch, had any natural tendency for embarrassment even if they had broken in at 'the wrong point'.

If she had looked in, what she would've seen was undoubtedly a sight far from his idealistic views of his many years of virginity, he was certain of that. The futon, for starters, wasn't a nice comfy, Western bed; their bodies were far from 'perfect' and unscathed by moles and oddities; and he had had to pause to remove a sock half-way through, in a completely unglamorous manner, once he realised he had forgotten to remove it. Mari had seemed too lost in the moment to care.

Had she been dreaming of it too? Her diary had been an eye-opener for sure. He knew so little about her. About her motivations and just how much she…loved him.

It seemed odd. After all that time chasing Ivy, and of hearing endless tales of how love was brilliant yet heartbreaking, here he was, quite literally feeling the love of a girl. A real (probably), living, breathing human female, not under any form of mental control or sedation, and hopefully not drunk. It was odd. She had been his dream girl, but was he somehow her dream boy. Why, he wasn't sure. Given what he believed he had to offer, he found it hard to understand, particularly when his answer to a girl coming onto him had been to enthusiastically deny her existence. God only knew how she put up with him long enough to pop the real question.

His eyes glanced down to her lids, fluttering about in REM. Was she dreaming of it all now? Would it be a happy, satisfied dream, or missing something? He had no way to delve into her head that far, even with the diary lying on the side, next to the face down photo of her parents and the glinting necklaces in their half-open chest. Their D-Vices were half-entangled, looking like watches in love to a poetic eye.

"You were right," he whispered, too low for even himself to properly hear as he let out a slight, twisted smile. "The world didn't end." At least, so long as Ivy didn't hear his coma mumblings and 'intervene'. He had half-expected her to show up in the middle of it all, or to wake up and be looking into her surprised eyes and apologising for some sleep-talking of an explicit variety. But would he wake up in the hospital, or with her by his side as his girlfriend on that verdant meadow again? Were those two worlds the same, or different? Just what was real anymore? Maybe this was the reality and his home was a dream?

He gazed over Mari's form, the sheets barely protecting her modesty. He hoped it was real. It felt like it'd mean so much more if it did. But…his mind didn't let him jump to such convenient conclusions: if he tried, it constantly decided to nag him.

But for now, he didn't listen. For now, he simply tried to sleep, to appreciate the peace, and resist the urge to move to scratch the horrible itch on his back lest he wake her.

He didn't want to interrupt her dreams, after all.

"Sweet dreams Mari."

* * *

**Mari Flynn**

* * *

Mari didn't register that, if she were really falling in reality, her stomach would've flipped over a thousand times by now, and her hair might have ruffled all over the place rather than cleanly snaking up above her. She was too busy watching the grey skies around her, endlessly going off into a pit of darkness which oddly never seemed to get much closer. But again, she failed to notice.

A hand, DarkRenamon's, even if the number of paws were wrong. She reached out to grab it, but it missed by a metre, even when it so clearly should've made contact. Her partner frowned, and she glanced down to see how far she had left to fall now. When she returned her gaze, the Kitsune was Ryder, with no explanation of the transformation or even recognition on her part.

Their hands gripped, her heart aflutter as she remembered she had some reason to be impassioned with him, a reason that didn't quite reach her subconscious state from the memory banks it had only just been so vividly recorded into. "Thanks," she said, yet she never felt her lips move, nor the skin on his hands which she now knew so well.

"This is a dream."

It was not his voice, it was hers voicing his. Her mental commentary.

"No it's not. Help me!"

"I'm in a coma," he 'said' in that so enthusiastic voice again, as she reached out to clutch him closer, something in her making her want to be in his arms again. She couldn't even remember when she had been before. "I've made my choice."

But he had gone, with no replacement or transformation to speak of, and she found herself falling. Even when she had been talking to him, she had been falling. She couldn't even be sure it _was_ him, her eyes struggling to remember if that were really his face or not.

There was the darkness, as she tossed and turned towards it.

And then hit it.

A shiver ran down through her as she jolted back into reality, certain that the bed should've been falling. It dizzied her for a moment, messing up her senses until she realised it was all a dream. A horrible, evil dream, but a dream nonetheless. But did it mean something?

It couldn't. It just couldn't.

But then, what if Ryder _was_ dreaming all this? If her dream just now meant nothing, then maybe this dream of his meant nothing either? If she couldn't accept the one, she couldn't accept the other.

And the one held so much truth already. She was distant from DarkRenamon. Ryder had grabbed her heart but forever threatened to let her go if he made the 'other choice'. The sense of loneliness and abandonment crept up her spine worse than even the feeling of falling in a dream and then waking up.

Her body shifted, and she became aware of her location, her state of undress, a palm on her belly, the unfamiliar feeling between her legs, and her…pillow?

Eyes glanced aside, and head began to turn, before the realisation of where she was made her stop before she woke the boy upon whom she had laid her head, and much more besides. Images of that night, that wonderful so dreamt-for night, flashed through her mind at a rapid rate, her body urging for that sensation again, even to the point where she considered waking him. Was he dreaming of the same? Did he…enjoy it as much?

She left him to his rest, his quiet snoring reaching her ears. Would it grate on her one day? Would he have to sleep on the couch? The thought brought another to her mind, half-romantic and half-sexual: would they share a bed now? _"Better than a windowless room."_

The morning after would tell what he thought about it all. For now, she simply hoped she had convinced him. That she had justified her own existence.

But she had her own doubts. Why had she even needed to do that? If she was confident enough of it all, why had she needed to do anything? She was real. She was Marie Elizabeth Flynn. She had a life, she had had parents, she had been in love, she had had sex, dammit. It all felt real. It had to be real. She wasn't the figment of some dreamer's imagination.

He stirred, as if resisting her thoughts, his hand moving a bit up her belly before settling again. Could she be pregnant? They hadn't exactly been anywhere near a chemist, after all, and based on her own scientific understanding she didn't expect to be, but one of her close friends had fallen foul of a similar mistake. And this was the Digital World. Anything could happen, biologically possible or not.

Again, the morning after would tell. For now, she felt…happy. Doubts reached for her mind, but in her contentedness she was able to ignore their hands, and concentrate on his and hers, as her fingers rubbed across the back of his hand on her leg, hoping not to wake him, and that her mind would not let her get some sleep tonight by endlessly nagging her about their state of affairs.

For now, she decided not to listen. For now, she simply tried to return to her sleep, to appreciate the peace, and resist the urge to move to scratch the horrible itch on her back lest she wake him.

She didn't want to interrupt his dreams, after all.

"Sweet dreams Ryder."

* * *

**Miki Nakajima**

* * *

Bang. Bang. Bang. The machine didn't sound like it was being helped, it sounded like it was being blown up, as electricity arced from the small robot-like creature to its panels.

"Come on you piece of…"

Another explosion, before an even louder bang as Datamon hit the device with his small fist.

"Reminds me of Kazu," Ayaka mused, with a complete lack of nostalgic reminiscence and instead a hefty loading of grief at the fact. "He'll break his fist in a moment."

"We're made of harder stuff than you southerners, you know?"

"We're from the real world," Miki noted, but the Datamon shrugged, and kicked the machine, which surprisingly seemed to work.

"Same thing. Doesn't matter if this shield goes down…right now it's barely just protecting our sorry arses."

A shadow swept by the window, its sound like a household bug next to a megaphone. Alien clicks and squelches, the squeamish fear of most of the human population, even Ayaka, who took an uneasy step back. Jaarin checked how well the windows and doors had been boarded up, but didn't look pleased as a piece of wood easily swayed. It was a rush job by far.

Miki wandered forth to look for herself, a fatalistic curiosity. Glancing through, she saw the building across from them was covered in even more wood, while a brass pipe once on its roof had fallen. The effect of the dish? Or of one of the horde?

An eye appeared, before beating at the boards, its pincers clicking with delight. Miki darted back, almost bumping into a badly-placed Jun, as Datamon relayed the very bad news.

"I can't hold it." His electronic eye shrunk through lack of power. Leaning forward, he seemed to throw more into it, but sparks shot from his arms and he staggered back, right as the pounding of the doors stopped.

Miki looked around, her caught breath holding back her scream. The Scorpiomon looked in with such...savageness. Were they food? Or a bit of fun to destroy? Far from the comic Scorpiomon she was expecting (although why, she wasn't sure – her only sight of the Digimon was in the card game, and the images there were rarely representative of any such traits), this Digimon was just an animal, pincers chopping with delight.

Datamon went to raise his arms, but failed completely to do anything. Jun rushed to pick up a nearby chair, ready to run forth and batter the creature (as much use as it would've been), and probably even its brethren, joining their ally in gawping at their 'packed lunch'.

"DON'T HURT MY SISTER!" cried a voice, as the visceral met the huggable, and a large, pink hand grasped the arachnid away from the door, hurling it away to parts unknown and leaving the occupants of the room stunned.

In rushed Kenta and MarineAngemon, to Miki's glee. Simply seeing they were still in one piece was good, particularly since one was unbelievably cute and the other was rather vulnerable without the protection which biomerging afforded his teammates. She threw her arms around him, before watching as HiAndromon ducked into the room, a jester-like Digimon peering in afterwards, far too big to enter the room.

"There's so many of them."

As much as it would've been nice for Miki right now if Kenta were one of those 'everything's going to be alright' boyfriends, he was rather more of the 'agree and also wet self' types, and in any case he wasn't one to try and paint a situation like this with any more optimism than it deserved.

"None of you are going to be safe here."

"Wow, Kenta, you're so smart it's unreal," Ayaka huffed, giving the hunched android next to her a weak punch in the leg, one which still hurt her hand somewhat with the solidity of it all. "What's the plan metal head?"

"Well, first – Datamon, how's the shie...wow, you're not looking so good buddy," HiAndromon said in Kazu's voice, gazing over the sparking Digimon who now stood up with a newfound resilience.

"I'm fine," he insisted, raising his hands as he gathered energy between them. The android watched him intently, as electricity sparked into the shield, it whirring up again.

"Copy..."

Datamon's arms sparked up, and he fell back, MarineAngemon and Kenta rushing to his aid, Miki tagging along. Jun hurried over, pausing at the sound of the Digimon robotically squealing from the pain, while Jaarin looked up from her conversation with Suzie (within Cherubimon) by the door. HiAndromon glanced back, before throwing his head round and his hands towards the shield.

"PASTE!"

Electricity rocketed forth from them and into the shield, it bursting into life with a bubbling sound (its dials rushing to the right) before a ripple of energy forced up the hairs on the back of Miki's neck, the air wavering like heat haze. Outside, the squeals of the horde rang on the air, and Miki rushed to the door to look, only hesitating when she saw Cherubimon having to grip onto the sides of the doorway for dear life to avoid being blown away too.

Stepping cautiously out into the outside, Miki saw a wave of energy sweeping out of the town from the transmitter like a tidal wave, carrying Digimon – horde and unfortunate civilian alike – on its wake. "Whoa..." she mumbled, before a loud crack caused her to turn her head back, watching as a large blast of sparks shot off from the shield machine.

"What did you bloody do now?" Datamon berated, shaking a slightly-healed fist at the far larger robot as his now-full eyes glared. He stood up with an oily hiss, evidently still not in the best shape, and began playing with the machine. "It's shorted out."

HiAndromon looked guilty, in spite of his good intentions. "Is it fixable?"

"I'll give it a try...Christ you crack a walnut with a jet hammer. Just what are the bloody shield machines like where you come from?"

No-one said the obvious. Jaarin instead relayed grave news from Cherubimon on the outside. "They're on their way back here."

"What's the plan guys?" Jun asked around.

"Well, as much as 'do that again' appeals to me right now and as much as I'm dying to see what that looked like on the outside, I don't think it'll really help," Kazu laughed nervously.

"Where else can we take you girls that's safe?" Kenta wondered.

"Whatever you do, do it fast," Ayaka insisted. "Your friends are probably out there getting their arses handed to them on a plate now."

"I want to go back and fight," Suzie said. In any other circumstances, the sight of Cherubimon's head peering in like it did would've made Miki laugh uproariously, but as she twisted around and audibly cracked the skull of a Scorpiomon, it became clear that there was no time for such joviality.

"Let's get out of here," Kazu decided, HiAndromon taking quick steps towards the door, pausing only to grab a surprised-and-not-entirely-happy-about-it Ayaka off the floor. Kenta rushed along with, grabbing Miki's hand ever so tight as blushes came to her face, MarineAngemon pausing near his current patient and chirping to get attention. Jun hurried across to Datamon.

"Come with us," she insisted, but the midget shook his head.

"I have to fix this shield if we're going to stand even a Mancunian in Liverpool's chance of getting out of here." Spark flying out of his arm or no spark. He clearly wasn't yet in the best physical shape. MarineAngemon looked worriedly to Kenta.

"Don't let yourself get killed for us," Kazu called across the room. "We're not worth it," he added, with a glance to Ayaka. In their worried times in the transmission hut a few moments earlier, Ayaka had, with her voice laden with such guilt, explained the events that led to the toppling of the dish. Clearly, it was still grating on them heavily.

"You're not," Datamon said, words that made even Miki wince at how much they said. These Digimon had proudly accepted them into their home, and they had destroyed their lives. "I'm doing this for my friends. Now bugger off already."

"We'll stay and heal..." Kazu began, stepping forward as MarineAngemon looked optimistic.

"No bloody way. Begone! Go already before your skulls get a pounding, and I don't mean from t'horde. I need to seal that door now. These hordes don't seem all that bright, and without a door I'd wager they won't have a clue I'm here."

"I'll do it," HiAndromon said, before waving his arms to hustle the humans and Digimon out. "Come on, you heard him."

Miki was the last to pass him, and the first to turn to him once they stood outside, his hand repeating its earlier actions, only now using the electricity to seal the slammed-shut door around its edges, its metal becoming indiscernible to the frame. "We can't just leave him."

"Yeah, he's going to get killed on his own," Ayaka agreed, now placed down on the floor while Kazu welded.

"He's made his choice," HiAndromon insisted, taking a step away from the sealed building. "Come on," he growled, Kazu clearly not in the best of moods, although whether it was thanks to guilt or not he couldn't be sure. "Let's get to somewhere less visible."

"We can't..."

Miki's words were promptly drowned out by a cacophonous explosion, the tall boarded-up building opposite rumbling towards them, ready to crush the street and all who stood in it. "RUN!" someone cried.

Ayaka vanished in a blur with HiAndromon, while Kazu grabbed a frozen-Miki suddenly and leapt with her aside as a large brass pipe crashed down behind. The explosions continued above, a rain of Velgemon blasts smashing down on the streets, rubble filling them and meaning that they had to dash once more to avoid yet another cascade of bricks. The whole street seemed to blow up behind them, drowning out even the cries of "DARK VORTEX" from the beasts above.

Finally getting a moment when he didn't have to protect Ayaka, Kazu turned and combined blasts from his shoulder pads into his hands. "ATOMIC RAY!"

The pair of Velgemon directly talking to them screamed as they were torn limb from limb. Miki looked over her shoulder, the transmission station's entrance now shrouded in a veil of rubble and a fair distance away from where they stood. Good for Datamon perhaps, but not all that good for getting him out later.

HiAndromon turned quickly, slamming a foot into a Scorpiomon creeping up on them and splaying his internal data out before it disintegrated. Miki gulped in horror, before MarineAngemon let loose a bouquet of hearts onto another one and let it die with a giddy smile.

"Come on," Kazu finally said, once the vibrancy of battle had calmed down. Miki glanced around, seeing only Ayaka, HiAndromon, Kenta and MarineAngemon. Were Jun and Jaarin okay? And Cherubimon?

"What about the others?" she asked. She couldn't even see them now, not even Cherubimon's huge form. What had happened?

"They shall most certainly be fine with Cherubimon's protection," Guardromon's voice called through. "I rather more worry for our safety."

"Let's get down the Winchester until this all blows over."

"Winchester?" Ayaka raised an eyebrow at her newfound boyfriend.

"That pub. Didn't you look at the name? It seems like the safest place right now – so dark that no-one would suspect anyone's inside, and plenty of places to hide."

"I could use a drink too."

"I'm then going to go back out and fight. What about you?" HiAndromon said to Kazu and MarineAngemon. The boy turned to look at the two girls, his eyes particularly looking over Miki. She felt like such a liability now, unable to help out and constantly needing protecting, something she knew would probably be grating on Ayaka even more, should her guilt not be overriding all else. And yet out of fear she desperately wanted to be protected...the mortal danger they were constantly in now had been thrown straight before them. Was this really the life they led? Was it meant to be...fun?

"I don't know yet."

Kazu nodded, reaching out and grabbing an objecting Ayaka, ignoring her squeals of irritation. "Come on then."

"I am not a damsel in distress!" the caramel-haired girl cried, before a pink bubble and a rapid exit by HiAndromon blurred her from Miki's view, leaving her only to glance at Kenta and cross her fingers hopefully.

"_Everything's going to be fine..." _she mentally repeated to herself, wishing she could believe it.

* * *

**Sakura Yuuna**

* * *

"Your mother is probably scared to death about you, you know?"

"I texted her. It's fine. If Rayleigh wanted us, he'd have said by now."

"Yeesh, not even the super evil PM wants ya. You've hit a new low Kuhako."

Floramon clapped the demonic imp across the back of his head. "Would you kindly shut up?"

"Hey, did ya see that? She hit me! No-one hits me!"

"No-one cares Dracmon," Kohaku said with a resigned sigh, but Sakura could see the slight tickles of a smile at the edge of his mouth. She wanted to smile too, yet she frowned, knowing this was the most time they'd spent together without incident...ever. The lights in her room were safely on...no power cuts here. And certainly no injuries. It felt too...fine, so much so that that feeling constrained their conversation, weighing down every word with an effort beyond belief. His hand sat on her hip, as they somehow managed to pass by time doing nothing (or, as Dracmon had put it, 'counting the flowers on Sakura's wallpaper'). How so many hours passed with so little effort...well, that was love for you.

"Okay, for that, you're getting me food."

"I could use a bite to eat," Sakura noted, looking into Kohaku's dark eyes. Maybe this was the perfect time for a date. Things hadn't gone too bad for them so far, after all. A good omen? _"Except for poor Calumon...I hope he's okay..."_ "And I am getting tired of counting flowers cooped up in this place. Feel like going out?"

"It's a date."

Sakura's fingers unconsciously crossed behind her back. Lucky date number eight. Hopefully.

* * *

**Unknown**

* * *

"_**Blaze bright..."**_

"_**A fire keeps on burning until it extinguishes."**_

"_**Step into the fire..."**_

"_**One to lead them all, and corral warring men."**_

"_**Guide all through hell and back."**_

"_**Tip-toe on the borders of life and death, and take on the risks no-one else can bear."**_

"_**Lead them!"**_

"_**Awake..."**_

"_**Awake..."**_

"_**AWAKE!"**_

He did, before wiping the sweat off his brow. That was one of the oddest dreams he had ever had.

The world was silent about him, not acknowledging the hodgepodge of voices that had been talking to him moments before as being any more than just his overactive imagination. He turned, seeing a blur of hair poking out of the covers on the other half of the bed, sleeping oh so peacefully.

As much as he had a feeling it deserved some thought, he just couldn't, as the invisible hand of tiredness bore down on him.

"Maybe...some...other...t..." he mumbled to himself, before sleep took him once again.

And, thankfully, with no more 'crazy dreams'.

* * *

**Willis Price**

* * *

The lift reached the basement with a satisfying clunk, the doors cranking aside to unveil the artificially lit world. A thin corridor with a few doors off it, much like any in the SDCO headquarters, led to a large bulkhead door at the end, sealed with all the certainty that concrete could provide, enough to stop what lurked on the other side.

Project Replica.

"I'm guessing you have them."

"Huh?" Michael and Willis sounded together, looking up to Jeff, whose solemn expression hung on his face as he reached the barrier, a control panel at its side. He gave them a look of 'you know what I mean', Willis frowning and reaching into his pocket, drawing out a digivice. Of sorts.

See, without even an original D-Arc to work from, or even the data, this replica had needed to take an alternative route in its design, and its appearance was undoubtedly prototypical. No swish exterior plates had been placed on, flat temporary plastic covering any delicate areas of the electronics inside, and the remainder being uncovered. It was long and thin, with a triad of buttons on its centre and a small LCD screen above.

"Your iCs."

Willis glanced to the door, before complying. He didn't want to let the man down, and he certainly didn't want to lose his partner without being able to say goodbye. He looked to Michael. So much for trying digivolving for the first time and busting out of there.

Happy that the digivices were in his possession, Jeff swept the key card through the slot.

The bulkhead groaned into life, an audibly-complex series of locks unbolting before it even began to move aside. The lab's interior was security-lit, until their presence flicked the lights on, revealing a vast array of equipment, much of it touching the relatively-low ceiling in this basement. Most of it was completely unknown to the two – they weren't the scientists behind this all. Indeed, those technicians seemed to have left already, probably on Jeff's orders.

One machine was, however, all too familiar to the pair, and they rushed towards it. When he had first seen it, Willis had been willing to laugh. Tubes. Vats. Too much like the movies. But there they were, along the back wall of the room, a great number of tubes, all holding shadows masked by smoke. They meant something to many of the friends he had made on this most bizarre of projects, but to Willis there was only one tube that mattered.

"Hello," he said, placing his hand on the cold surface. The creature inside wouldn't be able to hear him yet. What was going to happen once the FBI arrived? Would the Digimon ever be able to hear him again?

"I'm warming them up," Jeff said. It wasn't really 'warming' as such, but what it was Willis wasn't really sure. They'd been given a few lectures on this project by some of the scientists, but even for his above-average mind the majority was gobbledegook. "You've got five minutes."

"Are you okay?" Willis asked, as he could feel the tube warm bit by bit. A red fist thrashed at its cage, but it was a fist of yawning rather than one of rage. The smoke began to clear, revealing a washed-out orange body, the ignited tail and head brace burning brighter and brighter as the Digimon was revitalised.

He still couldn't hear the boy, unfortunately. But then the tube split at its centre, parting up and down, and leaving the Digimon on a pedestal, eyes blinking at Willis.

"Hi...Coronamon..."

A snide growl. The Digimon looked at him like they knew each other, but...beyond that there still wasn't the link. Glancing aside to Michael, being given a similar look by a green amphibian, the reality they kept trying to deny using hope (pointless hope, it now appeared) hit as hard as it always did.

These Digimon were wild. And angry. Imprisoned in these tubes and used in a project, and attempted to be controlled using some rudimentary digivices made, not by the delicate hand of DigiGnomes, but by the fallible hand of man. Project Replica had become as much about containing the Digimon as it was about fostering a bond with the humans.

Willis raised a hand, fingers outstretched. Coronamon looked at it, not moving. That was a step above the first time they met. Plenty of times their encounters had ended in Containment Level 1 – having the 'Tamers' leave the lab while the Digimon were contained with EMP shocks. Once, total lab evacuation had been called until the Digimon calmed down – Containment Level 2. It didn't help at all that the Digimon were all at various levels of acquainting with their forced Tamers (with the absence of the bonding effects the 'real' D-Arcs supposedly gave) and seemed to fluctuate even with that.

Were they tampering with a process they couldn't make manually?

Coronamon finally reached out uneasily, like a young child, placing his hand against Willis'. Seeing that curiosity in the Digimon's eyes, like training a monkey (and aided by the fact that he sort of resembled one), Willis couldn't help but feel some measure of happiness. Human meet Digimon.

And yet now it all seemed so hollow. This poor creature would no doubt be slaughtered soon for no fault of its own, and for no fault of its captors either, even if indirectly they had been involved by capturing him 'off the internet traffic' (again, something that Willis wasn't entirely certain on the process of). Some Digimon here, meanwhile, were captured bioemergences, no sooner shot in the head with an EMP bullet as waking up here.

"How are you?"

"Cold."

Always the same answer. Willis wanted to chuckle. Putting such a fiery soul in a room like this was a tough treatment. Alongside him, Michael now held Betamon, the amphibian far closer to his Tamer than the Colorado kid ever felt he was to Coronamon.

He decided against telling the Digimon what was going to happen. It seemed cruel. The Digimon had known so much pain to them. And there was another reason – they didn't want him running out of control.

Coronamon began to mime pressing a button on something, but Willis shook his head. "Jeff's keeping them today. It's...an experiment." But it wasn't. The iCs were the experiment – the majority of their visits involved trying out some new modification on them, seeing how much it reinforced the human-Digimon bond (or attached itself to an existing way – the science behind it was still under debate) so as to hopefully control the Digimon enough. Jeff wanted to be certain they'd be okay in society. Not every human and Digimon they knew of had become partners, after all, and Jeff had mentioned how long it had taken for one of his former employees-turned Tamer to actually attain that status.

Compared to that girl, however, Willis felt like a rookie, an amateur. The real Tamers had been so lucky to be part of this all, and he felt left out even with this Replica project filling a hole in his life he never knew existed. But this was the end of it, and that hole would be carved out again, only now he'd know it. If he was lucky, he'd get the chance to go back to being a normal schoolboy, away from unofficial government projects. If he was unlucky...

"Wallace."

"Willis." Coronamon still had to learn his name properly. It felt like teaching a child to talk, with all the joy that came with when one was successful. Most of the Digimon were perfectly able to talk, of course, and if you kept them out of storage long enough they usually became fairly chatty, but the trauma of everything meant they were always wary when first 'warmed up'. In the past a few Digimon had gone 'berserk' and had had to be confined again. Only a few of the Digimon reached the project stage of being paired with carefully-selected teenagers as Tamers.

"Willis. I'll get it one day."

No he wouldn't. He'd never had the chance.

"Sorry," Jeff coughed, the pair of wannabe Tamers knowing what it meant. Coronamon and Betamon both looked confused, as Betamon was set back down on the pedestal.

"We were just coming down for a visit," Michael told them.

"Next time we play properly," Betamon insisted. If there was anything which had surprised Willis about Digimon, it was their propensity for play. He had always seen them as fairly animalistic and clinical beings before he got to know one.

Willis and Michael resisted nodding and agreeing. The Colorado-boy couldn't help himself, as he stepped forward and forgot what he had learnt (and what Coronamon had been so wary about), putting his arms around his partner.

The Digimon looked uncomfortable as he pulled back from the brief hug, his flames burning up. Willis had been lucky not to get scorched like the first time he'd tried to make any real contact with his partner.

"Sorry. I'll miss you."

Coronamon, not a master in human emotions or subtext, simply nodded, still looking rather peeved about the hug. "We'll see each other soon."

"Yeah," Willis lied, hating himself for doing so. Jeff placed his hand on his shoulder, a glance showing that the man himself was close to cracking up. Here was their work, their fantastic project, about to be ended, and no doubt these poor creatures would be caught in the crossfire. All those friends they had made, all those moments they had had...nothing. And they would never be able to tell a soul.

"Time to go?" Michael asked, frowning and clearly hoping such wasn't the case.

"Yeah," Jeff replied. Any more words and Willis was certain he wouldn't have been able to contain it. He was remarkably silent, the most silent he had ever been in front of the results of his pet project. A dark voice at the back of Willis' head said that he and Michael, and most certainly the Digimon, could take this guy with ease. Jeff wasn't the most physically adept person, and couldn't put up a physical fight against all of them. They could escape, go live a new life with their Digimon and try and become proper Tamers. Happiness. But he couldn't do it: he couldn't harm such a friend just to reach it.

And so he had no choice but to turn back to his partner and, forcing back the tears, say that most horrible of words, one which Coronamon couldn't possibly know the meaning behind.

"Goodbye."

The Digimon said their farewells.

The tubes were filled.

The door was sealed.

The lift whirred into life.

And Project Replica ended.

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

The world was not at ease, even with the pleasant smells in it and its beauty. For Rika's mind swam in uncertainty and worry, more so than usual for her now, and the peaceful embrace of sleep floated further and further away. The only thing stopping her from tossing and turning was Takato's arm around her, their heads close together as they slept. Rika's hair messed across the pillow of the double futon. That in itself wasn't unusual, but after a day of having to have it down constantly, she felt far too conscious of it. Where had that hairband gone? She needed it now.

It was only one of the things vying to distract her. The shadows around the beams on the ceiling, Guilmon's quiet snoring, Takato's eyes as he slept, the itch on her foot...everything held her in wakefulness. But more than anything else, she simply couldn't get the news of that day off her mind, even with the conversations she had had since learning it putting it in some perspective.

This beautiful place seemed so...cursed. Like a polished veneer on a garbage truck. It was dishonest hospitality. And yet, she felt angry at herself for putting them down for something they had no choice over. However, soon enough as she adopted that line of thinking as her new one she had remembered those poor girls, and knew how claustrophobic being caught in that orb she knew all too well for all eternity would be, particularly without the feeling of trust and warmth from her bond with Renamon to envelop her and make her know all was safe.

She just wanted to talk to them, even just one of them. But they were all...gone. One of her creations had destroyed another. She felt like such a monster.

IceDevimon had wanted to take her as his partner, even by force. The parallels were chilling. At the time, Renamon had seemed purer, more saint-like, even if far more power deficient and (in Rika's opinion at the time) far too much of a self-mindedness to be a good Digimon partner. But Renamon had been just as bad, if not worse – her intentions were malicious too, and if events hadn't changed her mind...

Rika shivered, hoping she wouldn't wake Takato. She had been so close to being another poor girl. The fact she was chosen for being a lonely depressed girl (one who would be missed by the least people, perhaps?) only made it worse.

Things had changed, but this wasn't the first time such a what-if moment had come chillingly close. Images of her father and mother in the alternate universe (now subsumed into this world, with the erasure of that line to keep things 'neat') flashed before her eyes. The world was so brutal, and so horrid, and here, she felt like she was at the heart of it all.

At least an evil Demon was an evil Demon to your face.

Refusing the urge to shiver again, she raised herself off the arm around her as gently as she could, hoping that she wouldn't wake him. She didn't want to be asked any questions, not right now. Kneeling on the futon, she peered down at his face, sleeping ever-so-peacefully. She envied him for it, and tucked the blanket around him so he wouldn't stay cold. A little voice told her she'd become so motherly.

"_**You're such a mother now Rika,"**_said an even louder one.

"_Quiet," _she mentally huffed, but she couldn't deny it. Her eyes glanced around the room, briefly alarmed not to see Rey's crib - thinking for a moment, in her tired state, that it was her own room. But that room, and home, seemed so remote.

Rey was fine. Albeit to some objection, Takato's mother had insisted she'd look after her granddaughter for the night, giving Rika a break to clear her head. She appreciated it, but she still felt...uneasy. The girl meant so much to her.

Her brief panic subsided, and she reached for her bra, fastening it up as Renamon appeared at the end of the bed with a worried expression. _"Still can't sleep?"_

"_I just need to get out and clear my head."_

"_Would you like me to come with?"_

The elastic on her knickers pinged onto her skin. _"I'll be fine. I just want to be alone for a moment, you know? No offence Renamon, but I've been surrounded by people and Digimon constantly for ages now, and it's going to drive me insane." _It wasn't the full reason, but it was good enough for now.

There was nothing for it. She had to get some air, get out of this place for a moment, remind herself there was a world outside these walls, and put some perspective on all she had learnt.

"_I understand," _Renamon agreed, fizzling out of view. Where she slept (or if she had been sleeping), Rika couldn't be sure, but she felt the oddly relieving feeling of their bond going slack, Renamon genuinely leaving her to her independence, something she was so grateful for as she slipped on her top again.

Sometimes it was nice to wander and know the world wasn't watching.

"_**I'll sleep too if you want?"**_

"_Thanks."_

She went to tie up her hair, but frowned, wanting to curse out loud. Giving up, she clipped her D-Vice onto her wrist. Her joints wanted to groan at her and send her back to bed, but she forced them on, slipping the door softly aside and slipping back out into the air.

The village was silent, apart from the distant trickling water. Everyone had found happiness in that bliss of sleep. Lucky sods.

Wandering away from the grand temple, she felt an odd satisfaction seeing it get smaller, its imposing importance taken away by distance. With her cynical eye on, the intricate building looked garish, a mark of high luxury and size in a village of small huts, a symptom of an elitist community. It gave her a sadistic pleasure to criticise the village.

The village that she had made. Her smile vanished.

"Time to get out," she mumbled to herself, heading up the hill to the bushes at its invisible entrance. It took a bit of confidence to just walk straight into them, and she closed her eyes as she did so reflexively. Even as a god, and even in this bizarre context, she was still human.

The world outside was bright, and alive. It gave no indication of what time it was, of course. The light had been on the blink ever since they had arrived, and even a glance to her D-Vice had given her little help with working out whether this was 'right' or 'wrong' for this time of day.

The light burned on her eyes, too used to the dark of the village, and made her feel hazy and groggy.

And...floating.

That definitely wasn't right. She felt nauseous as she kicked out her feet towards the ground below, but found herself unable to touch it, and it got farther and farther away with every second as a splitting headache wreaked havoc in her mind. Panic lit up like a fire in her mind.

It turned into a full blown inferno when she looked up, and saw something she never expected to see again in the sky over her.

"Juggernaut!" she cried, as her wings blew loose from her back, ripping through her top. She flapped hard as she tried to flap down, but the ground, and, indeed, the forest which covered the Kabuki village, all were now far below. Even her wings seemed to do nothing, every data particle of her existence gravitating towards the swirling doom above.

She was going to die. No-one even knew where she was, and she was going to die.

What was Juggernaut doing here? How did it work in the Digital World? How long had it been here? Her wings roared down, but did absolutely nothing, and neither did swimming. This had never happened in the real world.

But there, she had been human. Here, she was as data-made as everything else. Even firing blasts of energy in the opposite direction seemed to do nothing.

The pain in her head overwhelmed her, and she screamed, dearly hoping someone would hear and save her, but knowing that they'd only fall foul of the same fate. Nothing could escape this pull, it seemed. She wished she'd grabbed onto something beforehand.

"Take...that!" she cried, mustering up the mental sense to gather her holy energy in her hands, and fire it straight into the Juggernaut. God knew what it'd do – explode, grow larger, shrink, who knew. But she had no other choice right now.

Before she could see its effects, however, she blacked out, the sound of an explosion barely reaching her ears before her consciousness died out completely...

Peaceful sleep. Almost.

* * *

**Datamon**

* * *

After the boom came the thumping and scattering, the room shaking and almost knocking the robot off his tiny legs. The sealed door held firm, even if a few dents appeared in it, and as the sound finally died down he felt the danger had finally passed. Turning, he headed straight for the shield, but paused on the way as he passed the transmission machine.

It could still work. It could be their only help. The only thing which could get out of the village.

He pulled back its front panel, breaking a wire in two and grabbing each end, stripping them back to the bare metal. Sparks began to run off his hands as he made a circuit, his brain fluttering in its glass container before his eyes began to blink, a beeping noise coming from his mouth.

"Bip bip bip beep beep beep bip bip bip," he repeated, again and again, but then began to feel the strain of it all. He forced through one more signal with as much energy as he could muster, before the wires fell from his hands, and he drowsily staggered over to the shield, removing the front panel.

That wire there. No, wait, there. There. That valve needed shifting back that way. A spare valve (the effort of crossing the room hard enough, let alone carrying something). The dials began to move again, excellent. Now just...to...power...up...

No chance. Datamon found himself slumping down, before he could even grab the handle or feed any power in. He fought to hold into consciousness.

"Bugger it..." he mumbled as he passed away into sleep.

* * *

**Unknown**

* * *

"_**Your light brings pain to those around you."**_

"_**You hurt those you love, and who love you."**_

"_**Purify everything."**_

"_**Light and darkness, caught in an endless struggle for importance."**_

"_**Both need each other."**_

"_**Innocence, happiness, virtue..."**_

"_**Flick that switch."**_

"_**The biggest loss of all."**_

"_**The barren Earth."**_

"_**Shine once again..."**_

"_**Shine!"**_

"_**Awake..."**_

"_**Awake..."**_

"_**AWAKE!"**_

And she did.

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"Get there!"

"I know, I know!" Beelzemon barked back, flapping across before a pair of JagerLoweemon leapt at him and wasted his time with disposing of them. "DOUBLE IMPACT!"

Unfortunately, this left AncientSphinxmon to attack MetalGarurumon himself, and as his jaws and paws bore down on the wolf, he found himself straining more and more to fight back. Even now, the data from a Scorpiomon Beelzemon had dispatched in his anger was being gathered, slowly collating to form a new member of the dark horde.

"Just die already...CORONA BLASTER!"

MetalGarurumon turned his head. One moment he couldn't see the approaching blast. The next, he so sorely could. He dodged aside, following his foe that had done so what seemed like minutes before. How could they stop this guy long enough to get a hit?

"Hey, look where you're aiming!" Matt shouted at Beelzemon, but the Demon Lord looked defiant.

"Do you want to beat this guy or what?"

"Not if it means we get killed in the process. Now come on, all he's doing is attacking us."

"Looks more like standing there and looking ugly if you ask me." Sure enough, AncientSphinxmon wasn't even taking advantage of their conversation to make a sneaky attack. But after those words, he definitely turned his head. "Uh, was it the ugly thing that got you mad?" Beelzemon wondered, as those jaws went wide again. MetalGarurumon knew that even he, the hard-headed biker, must've learnt by now that was a bad sign, and soon enough those jaws would be right upon him.

This gave him an idea.

"Hold him steady!" he called to Beelzemon, who glanced up, before gritting his teeth and grabbing the Digimon's neck tightly.

One shot. One shot was all they had. AncientSphinxmon was caught off guard by the Demon Lord biker going on the offensive, and the grip on his neck made him like a crocodile held by a hunter.

This was it.

Beelzemon and him locked eyes as his wolf jaws widened, taking only a moment's pause to leap onto and crush a Scorpiomon to get a better position to attack from. The closer, the better. And just to make sure, he threw far more energy into the icy blast now gathering around his mouth than he would normally.

"_Missiles," _he thought, as ports opened all over his body, and the feeling, uneasily like throwing up, came back to his mouth. _"Take aim..."_

Focus on AncientSphinxmon.

"METAL WOLF CLAW!" he cried, yet at the same time launched a bout of Ice Wolf Bite missiles, the rapid and huge blue beam screaming forth as the missiles trailed after.

AncientSphinxmon smirked.

Beelzemon screamed as whatever grip he held over his foe was removed, and the lion's strong neck swept upwards, launching the biker through the air before his wings could do anything.

MetalGarurumon's mind exploded with guilt as the Demon Lord was hit full-on by his frosty beam, the masculine screams fluttering in and out of Impmon's more childish voice. Seeing the homing missiles, AncientSphinxmon turned on a pinhead and raced towards MetalGarurumon, leaving over the fazing form of Beelzemon and Impmon and landing behind, watching as the weaponry span round and hit the new target dead-on.

"Impmon!" Matt cried, MetalGarurumon racing over to aid his friend.

Taking advantage of his distraction, AncientSphinxmon had raised his paws and opened his jaws again, before bearing down on him with a cry of "DARK BLAST!" The wolf's wings snapped open to shield him slightly, but bore the brunt of the damage in the process, his blasters failing to fire all that properly as he grabbed a feisty (but visibly injured) Impmon between his paws and took off into the air.

"We can take him! Stop flying away!" Impmon insisted, squirming in his paws. "I can't...give up...on Ai and Mako!"

MetalGarurumon was too distracted to listen properly. "Come on come on come on come on," The streams of fire from his jets spluttered and his broken wings made his flight uncontrollable. He daren't look behind; simply because he wasn't sure he could fly straight by doing so.

Unfortunately, that only made the inevitable even more likely.

"ATTACK MY HORDE!"

"SHADOW METEOR!"

"DARK VORTEX!"

"EBONY BLAST!"

"SCORPION STORM!"

"NECRO ECLIPSE!"

An arsenal of sand and dark energy hurtled towards him in the sky, coming from all directions below, and forming a cage with no escape.

He pulled Impmon in close. He wasn't about to let the idiot get killed twice today, and braced himself for the almighty boom.

Fate didn't disappoint.

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

Red. Red and white. More strawberry red than murky white, to be fair, at least until a hand swept across her face, clearing her messy hair from her eyes and letting her see properly again.

Not that there was much to see. White. White everywhere. Was this heaven?

"Can Gods even go to heaven?"

The question went unanswered, except by a voice which she had been expecting anyway. **"If this is my heaven, the builders clearly have been slacking off."**

She barely dignified the joke with a response. "Hmm..." Her hands searched the rough, warm ground...far warmer than she had been expecting, and far more sloped too. She got onto her hands and knees, and began to smell...burning, which made sense once she looked around a bit.

She was in a small pit. Actually, make that large. Very large. And by the look, feel and smell of it, whatever had made it had done so pretty recently. Maybe that was the cause of her stinking headache now?

"**What did I miss?"**

"The Juggernaut appearing the Digital World, and me getting killed."

"**This is the point where you laugh and tell me you're joking. Right?"**

"Well...I'm not really sure I'm dead. This distinctly looks like a blast, and I remember firing one about ten seconds ago, which means that wherever we are is where that Juggernaut thing ends up."

"**And where do you think that is?"**

"I have an inkling."

As the white space began to clear like steam, unveiling the all-too-familiar sights around her, a frown manifested on the girls face. She climbed to her feet as the borders of the Digital Field finally fell, revealing towers, planes, glinting stars and a manifesting moon against a swiftly-blackening sky. The constant hubbub of life in one of the busiest cities on Earth once again rattled her ear drums, the relative tranquillity of the park in which she stood nothing compared to the Kabuki Village, the fragrant scents of flowers now but a bitter memory.

Her inkling was right. Unfortunately.

"No place like home."

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Another shock end to another chapter. I'm going to run out of these eventually. But right now, with so much going on, it's hard to avoid them. All the better for you guys, naturally. This has probably been the 'busiest' chapter (in terms of numbers of scenes) for a while, so I'm expecting a lot of surprises to have come about as a result, not least because of the new revelations about Project Replica (and its tragic end). Meanwhile, the battle in Bolton has reached boiling point, and we're still not done yet. Are MetalGarurumon and Beelzemon completely screwed? Will they truly be safe 'down the Winchester'? Will I continue to get away with shamelessly ripping-off Shaun of the Dead with that line, hoping that my primarily-American audience won't get the reference?

Answers to (some of) these questions, and others you didn't want to ask (or care about), next time on Dimensions Book Seven.

Probably.

Until next time...

B.C.


	41. Phase Two: Signal

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. And thanks to fireangel08 for being the 300th reviewer on Book Seven!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT**

**Phase Two**

_Signal_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Rayleigh Thompson**

* * *

A dot.

An almost infinitesimal dot, but one that may as well have been a black hole for its observer.

A dot that shouldn't have been there, on a map, which should've shown perfect success.

A hole in his plans.

Everything had been going so well. The huge mistake his enemies made had not only made him feel they were even less of a challenge (for it was such a pathetically obvious mistake to make), but had given him the pleasure of knowing he had them cornered, and that it was now merely a case of yanking them home with Juggernaut to face their trial: by fire, jury or otherwise.

"Bugger it. Ah well, if you can't beat them, join them. And beat them." His voice was manic yet hushed, the voice of a serial killer reluctantly realising they had to hack down an annoying door that had been planted in their way before they could brutalise their next victim. The mapping program on his PDA, with all the power of Hypnos focused onto such a tiny device, whizzed away to the corner, an email app taking its place as fingers tapped at the screen. No spelling errors, no accidental substitutions – Rayleigh had designed this keyboard for him.

An aide poked their head into the men's lavatory, catching a glimpse of Rayleigh standing by the basins with his head entranced by the device.

"Sir…" he said, his voice a bunch of nerves.

"Yes, yes, I am _aware_ of the time. I have a watch, my dear." The acting PM cast a quick flash of his D-Vice to aid his patronisation, the assistant not giving it a second thought. This should've been surprising, since its dark grey surround was hardly the height of fashion, and it looked more like a child's toy watch than the expensive analogues your average politician wore, but Rayleigh knew how people rarely saw, and even more rarely questioned. Humans were so blind. "Matters of far greater importance are afoot now, matters far more important than your _suitability_ meeting," he said with some disgust. The panel of nervous cabinet members in the next room were no doubt already talking about the many 'issues' with his present role as Acting PM, from the self-selection to the age to, of course, the nationality. So rarely was a head of state foreign, particularly in a country so proud of its roots.

It barely mattered to Rayleigh, as much as it supposedly threatened to bring down his whole plan. He didn't need much longer. And he was hardly unprepared for this: in fact, he was surprised it had taken so long for such questions to be discussed. The humans were more weak-willed than he suspected. All they would need was a flash of his usual charisma, and he would win them over.

"This is a time of grave emergency, and bureaucracy and populism have no part." He tightened his tie, brushing down his suit and smirking at himself in the lavish bathroom mirror. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, and any decision is better than none." His head span to face the far-older aide, the man surely appreciating by now how someone so much younger was talking down to him in a voice thirty years older. "So your meeting can wait, just like all the engagements the cabinet has made me put off. Hurry along now."

"Yes sir."

The timid man vanished, Rayleigh returning to his email with newfound enthusiasm. He wanted to savour every moment of this, every moment of an entire country eating out of his hands, every moment of his plans coming together with all the serendipity of the St Luke's College choir back at his beloved Oxford. The green, blue and black striped tie about his neck was a permanent reminder of his time in the bosom of a place which, once upon a time, had been all about teaching one how to rule.

"_Potestas corrumpere solet et potestas absoluta corrumpit absolute._ So I will wield absolute power the way it is intended."

"Remembering Sir?"

"Rowing. I miss rowing. Tokyo's rivers are huge, lousy and there's not a single good Pimms for several thousand miles, let alone a decent boathouse. Blasted country. Oxford won this year, you know? Nice to put the tabs back in their _other_ place."

"You have not mentioned your time there in a while. I thought you said that things live in the past, Sir."

Rayleigh looked down to Falcomon, as ever appearing out of nowhere at his side, and smirked. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost believe that was a poke. Are we becoming less stilted, my feathered friend?"

"Politeness and directness need not always be opposites."

"Ah, you are as sharp a learner of this discipline as I was," Rayleigh chuckled. He was far from being born with the class silver spoon in his mouth, and everything he had acquired in his years of study in the field of eloquence had been through parental sacrifice, scholarship charity, and his regular mocking in his time at private school, even in an era said to be long beyond class. It taught one to fit in.

"What is the email about, Sir?"

"More directness, I see. It is simply making the best of a bad situation. Once again the Tamers have found a way to lightly nudge my plans away from feasibility, so the tactics of this battle must move, as must the battlefield." He put out a fist. "Whichever rock they're hiding under," he began, slamming his other palm down on top of it and opening it up. "Will be crushed in short form. Nothing to worry about."

"And what about here Sir? Won't your absence be noticed?"

"Night rapidly falls, and even the press must sleep sometime. Tomorrow they will wake with their analysis and their newfound 'understanding', before I demonstrate just how ignorant they are. It shall be magnificent, and if anyone ever believed the Tamers were essential to the security of this world, they will realise their profound error by the end of this all."

"Do you think people do not believe the story then?"

"Rika Nonaka killed the Prime Minister, the tape proves that, and video is seen as the ultimate form of proof to a society with this many screens. But, those around her…they are harder to convince. And America has hardly helped by shutting down SDCO. Seriously, I know that the world is a global place now, but I simply do not understand why they have to do that. And I was just having some fun with them. Still, I suppose I could make their life a little bit more difficult if I wished. Ah, who am I kidding? Of course I'll make their life more difficult!"

"So what is the new tactic then?"

"The Tamers think they are suitably far away from me to reach them, and only a few isolated pockets have learnt that that is not the case. That is soon to change." He glanced to his PDA, smirking. "Kazuya is ready, the equipment is all in order, and it is now more difficult to reach the Shetland Isles than them."

"I am sorry to continue to sound like a voice of dissention Sir, but have you considered how mismatched we are?"

"We you and I, or we you, I and them. They shall stab them through the heart before destroying them through body. The ultimate mistake and the ultimate foe. Besides me."

"Of course."

He finished fixing up his tie, and glanced to his partner, smiling and flicking his eyes to the door.

"Let's not keep them waiting. Still, I'm afraid I shall have to abridge the show for now…" Clicking his fingers, a blur of blue, the colour of a gas flame, hazed around his hands. "A shame. I've missed using my Oxford Union rhetoric to influence people."

"And what would you wish me to do?"

"The laboratory, one hour. The sun may be setting on Tokyo, the people may be seeing the cracks in my plans, but this song is only just building to its heavenly crescendo. And a terrific laugh it shall be."

He let loose a chuckle as he walked forward, before pausing, flicking out his PDA, right before he pushed through the door.

"Ah, I almost forgot. Leaving a Juggernaut lying around sucking up nothing would be horribly inefficient, and might just scupper my plans." He swept two fingers across the screen, the multi-touch gesture never used for something quite so physical before. "Done."

Glancing back to Falcomon, he smiled, and finally pushed through the door back into the meeting room, his voice echoing back to his partner as the silent sound of a dozen eyes moving to one person rang upon the air.

"Apologies for that. Higher purposes called."

* * *

**Kohaku Souta**

* * *

"Okay." A piece of rice dangled perilously from paused chopsticks by Sakura's mouth. "Is it just me, or has nothing gone wrong yet?"

"I didn't want to say it."

This was their date: a nice, simple, local restaurant: nothing fancy, certainly nothing expensive, and providing no place for Floramon (unfortunately) and Dracmon (fortunately) to sit with them. There was a sense in the air now that Digimon were no longer welcome in anything or anywhere: that collaborating with them had been a mistake and had caused a huge cost for the country. It was a sense reiterated, perhaps even invented, by the media, from the newspapers to the internet to the television screen right in this very restaurant, left on mute while subtitles endlessly scrolled through the grim news, the network's logo burnt-in to the LCD.

He'd reached saturation point hours ago. There was nothing more to hear, and even the story of increased doubt in the public at large and dissent from some people closer to the Tamers had yet to be really taken seriously. The PM's murder was enough news to fill all the outlets at once, helped by Rayleigh's regular press conferences about the 'Tamers on the Run' and how they had attacked innocent people in the process. Digital Watch, who had been campaigning that one of their innocent members had mysteriously gone missing too right after visiting some of the Tamers, had had its message perverted by the media into one of how the Tamers had kidnapped her. Her parents, suffice to say, had been distraught, and their calls for the Tamers to return their daughter had only made the situation worse.

Kohaku himself? He wasn't sure _what_ to think about it all. The Tamers were like him and Sakura, after all, and any attack on their Digimon liberties would surely eventually take away their partners. But…they had kept their distance from the Tamers on purpose, feeling there was something ever so secretly sinister about them, and preferring to rely on each other for that side of things, so why did it really matter to them what happened to the Tamers? If they were doing evil things, they deserved justice, and if they weren't, surely they'd be acquitted?

Still, he had to wonder: if he had been on his own, would he have joined them? He wasn't sure he'd feel safe challenging every Digimon that came along on his own, with no Sakura by his side for extra strength and emotional support, and another pair of eyes so he didn't get even more scars on his face.

Him and her, alone against the world. And now, against every Digimon that burst into this city, unless another microcosm of Tamers were hiding somewhere or the government had some kind of secret weapon. They couldn't even go ultimate – how would they cope?

Sakura's hands landed on his, planted on the table beneath his worried expression. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking about everything."

"Sorry, didn't want to jinx this date or anything." She unconsciously stroked his fingers, something that left him uneasy. Their relationship was simultaneously so close and yet falling apart at the seams. How did this happen?

"It's going fine, like you said," he put on a smile, still feeling unease at how alone they were, and how much he needed her, just like she needed him. Not for emotional companionship or anything, but merely for pragmatic reasons, namely 'not getting killed', and that made everything seem so…farcical. Like work colleagues trying to pretend they were the best of friends, even if they'd never even dream of meeting up outside the four walls of the office.

But…that wasn't them. They were more than that. He really liked this girl, and it was obvious she really liked him. They had sat for hours in her room, his hand on her hip, and here she was, stroking his fingers while clearly having that same old obsession with him. But it was tainted by the knowledge that every time they tried to go somewhere with it so far, fate had intervened to ruin it. Even a sceptic, after so many failed dates, would have reason to suspect that such things were simply 'not to be'.

So were they together by choice, or by mandate?

"Kiss?" Her voice was hopeful and uneasy, as her face moved closer. Shouldn't it have been unconscious by now? Did it really need a request? Did she still feel uneasy around him?

He leant forward and pressed his lips against hers, enjoying it but all the time cursing his luck, and the fact it had to end so rapidly lest the people in the crowded restaurant begin to gag and call for the manager.

Even so, this place was exactly what he wanted things to be like. And she was right; the date had been going good so far. They'd just talked, eaten, relaxed...the lack of ambition had made the date just right. This is what he had always wanted things to be like. Nothing overly romantic, nothing too grim, no huge expense or feelings of being a cheapskate. It was just…normal. A small restaurant, some rice, and each other.

What could go wrong?

Beeping answered those cursed words in the customary style, an all-too-familiar beeping from both of their wrists.

Sakura looked downcast, their date seemingly ruined, but Kohaku shrugged. "Leave it to the Tamers. Oh, wait."

The blue-haired girl let out a short chuckle, before standing up, reaching out a hand and lifting him to his feet. "Let's do this quick, and then you can take me for a late night stroll in the park…if you want, I mean."

"It's barely even eight, not really late night. But sounds nice. You mean the park across the road, right?" He didn't think he could be bothered to head back to Shinjuku Park again, or to deal with all the weirdness that usually resulted every time he went there.

Sakura didn't answer; she was already too engrossed in the compass materialised above her wrist and the excitement which it promised, providing a strange sight to the diners nearby. The pair headed for the door, but just as he reached it Kohaku stopped and raced back to the table, dropping the first note he could find (which covered the cost more than three times over) and hurrying out. He cursed his suddenly-lighter wallet. As if Sangloupmon's 'fares' weren't a drain enough.

"It's not far," Sakura said to him as he burst into the colder, evening air, the sort of air that left one dithering as to whether one should really need a jumper in 'summer'. "Just in the park across the road. Maybe we should go for our walk there later?" It was official: she _had_ been too engrossed to hear him before.

Floramon dropped from the first floor of the restaurant like a dignified ninja, while Dracmon had a clumsier landing from the roof. Kohaku laughed at him as he stood up, faking competence. "I _meant _to do that! It's called style, something that that wilted lily over there doesn't have!"

The flower Digimon huffed and crossed her arms, while both Tamers knew better than to encourage the demon by paying any attention to him, instead crossing the road after a brief glimpse at the traffic.

"I can't get a reading on what kind of Digimon it is." Sakura tapped at the D-Vice's projection and screen, its full form expanded over her wrist in all its deep blue and grey glory.

"I'm glad it's not just me." Floramon's comment caught Kohaku off guard, as he pored over his own rusty-orange and grey device. He was getting nothing of much use about what they were heading blindly into the jaws of.

"Geez, me too. Maybe your stupid beepy things are broken?" Dracmon had little respect for the devices which gave him so much power. But then again, this was the same Digimon who Kohaku had completely banned from using the computer after his mouse was thrown out of the window because the computer took more than one second to load which, according to Dracmon, was practically first-degree murder.

An explosion proved him wrong.

Its unusual bright blue light ever-so-instantly consumed the darkness on Sakura's face, grey shadows cast in it by the trees in the way. The echo of the explosion rippled through the park, a wind sweeping up leaves in its wake, while a mist enveloped the impact site, making working out what had just hit the insignificant park impossible from this distance.

Heads turned, and feet began to pound. "What the heck do you think that was?" Kohaku asked his girlfriend, his voice in between panted breaths.

"Something worrying." She seemed ill at ease, probably not helped by the fact this area was far more his neck of the woods than hers. That little restaurant was something he saw every day on his way to school, but probably seemed so much more special to her. And this park, while hardly rivalling the great Shinjuku Park in size, held a lot more memories for him (particularly ones where he wasn't getting injured) than the more-foreign Shinjuku Park did, as much as he sometimes had to head that way on errands and to visit a few friends who commuted a fair way to his school.

"If I didn't know Digimon, I'd think that was an alien spaceship or something." There was no doubt, as they closed more and more in on it, that the mist was a digital field.

"Then it's time to go kick some alien butt!" Dracmon leapt to a tree, picking up the pace, and looking ready to completely vanish from his Tamer's sight, even with all the risks that entailed.

"Stop! We need to work out what we're facing first!" Sakura objected, even if the suggestion was outlandish compared to their normal strategy. It usually really did just come down to running straight in and thinking later, a strategy that sooner or later would probably kill them. But, these circumstances seemed pretty unusual. Not least because Dracmon, for at least a brief moment, was following orders, turning to face the now-stationary humans from where he stood on a tree branch.

"It'll be your standard poor innocent lost and confused Digimon for us to delete and download. Simple as dat."

"You know, that really makes us sound like a bunch of utter bastards," Kohaku noted to the girl next to him. She sighed, before calling up to Dracmon, while Floramon looked indignant about it all.

"But what if it's…?" Sakura began.

The briefest glance brought the oddest sight into view through some gaps in the trees. "A human," Kohaku mumbled.

"Huh?" Whatever a human was doing slap-bang in the middle of a bioemergence they couldn't be sure, but as they took the slightest of steps closer, and as that thick mist descended, it was unmistakably what the boy saw.

"Look, over there…it's a human. A girl, I think." The black-haired boy pointed sharply, surprised at who he suspected the human was as well.

"Hey, I recognise her. It's the angry ginger who got duffed up and killed the PM," Dracmon summed up the world in his own way. "See, that's why I took the high ground for a better looksee," he insisted, ignoring the fact that it was a blatant lie. Dracmon never planned ahead, let alone thought so tactically.

"Rika Nonaka," Sakura corrected forcefully, before her eyes peered closer into the mist. "What's she doing in a place like this?"

"Probably planning to knock off another world leader?" Dracmon suggested. "But geez, unless some loser country somewhere needs someone while they're on holiday, can't see you becoming a ruler Kuhako. You're just a bit too crap. And you have a silly name. I mean, Kuhako, ha! Makes me wanna crap myself laughing."

Kohaku restrained himself from pointing out the obvious, or the fact he regretted teaching Dracmon anything about the word 'crap' or anything it had anything to do with. Bad idea with a Digimon whose idea of privacy was to watch from someplace higher. So much for their walk later.

"Maybe she's here to defeat the bioemergence. I don't sense a Digimon though. Not even Renamon," Floramon explained, looking rather off-put by the development.

"Weird," Sakura mumbled.

"Well, if she can just appear like that, I bet she _could_ have murdered the PM. Kuhako, 40000 yen."

"I said if she's _proven_ guilty."

"She _practically_ has been."

The worrying thing was, the Digimon was pretty much right.

"I don't think she's okay," Sakura mumbled, before turning her head back to Kohaku. "She looks really lost."

"What is she doing here?" Kohaku wondered, moving in for a closer look. By now, only a set of trees separated them from her, the path taking a winding route around them to join the cutting where the explosions and Tamer had appeared. People had already run in the opposite direction, making a wise decision to 'get the hell out of there', while distant sirens began to make butterflies hatch in his stomach. This was a very dangerous place to be, particularly with Digimon in tow.

"I'm worried for her. She's in my class, and I sort of know her. And I think she's gonna get caught if we don't intervene…I can't just stand by and watch.

"Do you really want to be seen to be helping a fugitive though?"

"Aren't you curious_ how_ she got here? Why she just bioemerged out of nowhere, all on her own?"

"Wait, so you're telling me there's _no _Digimon? After all that? You owe me compensation! I feel mentally traumatised!" Dracmon complained, becoming the subject of professional ignoring. "Can't I at least fight Renamon?"

"I don't think Renamon is here either. This is all so…weird. Just what is going on?" Sakura glanced back to Kohaku, gritting her teeth and letting her hand uncomfortably sway at her side, wanting to leap out and grab his but being tied down by politeness and apprehension. "I want to help her out." Each syllable quivered on her lip, not really sure it wanted to leave the safe confines and enter the horrible world that presently surrounded them. Even for their owner and her girlfriend, it was terribly risky. Rika was wanted by the police (and a fair few other services besides that), and after that explosion, they'd be right over here. Of course they'd be caught, and they'd be seen too – indeed, having the Digimon visible on the way here in the first place had been a big enough mistake. A pair of people with Digimon, or even just Digivices…they would be considered part of the main group of Tamers in two seconds flat, no right of appeal. But…here was also someone being crushed by the weight of the world and who they had yet to hear the side of the story of, one which he was increasingly curious about as more and more facts came to light.

Had she done it, and if so, why? How had she got here, and where were the other Tamers? So many questions span in his head.

None of that mattered, in the end, in making his choice. What mattered came down to one word.

Sakura.

Their fingers interlocked and her face lit up, her finger stroking the back of his hand as he focused his eyes on their quickly de-misting destination. If they didn't move fast, Rika would be gone, and he would never get the answers plaguing his mind, while the blue-haired girl by his side would undoubtedly be left worried and happy. Besides, given Rika's seemingly weak position, protection and navigation would be a useful bargaining trip in getting some true answers in this mixed-up world, one which had only really started that morning.

"Dracmon, Floramon, hide. We don't want her knowing who we are yet. Dracmon, again, _hide_. I'll feed you more later or something."

"What's that, 200,000 yen for free? How nice of ya Kuhako!"

"_I need a job." _Kohaku resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest tree and turned back to find the two Digimon had already scurried away. Gripping the blue-haired girl's hand tightly, he gave his best attempt at a confident expression. "Time for a close encounter."

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

This was so not good. So, so, _so_ not good.

Anyone else would've been in a good position right now; back home to find and protect the remaining loved ones, try and clear their names, and save them all. But she was the one at the heart of it all, the one who knew she had been framed, and so she was probably a 'shoot to kill' right now, or at least a 'scream and run on sight'. What the hell was she going to do?

She stared down at her D-Vice, tapping away before cursing the heavens. Ryder's stupid maps hadn't been loaded on it yet, as much as she'd seen everyone else using them (or, at least, so it seemed, even if not too many of them actually had the highly-advanced piece of tech), so she was stuck. Where was she?

Her head span, ignoring the flood on her senses from all around. Being away from reality meant that her heightened awareness had been given a holiday from the constant noise of the human world, the Digital World being comparatively simple in layout and variety.

With Harmony's help, she kept it under control and started to focus on what she could do, passing through a few moments of simply telling herself not to panic before she tightened up and considered her current location.

This wasn't Shinjuku Park. She knew that park far too well by now to be mistaken. But those buildings were remotely familiar. Beyond them, she couldn't see – such was her low angle and the psychological lean with which they towered over the park.

Before she could continue to think, she heard distant sirens, growing louder and louder. She gulped, and took a step away from where she thought they were coming from, but only heard another set coming from that direction.

A slip, a stumble, and she planted her hands on the edge of the crater. Damn, she had forgotten about that. And about how much power she had. But throwing around balls of energy willy-nilly hadn't helped before, and it certainly wouldn't help now.

Leaving the crater and its burning haze behind her, she came to her feet just in time to see a boy, garbed almost all in black to match his idiotic hairstyle, staring at her with remarkably wide eyes.

"_Great…"_

Her feet pounded towards him as she put on her menacing demeanour, one surprisingly hard to bring on now after having had a kid and 'softened up' in general. The boy didn't look as apprehensive as most did, up until the last moment when she grabbed him by the collar.

"You saw nothing…"

"Rika?"

There was someone else here?

She flicked her eyes aside, seeing a girl with blue hair, the sight chewed over for a few moments before she realised why it was familiar. "Sakura?" She dropped the boy.

"Are you okay?"

Rika wasn't sure she was. As much as she believed that she was thinking straight, the gigantic headache pounding through her skull and her underlying panic about her present situation had already caused a number of misjudgements on her part, as tunnel vision threatened to close in.

The sirens burst back onto her mind, trapping her, reminding her that she was prey and that any moment more people could arrive. Hell, this classmate and her stupidly-clothed boyfriend could already be the kind of people to turn her in. "What do you think?"

Sakura didn't even need to answer. "How did you get here?"

"Long story and I don't have time. I don't normally ask for favours from random strangers, but…I need your help."

"Hey," Sakura seemed to have an oddly…optimistic smile. "We're not random."

"Okay, classmates," Rika insisted, Harmony finding no grounds herself to think they were anything more. Even the God-half of her, to be honest, had trouble remembering more than their names. Sakura was just a fairly unremarkable girl in her class, and that was that. "Now can we switch clothes?"

Rika then realised that this question, to Sakura's ears, probably sounded quite surprising and rude. But right now, she was set on accomplishing a task, and by right or wrong she was going to manage it.

"Hey, that's a bit much…" Kohaku began, before Sakura interrupted.

"Shh…what do you need?" A boy on a tight leash and a mind that didn't ask stupid questions. Maybe she wasn't as much like the other random girls in her class as Rika had initially judged.

"Wait, Sakura…if you two switch clothes, they're just going to arrest you, aren't they? And you two barely look like you're the same size?"

"What size do you think I am then?" Rika put her hands on her hips and looked offended. Silence a stupid question with threats. Seemed to work with almost everyone but the people she really wished it'd work on. Namely half of her group.

Kohaku, pushed into silence (and then spun round at Sakura's behest), couldn't even watch Rika and Sakura switch shirts and Rika take on her jacket. A pair of sunglasses from Rika's old pocket, et voila. Well, not exactly.

"You still look like you," Kohaku said, turning back round. He must've heard the noise stop. Or have been rather perverted.

"Thanks," Rika said to Sakura, ignoring the boy's remarks and the fact this shirt was somewhat smaller than her one, thanks to the girl being shorter. "I owe you one. And, as much as I feel like a gawping idiot saying this…how do I look?"

"Well…Kohaku's right," the blue-haired girl said as Rika twiddled the glasses up and down. "But it would take me a few moments more to realise it was you than otherwise."

"That'll have to do. Thanks…I'll see you at school…if I don't get slaughtered first, that is," Rika noted, beginning to walk away. She hadn't much time, particularly not for pointless small talk, and those sirens, as relatively quiet as they were against the roar of the city, felt deafening to Rika's increasingly-panicked ears.

"Wait…" Sakura called. "What are you going to do?"

Rika span on her heels. "Go murder more world leaders…what do you _think_ I'm going to do?"

"Beats me. And you had better be being sarcastic."

Rika then granted his wish. "Oh, no, because actually I woke up yesterday with a deep desire to stab a guy I've never met to death, and my partner agreed with me. Oh, and everyone I know is in on it. Make sense?"

"It does when the TV says it."

Rika was about to snap at them, before she reserved herself out of curiosity. "Why…what have they been saying?" She prepared herself for the worst.

Sakura frowned, saying everything. "That you're a monster. Everything about you has been dug up Rika."

"Yeah, screw Digital Watch – the whole of Japan now seems to know your bra size," Kohaku echoed.

Screaming felt like a very good option right now to the redhead with a God inside. So did blowing up the world, as much as it was against her nature. But she, again, held both back, speaking in an extremely stressed tone. "Look…I am tired, and I am restless, and I am sick of dealing with people. So do you have any way you can help me, or should I just stop talking and run?"

"Run where?"

She wanted to jab at the boy, but he was right. Just where _could_ she run? Right now she had the swiftly-advancing cover of darkness to help her, but what about in the morning? Where could she hide in the days? And what was she going to do to avoid getting caught one day?

Her stomach growled, reminding her of something else. Food. _"Stupid Digital World…getting me used to not eating…I really don't care for…" _"Wait, why don't you guys seem to care?"

"Huh?"

"I fell out of the sky, am being told I committed the worst atrocity since 1945, and you guys don't have any reason to trust anything I say. What gives?"

"I don't know. You're not the type to murder a world leader perhaps?" Kohaku suggested, it being a compliment but at the same time being said with such overt sarcasm she felt like slapping him in the face. Even if sarcasm _was _one of her personal favourite weapons.

Sakura nodded. "And you seem too frightened to have done it for real. You would've known that something like this could happen, and…I think you have too much to lose."

A frown. She was right. So right. About being frightened (although she would never admit it), about knowing the consequences, and undoubtedly about the potential losses. She had a child to think of, and her whole life was built around an exclusive society that every scaremongering editor from Tokyo to Toronto had suggested could have a more sinister side. And finally, there was the big question.

"Besides, why? Why would you have done it?"

"Okay, okay, you've proved your point; I don't think you're going to stab me in the back anymore," Rika, as much as she sounded pent-up in saying it, felt oddly relaxed at the notion, the overwhelming confidence she had in these two. Maybe it had been a stroke of luck for her to stumble across them right now. "I need to get back to my house. And I'm guessing we're in Tokyo, judging by the fact you two are here. So…" she pushed her glasses to the end of her nose. "Any suggestions?"

* * *

"Okay, okay, here we go…Digital Watch says they've been tracking the movements of the Japanese defence forces to see if they can find where you are," Kohaku said, staring at his smartphone from by the sinks. The door was sealed – by Rika, of course – and, given this public convenience wasn't meant to be open at this time (or even be intended for her gender), she doubted the police, even if they considered she was in the area, would check. A safe haven.

But, thanks to that smell, not a safe place to sleep. Only a safe place to exist. Even that was good enough right now for Rika, given her present situation. Existence was underappreciated.

"Get the internet on…I mean, can you get the internet on your digivice-thingy?" Sakura asked, gesturing to Rika's wrist. The watch expanded with a tap into the impressive sapphire device, the screen quickly bringing up a web browser, one of the few apps she actually had on it. It moved slowly, and failed to bring up much more than a static map, let alone locate her, but it was good enough for now.

The timestamp told her it had been updated recently, as did the number of troops flagged up as being somewhere in the vicinity of this park. They would be impossible to head straight through to the familiarity of Shinjuku Ward (and its far larger park, with plenty of places to hide in or the tunnel to sneak through, if needs be) on the other side, so she would have to head up and around or down and around. The pathways _looked_ clear, but this was Tokyo – the city that never slept, and one of the busiest in the world. She couldn't fly. She doubted she could even walk there.

"You haven't told Digital Watch I'm here, have you?" Rika suddenly shot a glare at Kohaku, incriminating him before all else. The pair were being friendly, even in the face of her nervous abuse, but she knew what Digital Watch types were like, and Kohaku seemed like he could easily be one. Or, at least, fitted the possibly-quite-inaccurate stereotype in her mind.

"Of course not," he argued back, the boy looking sick to death with her.

"_**He's only trying to help Rika."**_

"_I know, I know Harmony, but I'm worried. I don't want to spend the rest of my days until I starve cooped up in this place."_

The urge to be depressed and take in the sheer unreal reality of her present situation grappled with her, before her baser human senses overrode it and made her answer a more physiological urge. "Uh…I need to use one of the stalls. I'll be right back."

Heading into a nearby cubicle once Sakura nodded, she lifted the lid (with some disgust) and sat down. The sound of the pair talking softly quickly took more of her attention than the act itself.

"What happens if the police think we're involved?" Kohaku was asking, his hushed voice not ideal. "What if they dig too deep on us and arrest us too?"

"We'll be fine…we're separate to them. I don't see them arresting my whole class for being involved, do you?"

Rika reached for the loo roll, finding only a single sheet and feeling like banging her head against the wall. Or, at least, putting her head against it and falling asleep. The locked door of the cubicle, after all, made her feel remarkably secure, even if she knew it was only to stop people getting in by accident, and would never stand up to a purposeful attack.

She was a god who could be killed by a single bullet. Fancy that.

This was a life neither she nor Harmony wanted to end any time soon, a life they had invested a lot into, and which would cause a lot of pain if they lost it. So they would have to survive. But to survive, she had to clear her name.

How?

Slipping her trousers and knickers back on, she let the seat and lid fall (to cover the lingering odour from a billion uses), flushed it and unlocked the door, Sakura and Kohaku stopping talking as she did so. Not that she could hear them much anymore anyway, their increasingly-soft voices not standing up to the sound of the flush.

"Better?" Sakura asked, Rika nodding and feeling like a four-year old with her father, practicing the age-old routine of 'I'll see you outside' when they had to use public toilets.

Moving swiftly on from the touchy subject, Rika glanced to the slim windows across the top of the hut, above the line of sinks, most broken. She wandered across and clambered up, looking out of the dirty pane with intrigue. "There's still loads of lights out there."

"They must be searching the park for a Digimon bioemergence…" Sakura began, before her face contorted, and she looked to Kohaku in worry.

"They…it'll all be fine, trust me," Kohaku said, in a voice Rika could tell was obviously a blatant lie. She shook her head in disdain as Sakura seemed to accept it, but found herself highly confused as to what they were talking about. Were they really expecting to be captured? They weren't just searching for innocent bystanders – the government did have a list.

The image of Natsuki flashed across her mind, the girl who looked ready to have a mental-breakdown any moment in the Digital World. She hoped the girl was alright, even if her weakness in the face of what she saw did irritate Rika somewhat. Why wasn't she throwing herself wholeheartedly into this life? Sure, it was dangerous, but so was crossing the street! Most other people enjoyed what they found when they discovered the other world, both literally and metaphorically.

"I was wondering Rika…where's Renamon?" Sakura asked, looking as though reminded of something.

"She's…still in the Digital World."

"Do they know you're here?" Kohaku said, the first thing he had said that didn't seem as stupid as the way he said it.

"I don't think so. They'll realise, but…for now Renamon just thinks I've stepped outside to have a think."

"Stepped outside? Of where?"

"It's not important," Rika clambered down from the sinks, and looked to the door. "I need to get home, and sleep. They don't know I'm here and won't think I'll go back there – it's perfect."

"How are you going to get home?" Sakura asked, Rika wanting to have a reply but completely coming up short. She'd be found so quickly, even with what she wore. What could she do?

"I don't know…go invisible somehow? With my face plastered all over the news, I really don't think your clothes alone are going to save me."

"You've already got one step up…your hair's down."

Rika grimaced, reaching for her hair protectively. She'd almost forgotten what it was like now. In her time in the Digital World, it'd become almost…normal to her. It was sickening. Her ponytail was who she was…wasn't it? It was something she'd had for so long it seemed alien to be lacking it. Every accidental glance in the grimy bathroom mirrors made her do a double take.

"Redheads aren't really that common though…unless you can get to Scandinavia somehow," Kohaku noted.

"Okay, no stupid suggestions. This place stinks and I'm not spending more than one second in it."

"Then I know _exactly_ what you're going to need," Sakura began, an uneasy feeling rising in Rika's mind as she got the distinct feeling she knew precisely what Sakura meant…

* * *

And, unfortunately, she was right. The disdain of what she saw in the mirrors was simply the climax of a long row of cringes, from the sight of the budget product (bought from the nearest convenience store) to the feel of the dribbling tap miserably failing to do it justice in pouring over her.

Her hair, those lovely red strands she never truly appreciated until this very moment, was gone, replaced with the dull uniform blackness that so many Japanese fought to distance themselves from.

Rayleigh had already taken her life. What more would he manage to steal from her by the time all of this was over?

"It's not as bad as you think it is."

"Of course it's not. It's worse."

Sakura drove an elbow into her boyfriend. "You've been spending way too much time with you-know-who," she whispered shortly and sharply, Rika too busy mourning her hair to care. For a hair dye job, it was simply awful, and to deal with any areas where the red had poked through, they had had to add even more, leading to a horribly uneven cover. Would anyone believe this? Imperfection was natural, but complete and utter failure was distinctly human.

And now her entire survival was resting on it.

"_**Rika, please don't be mad at them."**_

"_I'm not. I just want to strangle someone, and Ko-whatever his name is has a habit of willingly volunteering."_

"_**Save that fight for Rayleigh when we see him later."**_

"_I hadn't even started thinking that far ahead; I just want to go home. Are you sure you don't have any magic powers for this?"_

"_**No-one ever really knew who I was so flying was always fine in the past. Anyone who saw me either thought they were mad or put me down as an Angel. You have no idea how many times I accidentally appear in your holy books. Chaos did too. Still, I don't think he had the bad luck of actually having to talk to a human in that situation before."**_

"_What happened?"_

"_**I got caught off guard. They thought I was an angel from above. And I was hardly going to say I **_**was**_** God now, was I?"**_

"_What did you do to get out of it?"_

"_**Came up with a really elaborate excuse."**_

"_Would that excuse be any use now?"_

"_**Definitely not. And with all the work I had to do afterwards just to quantify that one little excuse…I am not doing anything like that again. Broke far too many rules of human biology that day. You're honestly better off not knowing."**_

Rika took Harmony's advice and instead grasped a few strands of hair between her fingers, staring at them under the strip lighting. At first, they could only use the light coming in the windows to see, lest they draw attention from the cops not expecting to see the public conveniences open at this time of night, but since then Rika had forced the lights on, assuming that the heat was off (for now). The lights, somehow, combined harshness and uselessness, flickering endlessly and seeming due for a replacement fifteen years ago.

"_**And don't even get me started on what Chaos did to a horse. My God, his inventions so often amounted to just stabbing a horn into something I made. Stupid unicorns."**_

"How permanent is this stuff? Black hair looks ridiculous."

"Oh, thanks," huffed Kohaku.

"Just tell me."

Kohaku picked up the box, quickly reading down it. "It doesn't say…oh, wait…re-apply every…" He gulped. "Wow, must be made of tar or something."

"How often?"

Kohaku showed the box to Sakura, laughing uneasily, a laugh that proved contagious. "I think you're better off not knowing," she said.

"Okay, okay, whatever. I just want to know, is this convincing?" Rika asked, turning to look at the pair but taking uneasy glances in the mirror all the while. She really hoped she wouldn't have to do any more: she barely recognised the girl in the reflection.

Sakura looked her up and down again and again, something Kohaku began to do before getting an evil glare. "I think you'll be fine…just don't talk to anyone for too long."

"And stay out of any bright lights," added Kohaku.

"In the brightest city on Earth," said Rika sardonically.

"Yeah, well, anyhow, with this stuff you might also want to avoid naked flames," the black-haired boy added.

"_I should've just stolen the most expensive brand from the store. I'm in trouble enough," _Rika sighed. "Thanks for all this," she said finally, not entirely sounding sincere. This was hard to give thanks for, as much work as they had put into it. She was wearing someone else's clothes, had completely lost her hairstyle, and had no plan beyond getting home. Even if she survived all this, she was stuck with her unusual hair colour for however long the surely-banned chemicals clung to her roots.

"Do you want us to come with you?"

"I'm trying to lie low, and I think three people darting from shadow to shadow would draw a bit too much unwanted attention," Rika lied, knowing the real reason. As much as this pair had helped, she didn't want them to get involved in all this, and certainly didn't want them to know where she was well enough to use it against her (whether by betrayal or gun barrel). Plus, she suspected she could move a bit faster alone. "But…thanks. It's nice to know not everyone thinks I did it."

"You're welcome."

"It's been fun," Kohaku waved off. To Rika's irritation, he sounded like he meant it far more than he said. Was this amusing to him or something? Then again, if she hadn't been herself, she was pretty sure she would've been cracking up by now. "But if you really did kill him and have just been playing with our heartstrings, we hate you," he added, Rika shrugging. What did she care? She'd gotten what she needed now anyway. What was the hate of two more people going to do?

Sakura laughed uneasily at her boyfriend's joke, before smiling. "Good luck!"

"Break a leg," Kohaku saluted.

"This day can't get any worse," Rika huffed, and exited the loos, feeling ever so pleased to be out of sight, smells and stupidity, and into the dark world. A hand pushed an annoying set of wayward hairs aside as they were tossed into her face by the light breeze, before popping her sunglasses back onto her face.

The worst thing was she knew it most certainly could.

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

Light burst into the pub with a thump, or rather, a light kick from HiAndromon (also known as an extremely strong kick from any human). Hinges sheared and another thump soon followed, as the android Digimon stepped into the still-murky darkness.

Gone was the unique golden tinge, the collapsed dish instead making the pub darker if anything. At least it hadn't been crushed.

"Breaking down a door as a robot does not make you more of a man," Ayaka said dryly as she stepped past her boyfriend (presently merged with his partner). She ignored his huff.

A faint hiss came to her ears, a constant, fuzzing hiss, and one she began to follow, wandering towards the counter and discovering the source before anyone could offer a simple "what's that noise?"

"Heeeey…" Starmon hiccupped. "It's the guys that are killing us."

And why was he hiccupping? Well, it probably had something to do with the beer tap in his mouth, the brass pipe leading up and into a presumably infinite tank.

"Drinking away your troubles, eh?" HiAndromon sounded half-amused and half-saddened by the sight. "Is there another pipe here somewhere?"

"You kidding? There's not enough pressure in the pipes for another one. Take a bottle from t'bar if you have to, and be happy."

As much as it seemed like a vulgar and selfish way to pass the time (before their increasingly inevitable fate), Ayaka resisted the temptation of taking up the offer. "Can we shelter here?"

"Hey, if you want to be killed, the pub's as good a place as any," Starmon said, while Ayaka noticed HiAndromon pushing the door back up and welding it back in place at the hinges. Following on from that, he wandered from window to window, doing what he could to seal them, even if they were basically an easy-to-break sheet of glass.

"But didn't you stay here because it's safe?" Miki asked, her voice laden with concern and curiosity.

"Nowhere is safe!" Starmon hiccupped again, standing up for the first time to the bar and slamming his hand on it. "I got thrown against the wall not more than five seconds ago. And regardless, those ugly mugs out there were going to kill us anyway if we didn't seal them away, so there's absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop them now."

"You've got a lot of confidence in us," said Kenta.

"There are three of you…three…facing an entire horde."

"Actually, there's six of us who can fight."

"Including you and your doubles?"

"Doubles?"

"Yeah, him, and him, and him, and all of those twins…"Starmon attempted to outstretch a finger to point at Kenta, and Kenta, and Kenta, and, indeed, every other double he was supposedly seeing alongside the short teen, at least if his words were anything to go by. Instead, however, he fell to the floor in a drunken snoring heap, bashing his head on the bar side on the way down.

MarineAngemon floated down to him, Kenta wandering around to take a closer look. "Pipipi," the healer relayed with a saddened tone.

"Ouch…guess he's not getting up anytime soon…"

"Ugh," Ayaka groaned, slamming her own hand on the bar as she made her thoughts felt. "This is ridiculous." Well, almost. The guilt at the pit of her heart, for causing all this with her own personal mistakes, drove a flame of entrapment into a firestorm, making her want to run outside and escape herself.

"And? We've dealt with weirder."

"Why aren't we getting out of here? If everyone's going to get killed, I don't want to be an 'everyone'."

"We promised to protect this place," insisted Kazu, raising his voice at his newfound girlfriend as HiAndromon returned to her side. "And a promise is a promise."

"But a promise that gets us killed…I…I just don't get it, I just don't get why anyone would want that."

"We'll fight them all and beat them all." The visor-wearing boy said it like it was the most usual thing in the world, the most certain fact he ever knew.

"But there are six of us…five if MarineAngemon spends all his time healing."

"Yeah, and you all have to cover our arses too," Miki said worriedly, frowning to the two boys (even if one of them right now was a robot, and the other was looking the other way, helping MarineAngemon with nursing the passed-out Starmon. A heart popped on one of his points.

"We owe them Ayaka, you know that," Kazu insisted, looking into the girl's eyes through the eyes of a Digimon, lowering his already-significant crouch still-further to reach her level. Looking into those eyes still left him unnerved, knowing that he was inside yet somehow not being able to link what she heard and knew with what she saw before her.

"But what if the choice is between everyone here getting killed, or everyone here getting killed and us surviving? Do they really want us to die?"

"I…" Kazu begun, his voice stuttering. As much as Ayaka knew she was 'winning' as a result, it was hollow. She wanted Kazu to argue back, to find a reason why she was wrong, but she simply couldn't. "We promised, we owe them, and a promise is something you keep. Takato almost gets himself killed for his. I may as well go the whole hog…at least to beat him at something. It's been a while since I last did."

"So this is all about your pride?" Ayaka wanted to yell it at him, to ask how he could sacrifice all their lives for his pride, but her voice came out timid, betraying her distant sense of understanding. Kazu would never out and out say what he really meant, but she knew this was nothing to do with pride. This was to do with doing The Right Thing, regardless of how stupid it was, and it was something guys like him seemed to live and breathe.

Kazu huffed, evidently neither wanting an argument nor realising Ayaka's lack of confrontation at this very moment, before he gestured to the door. "I'm going out there to fight for this place. Kenta, I know you want to come with, but I reckon if the shit really does hit the fan, we're going to need you and MarineAngemon to heal us. And I don't want to leave these two alone to get killed either."

Kenta frowned and nodded, yet it was not a frown for being left out. He looked across the pair of girls, looking genuinely worried for them in this present situation, while MarineAngemon simply silently worked on his current 'patient'.

At that moment, feeling like she was a liability to all, Ayaka was hit by a thumping headache.

And then it went, ringing in her ears.

And it was back.

And gone, ever so fast.

Back. Gone. There for longer, gone for longer, and through it all she glanced at the group around her, seeming to be affected by the same sensation as they gripped their ears. "What is it?" Miki cried, Ayaka unable to do much more than moan.

Back. Gone. Faster again, back gone back gone back gone.

Stopped.

"What the heck was that?" Ayaka spat, looking particularly towards the two boys, as if their Tamerhood inherently gave them an ability to answer such questions.

"I…"

Her mind was yanked at again through her eyeballs as Ayaka found the sensation returning. The same pattern.

"Aaagh, it hurts so…"

Again.

Short, short, short, long, long, long, short, short…

Short.

Gone again. But this time, she had clocked just what she was hearing. And so, it seemed, had Kazu.

"SOS," he said as they caught eyes, HiAndromon frowning. Of all of them, he seemed to be the one who had fared best, his metal body not hunched over in pain from it all.

"_Stupid lucky mega level Digimon," _thought Ayaka.

"It seems the situation has become ever so dire," Guardromon echoed from within the android, as the Digimon took a preparatory step towards the door.

"Who's doing that?" Miki wondered, looking to her friends as if they would know the answer.

"Datamon?" Kenta stood up straight, looking to Kazu, who nodded.

"That's what my money's on."

"But…it's stopped," Miki said, although took a worried look around as she said it. Did she expect it to creep up on her again?

From Ayaka's point of view, it was a case of good riddance. But she had to wonder…if it was Datamon, just why was he sending such a message, one that penetrated into their very minds? Did he believe the situation was that dire? It didn't exactly fill her with any confidence.

"Somehow I don't think help is going to arrive," Kazu noted sadly, as HiAndromon prized the door open, gagging to leave as soon as possible. "Look, I've got to get out there. Are you all okay in here?"

Kenta looked down to the patient behind the bar, before nodding. "I'll keep an eye on him, and these two."

Ayaka wanted to object to her and her best friend being simply summed up as 'these two', but knew it probably wasn't the time. "Don't get yourself killed," she said to Kazu, who smiled a cheesy grin, even as HiAndromon.

"Yes Ma'am."

"_Idiot."_

* * *

**Kiyoyuki Nonaka**

* * *

News. News, news, and more news, but nothing new at all. Everything was editorial, filler, the stuff used when the 'big story' of a day was slow to develop.

This day of all days had a reason to claim its 'big story' was genuine, and far more than just a media fad. The assassination of a political leader, by a Digimon no less, was not going to be forgotten, even if those in the café around the man seemed to have no problems with getting on with their lives right now.

Flicking back to the main page of the news site – away from the video he had watched a few dozen times now, trying to work out exactly how it was meant to incriminate his daughter – he sipped his coffee. He was the only one drinking such a beverage in this place, when everyone else was having 'normal' evening food. It was hard enough to find a café that was open, but at least this one was fairly pleasant, the green and verdant local park behind reflected in his laptop's screen providing only the slightest haven of relief from the permalight of the twenty-four hour city.

A shadow ran past, making him glimpse back, but all he saw was a black-haired girl running by. Having a red-haired daughter, one would think, would make for an easy way of finding one's daughter, but in a city as packed as this it did very little to help. Not to mention the cosplayers, who had so often dashed his hopes of seeing his daughter after seeing that oh-so-familiar burst of red hair. He wasn't sure if it was just that bitterness speaking, but he never quite understood the appeal of dressing up like that (although he suspected that his ex-wife had some burden of blame in his resistance to the concept of dressing up full stop) and going to such lengths as even to dye one's hair permanently.

But, as odd as he found it, it was undeniably a staple part of Tokyo, just like how people hurried everywhere even at this late hour. What event did the random girl think couldn't wait anyhow? Kiyoyuki had pondered going out to explore the nightlife like some others his age probably would, and maybe seeing a bit more of what this end of Tokyo was like nowadays, but in the end he had found nothing compelling him to do much else than sit and relax, no matter how many interesting events were probably going on in the ever-vibrant city.

Except he couldn't relax. His phone firmly refused to ring. The complete opposite of his usual workday then.

"_At least the sirens have stopped now."_

Google flicked up again onto his screen, and as he typed the letter 'r' it instantly completed the rest, prompting a frown on his face.

**rika nonaka murderer**

An uncomfortable dread wallowed in the pit of his stomach, as he mumbled "please be okay", not for the first time that evening.

Just where was she?

"_Wait…was that girl wearing sunglasses at night?"_

* * *

**Mimi Tachikawa**

* * *

The whip speared a pair of Velgemon and a Loweemon before it hit the ground, its victims looking horrified before they broke apart. The source of the whip breathed a sigh of relief, swooping down to those she had saved in the nick of time.

"Thanks," said Cherubimon, turning to see the floating data of the creatures which had been so close to obliterating the two humans in her care. Rosemon floated down to stand beside them, Mimi still finding the sensation odd as the cracked street met the extremely tall heels of her boots, far taller than anything she could possibly balance on in her human form.

"Could you see Kazu and Kenta and the others from up there?" Jun asked worriedly from beside the bestial jester.

"No...are they missing then?"

"The buildings got attacked and we all got separated," Suzie explained from within Cherubimon.

"Why did you leave the front line?" Palmon wondered, although Mimi could tell from her voice that she shared her irritation. One moment they had backup protecting the town, the next it had been completely abandoned.

"They came to make sure we were okay, sorry," Jaarin apologised. Mimi mentally sighed. Keeping everyone safe was turning out to be a nightmare, let alone making some progress in saving the town from the horde bearing down upon it. But…she felt wrong to be angry at them, to believe they were a liability, and so she said nothing.

"Is the battle going badly then?" worried Lopmon.

"We could do with some help," Mimi gave a white lie. From just her brief glimpse of the battlefield, things had been terrible, and without her, there to fight too things would surely only get worse. Getting back here alone had been a nightmare enough. "We…"

And then something interrupted her. Again and again, her head buzzed with an ache, on and off and on again, one that left her nauseous and uneasy. When it finished, and she looked out again, she was surprised that everyone wasn't looking at her, not least because she was certain she had grabbed her (or rather, Rosemon's) head at some point.

"We…are getting…" she tried to continue, feeling confused.

"Sorry, just felt a bit weird there, what did you say?" Jaarin complained, while Cherubimon backhanded a Scorpiomon, currently gripping its own head, into a nearby building.

"Worst headache ever," Jun moaned, before Jaarin gave her a confused look.

"You too?"

"And me," Mimi spoke out, glancing to Cherubimon, who nodded.

"I felt it too Mimi." Palmon's voice came from everywhere in the rose-tinted orb that Mimi floated in.

"What…?" Jaarin began, before Mimi couldn't hear her again, thanks to a combination of yet another headache crashing through her skull and no doubt a similar one passing through the head of Henry's sister. "That felt like…an SOS," the girl finally finished a completely different sentence to the one she had started.

"What do you mean…oh…do you mean, doo doo doo, dooooo, doooo, do…?" started Jun.

"Yeah, that," Jaarin interrupted before she could finish. "Maybe it's Data…?"

And again, Mimi's burgeoning thought about this new revelation were interrupted by yet another piercing series of headaches, their newfound meaning doing little to alleviate their pain. They had to be close to their source.

"I think it's Datamon," Jun concluded with total certainty, even though they still didn't have much to go on.

"Do you think he's in trouble?" Suzie asked. "We should get back and help him."

"But Suzie, HiAndromon sealed him in there," Lopmon disagreed, Cherubimon glancing over to the transmitter in the distance. Mimi could only wonder what on earth they were talking about.

"He wasn't exactly in the best physical state though," Jaarin noted. "Maybe he needs medical help?"

"Geez…it's a bit strong, giving us all headaches like that just to get our attention," Jun moaned, grimacing. "Maybe he just wants someone else outside to come help us. We are pretty screwed, after all."

"You know, you've got a point there," Jaarin agreed. "But who on earth is going to hear it?"

"So long as someone comes to help, I don't think I care who they are," Mimi decided, before she felt something tickle the edges of her senses. As a human, she would've thought it just an uneasy shiver, but as a Digimon she knew better, and she swiftly twisted around, flinging her whip out. "ROSES RAPIER!"

A Loweemon, flung into the opposing building, looked down at the whip through his stomach before he could look down no more.

"Sis, I think I need to fight…but I want you two to be safe first," Suzie wished, looking down to her sister and the redhead by her side.

"Yeah…you two are sitting ducks here, and I don't think we can afford to just fight from here. Any stray blast could hit you guys," Mimi worried, before Cherubimon turned to face the nearby building, pulling back a fist.

And punching in a boarded-up window.

Jaarin's eyes widened at the sight, before a large hand grasped her and put her through, followed by Jun. "Can you tell me next time before you do something like that?" the redhead exclaimed.

The huge jester nodded, and patted her bewildered sister on the head. "Please be careful Sis."

"You too Suzie. I don't know what I'd say to mum and dad if you got hurt," she replied, frowning deeply, while Rosemon was forced to ignore the saddening sight to crush a Scorpiomon beneath her boot.

"You'll need to hide out of sight before _these things_ find you," the mega level plant Digimon said, gesturing to the insides of the house. Although, looking at how sparse its insides were, it may as well have just been a film set; the vast majority of the buildings in Bolton seemed to serve no real purpose.

"Right," Jun nodded, taking steps back into the interior of the home, Jaarin following soon after uneasily. Rosemon looked to a worried Cherubimon, before gesturing to the battle at hand with her whip (and spearing a Loweemon in the process).

"Let's just hope someone hears our SOS, huh?"

* * *

**Gabumon**

* * *

These were his paws again. His fur, his skin, his horn.

His stinking, pulsing headache.

It hit him on and off with such power and pattern that made him feel certain that this was his end. With the robe of shadows pulsing towards and over them, crushing his small body beneath their arachnid weight, it probably was.

That sick clicking and slapping of jaws would be such a horrible final sound. Even the pain he saw racking through Renamon at the hands of an EMP bullet back in the park, a moment which seemed so long ago now, seemed like a nice way to go by comparison. The smell of the Scorpiomon took him way back beyond the threat that faced them today to a time of such immaturity, but a time when a member of this species had been little more than a minion. Now, en masse, they would kill them.

"Gabumon," he heard Matt mumble in pain, groaning as he turned his head to his partner. A disappointed look crossed his expression when he saw the agony his partner was in, both trampled beneath the horde, threatening to crush the young man's bones. The unconscious Impmon failed to stir. "My head hurts."

"Same."

Matt's roughened hands pushed down onto the dirt, as he forced years of athletics into a desperate attempt to force the Scorpiomon on his back out of the way.

He needn't have bothered.

"Shoo," AncientSphinxmon hissed, before his JagerLoweemon bit away the remaining Scorpiomon who didn't get the message. "I will finish them myself."

"What have you got against us?" Matt groaned, getting to his knees before the beast as he glared up into those callous eyes. "We never did anything to you."

"You sealed us away, denied my army food, and slaughtered my men."

"We didn't," Gabumon hissed through his teeth. "But Bolton did it to stop you! You were going to kill them all!"

"Such is what the Digital World is like; such is what it should _forever_ be like. This dying world is ours for the taking. The law of data and might will reign supreme."

"Dying world?" asked Matt, coming to his feet as a confused expression befell his face.

"Yggdrasil has died, order has failed. The food stock will run scarce, and only the best will survive."

"Is that your army?" Gabumon chipped in, wishing to strangle this beast here and now, and yet finding his own curiosity raging about this supposed death of the Digital World.

"No, me."

"_Unbelievable."_

This guy was willing to kill all of his friends, all of his allies, the whole population of the Digital World…just to survive in this harsh new reality. He was evil, he was sick, he was monstrous, he was…

"Scared. You're scared. But you don't scare me, lion-face," groaned a new voice, Gabumon's eyes flicking around to Impmon. They were followed by the eyes of the Scorpiomon and the rest of the horde, standing around the mega level and his prey like vultures, hoping for a scrap of what remained. With the evil glare that Impmon received, it looked like their wish would be granted sooner than later.

"What? WHAT?" AncientSphinxmon roared, lifting on his hind legs and moving so close that Gabumon could taste his disgusting breath. Impmon found it hard enough to even stand and face him, while Matt watched with a deep concern and horror. Would this be the last fight Impmon ever picked?

"You heard me. You're a wimp…why are you even _trying_ to survive if you don't have anything or anyone to survive for?"

"I survive for _me_!"

"That's a mistake I once made too…and you know what fixed me up? Having some sense knocked into me…BADA BOOM!"

The fireball was larger than usual, more concentrated than usual, and did surprise its target as it hit AncientSphinxmon in the forehead, pushing his head (and horrible breath) back up away from them. But it did little more than anger the beast, a foot soon crushing down on an even-weaker Impmon.

"Impmon!" Matt cried, moving towards the lion and his prey but being stopped in his tracks by a Cerberumon. Both heads snarled at him with an unthinking ferocity, but even they did not dare to attack until their leader called.

"At least I'll die knowing someone loved me!" The words came from a squashed mouth. Poor Ai and Mako. They'd never get a chance to even say goodbye, let alone find their real worth as Tamers. "And at least I'll die…eating blueberries!"

"Eating blueberries?" AncientSphinxmon looked thrown, his beastly forehead creasing.

"Yeah! It means dying at the hands of a really ugly freak."

Was Impmon just trying to get in the remainder of the threats he could before he died? Was AncientSphinxmon just squashing out all of the attitude? Gabumon had always been amazed how it fitted into such a small creature? Small mouth, big mouth.

"I don't care for my physical appearance."

"It shows. Geez, no wonder you want to be the only one in the world."

"I will be supreme, this will be my world."

"Bet you end up...hey, Matt, what's that thing where you go crazy and have two minds in your head?"

"Schizophrenic?"

"Yeah, schit…what he said! You'll end up talking to yourself constantly. Sounds like hell…you won't even be able to order yourself around anymore. You know what?"

"I don't care."

"Humour me, come on. Last wishes?"

"Okay, _what_?"

"Geez, do you kiss your sister with that mouth? Deal with your saliva, please."

"Say your final useless words and die already."

"Okay, okay…well…I reckon that one day you'll go so mad you'll cut yourself in two just to have someone else to talk to."

"Bah. How…"

"DRAMON BREAKER!"

"See. I was right," Impmon grinned. A frozen Gabumon stared at the shocked expression on AncientSphinxmon, a sword tip protruding from his neck below his face, parted in two. It seemed as if fate today served only to prove the imp right.

And then he simply burst into data.

"Oh yeah, killer line," Impmon pumped his fist at the golden newcomer. The bipedal dragon still holding his chrome digizoid blade just above the imp, close enough to probably kill him if the blade fell but an inch further, yet it was clear to anyone that the demon was too physically exhausted to even consider taking offence at the act. The effort to stand was given up on, and he fell back to his bottom. The data of AncientSphinxmon spread quickly to the surrounding horde before anyone else could absorb it. "But you could hurry up a bit. I could've gotten here from the horizon like _that_." The Digimon failed to click successfully. But then again, neither did the Scorpiomon, all scratching at themselves with their own blades as black shapes buzzed about them, some having the misfortune of stabbing themselves to death.

"Hmph," VictoryGreymon huffed, gesturing back to one of his two colleagues beside him. "Blame slowcoach TyrantKabuterimon here."

"Unleashing a sea of pests takes time even with my abilities." This came from a new creature, a monstrous purple beast that came down to land and squashed a few Scorpiomon. "I miss my speed."

"We miss it too," said the other, tapping her foot impatiently, the pricks of the crescents upon the legs almost touching the ground and joining the end of her double-headed blade and ribbons in cutting into the sand.

"Hey, you're the Cult of Victory, I remember you guys. But you're a bit different somehow…" the blonde Tamer began, before raising his blue-ringed, white-buttoned D-Arc to scan the newcomers. Gabumon felt his eyes forcibly focused on the prey, but felt no fear for the sensation. "Dianamon, Data Type, Mega Level, attacks are Crescent Hook, Arrow of Artemis and Goodnight Moon." Gabumon's eyes flicked across, knowing what Matt would want. "And TyrantKabuterimon…virus, another mega, attacks with Shine of Bee and Bee Cyclone."

"So youse the pink one and youse the gold one, right?" Impmon asked groggily.

"I was Crescemon, yeah, and this was MetallifeKuwagamon."

"The Cult of Victory forever grows stronger," VictoryGreymon said proudly, his sword now pressed into the sand as his gold armour glinted in the sun.

"Good timing too," Gabumon nodded.

"What's happened to all the horde?"

"I have an army of loyal pests under my control…it was easy enough to use them against these comparatively dumb beasts," TyrantKabuterimon said with no hint of modesty, while Dianamon gave both heads of a Cerberumon their own body for but a second with her blade.

"Less chatting, more fighting."

"Gabumon, how ready are you to biomerge again?" asked Matt to his friend, looking around with a new fiery determination.

It tore at the creature that he couldn't say "completely ready", his mind dithering before he admitted. "Sorry Matt, but I'm completely wiped out. Don't you have a modify card or something?"

"Geez, you give up way too easily. **Impmon, warp digivolve to…to…toooooo…**aw shucks."

"What were you saying just now?" TyrantKabuterimon mocked.

"Shut up," Impmon barked from the side of his mouth. "Let's go find MarineAngemon, heal us up and kick…some…whoa…headache…"

"Headache? I had one a short while ago," remembered Gabumon, looking curiously to the Imp. The Digimon stopped swaying a bit, and put his hand on his head, trying to shake off the sensation.

"The SOS signal," interjected Dianamon. "We all received it. So whoever sent it got pretty lucky. This area is practically deserted now. In fact, that's why we're here."

"The _whole _Digital World is practically deserted," scowled TyrantKabuterimon.

"Deserted? Why?" Matt wondered, glancing to Gabumon. This world was new to them, but part of it was theirs…wasn't it? The Digital World was always so vibrant and full of life and Digimon, echoing the business of the real world's communication networks. Why would it be so deserted? The concept sounded hauntingly familiar to what AncientSphinxmon had said.

"The destruction of Yggdrasil has had serious repercussions on the balance of Digimon in this world, and the reproductive patch has not made up for it either, as there simply are not enough Digimon pairs to make it function correctly," VictoryGreymon explained. "We have been trying to assess the scale of the problem."

"The Digital World as we know it is dying," TyrantKabuterimon summed up in a soundbite. "Those that remain are flocking to areas with a lot of data…like here."

"AncientSphinxmon said that too," Matt nodded. "But what can we do?"

"Hey, did you guys just forget about my headache?" Impmon said, leaping up with his hand on his head, a move which seemed to take even more of his already-lacking energy.

"Is it more important? It's just a headache, and we have far more important things to be worried about," snapped Dianamon. "Besides, your talking is now giving me one."

"Me too."

"Same."

Matt gave an uneasy nod. "Me…_too_. Don't any of you think that's a bit…odd?"

"All of us having a headache?" asked Gabumon, although the throbbing in his head answered his question.

"Maybe it is another signal?" VictoryGreymon wondered, but the way his body suddenly stretched backwards, dragged out like a piece of tack, drew their attention to another answer.

A horrifyingly large and scary answer.

"What the _hell _is that?" Matt exclaimed, Gabumon simply unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Juggernaut," Impmon scowled. The vortex drifted towards them, growing larger and larger, as loose sands whipped towards it, picked up easily thanks to their simplicity. TyrantKabuterimon's pests followed next, black specks flying off the Scorpiomon and the rest of the horde. The virus-type looked on in disdain as his creations were obliterated at the top of the vortex.

"A bit of background would be nice," Dianamon huffed.

"I've seen it used before. Let's just say, this thing is trouble for anything Digital."

"Who would design such a thing?" VictoryGreymon sounded angry, as he stabbed his sword into the sand.

"It's meant for the real world." Impmon didn't answer the question directly. Gabumon couldn't place why. "Which makes it doubly bad news for us smucks."

"Yeah – it's on a collision course with the town."

"Not just that." Impmon looked to Matt, who winced in horror as his arm extended greatly under the force of the computer program before returning to its normal length. "You humans aren't atoms anymore."

"Matt…" Gabumon whined in worry. "What can we do?"

Matt pushed his hand against his head, no doubt fighting the same throbbing headache they all had, as he unconsciously stepped back away from the slow-moving beast. But lumbering as it was, it affected a wide radius, a fact that a particularly curious Scorpiomon learnt as he ventured too close and was whipped into the air, shattering as he hit the Juggernaut's vortex.

"We have to get everyone out of here."

"What about the town?" asked Gabumon.

"Damn…we couldn't even evacuate before with just the horde to deal with."

"Yeah, but I don't think it'll just be us who have to deal with the horde," VictoryGreymon gestured to another poor Scorpiomon being dragged to his death. The group began to step away from the man-made tornado.

"They're surrounding the place though. We're stuck between the horde on one side, and this thing on the other," Matt gestured to the Juggernaut. "What can we do?"

"Think of something fast Matt," Gabumon called.

"Okay, okay, we have to fight our way out of here, and evacuate a whole town. Shit, that's going to be impossible." The blonde human was stressed, extremely stressed, and Gabumon didn't have to have been his partner for all these years to tell. "Can we destroy that thing?" he asked Impmon.

The imp hesitated a moment. "Someone tried before."

"And?"

"I think they may have just made things a lot worse."

"Can we protect ourselves? Maybe we can make something that's not Digital? Or that blocks Digital things?" VictoryGreymon brainstormed, before Gabumon practically leapt in the air.

"The shield!"

"Do you think that'd work?" Matt asked his partner.

"It stopped Digimon getting through."

"But will it work now?"

"I don't know."

"Do we have any other option?" asked Impmon. "As much as I'd want to run, I can't just let everyone there die at the hands of this thing…whatever the hell it is doing here. You know, if I die here and Takato and Rika did make some sort of heaven on high, I really hope it comes with a big explanation! And a video-link to Ai and Mako." He muttered the last part.

"Do any of you want to explain yourselves? What on earth are you talking about?" VictoryGreymon demanded.

"And why the grand funnel of Bolton has fallen so ungracefully to earth?" added TyrantKabuterimon.

"And where on earth did this horde even come from?" wondered Dianamon.

"On the way back. But…we're going to need a ride," Matt said, looking to Gabumon and Impmon and making the dinosaur feel so guilty for his lack of energy right now. "We're totally tapped out." Images of hitting Beelzemon with a beam of all his strength before being blown out of the sky by a hundred blasts painfully repeated themselves in his memory.

VictoryGreymon put out a massive hand and gave a brave yet somehow cheesy grin, one which reminded Gabumon of someone else who could become a Greymon who he and Matt knew oh so well, and who no doubt the blonde Tamer was right now trying his hardest to imitate.

"All aboard."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

So another much-delayed chapter arrives, and with university beginning on Monday, I'm afraid this might become increasingly common, at least until I can work out how much free time I'm going to have from now on. I'm as much in the dark as all of you are I'm afraid, so we'll see. But I hope this was an enjoyable chapter in any case.

Until next time…

B.C.


	42. Phase Two: Shield

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE**

**Phase Two**

_Shield_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Willis Price**

* * *

The New York morning beckoned as they were released from their compartment of the revolving door. Willis frowned as all hope of returning to upstairs faded, the floors streaming off away from them into the sky now seeming as impenetrable as they had on the day they had first arrived all those months ago.

They were outsiders again.

Jeff frowned at the two blondes, his face riddled with guilt. "I'm sorry guys, but I really don't want you to get caught up in all this. I can't promise anything, but I'd say you're a lot less likely to be arrested if you're not here when they arrive."

"But we want to make a stand against this Jeff…we're your friends, we've been a part of your organisation, we…"

"…are just kids," the older man interrupted Michael, looking even more saddened to have to put out the boy's fire. "You have your whole lives ahead of you, and I couldn't stand knowing that it was my fault they went down the pan. You're both going to be so successful one day."

"Who cares about success if it means not standing up for what you believe in?" Willis objected. As much as he could completely understand what Jeff was saying, he couldn't agree. He just couldn't. It felt wrong to be so self-interested right now, taking one's own personal safety over the safety of a group. "If we're arrested with you, then the government looks heavy-handed to act against us."

Michael nodded. "We're just kids, after all."

"I said no. Do you think this is a game?" Jeff looked more stressed than Willis had ever seen before, shocking to see from a man who enjoyed running a casual and relaxed firm and got the most from his employees by doing so. "This investigation could take months, years even, and if they find anything out about us, we are screwed. Hell, do you really think I've been operating by the book all this time? You're only here because I'm stretching some words a bit, and I don't think the government will see it the same way with all the crap that's going down lately. So I'm putting my foot down. Sorry."

Willis opened his mouth, but Michael's hand landed on his shoulder, the boy shaking his head. Was he giving in? Michael seemed like the last person to give in now; he was more hot-headed than Willis with this sort of thing, and he'd been fighting far more vocally and intently than Willis ever would or could.

"It's over," he said, as the sirens swiftly approached. Time was up.

"If by some miracle we survive this investigation intact, I'll contact you two again. But I doubt your Digimon will be so lucky. We'll have to start over."

An image of Coronamon flashed across Willis' mind, and he wanted to be sick. That poor Digimon, losing his life over…what, a mistake? An investigation? The government would never do such a thing to a human. The boy felt so angry at Jeff, even though he knew it wasn't the man's fault, and was tempted to run straight past him, but he couldn't do it to the guy.

"Get out of here as quickly as you can, and don't draw attention to yourselves," Jeff said, retreating back to the revolving door. "Goodbye."

"Bye."

"Thanks for everything," Michael added, the door clunking as the lock engaged, and Jeff vanished into the midst of the building. That was it.

Willis turned, it taking every ounce of his willpower to walk away from the place, not leaving much more of his mind over to concentrate on looking inconspicuous as they walked past the assembled FBI cars and agents. He took a glance back, telling himself that any human would, and gawped at the sight, as the agents rushed into the building, the commotion of it all stopping work on the World Trade Center site nearby as builders turned to watch.

SDCO was dead, and the whole world would soon know.

Jeff Newman, the ideal boss, would end up never finding a new job again, or worse. All the Monster Makers, those smart minds who had got their Digimon in the first place, would never be able to make their full mark on the world. And the Digimon, those poor creatures, would be exterminated before they had a chance to really live.

"Ugh," Willis groaned, feeling angrier than he had ever felt before in his life. "I hate feeling this helpless."

Michael turned, the biggest grin on his face, throwing Willis completely for a loop. And then he raised it, the blue object in his hand, a small magnetic strip running across its back, and the SDCO insignia printed on the front.

Jeff's keycard.

"Then don't."

* * *

**Suzie Wong**

* * *

"Wow, headache…" Suzie groaned, gripping her head within her pale pink sphere, before trying to shake it off. "Lopmon, I'm not feeling too good."

"I can feel it too Suzie."

"Another signal?" Rosemon suggested, coming down land near the pair, having just sent her whip flying through a nearby Scorpiomon. But as Cherubimon opened her mouth to reply, the sight of Rosemon's body being warped and stretched off to one side above made her stop in her tracks.

"What was that?"

"What was…wow…what was that? You went all stretchy all of a sudden there."

"Rosemon, it's happening to you as well," Lopmon explained.

"I know what it is," Suzie said, realising she alone knew what the bizarre phenomenon meant, as memories of the sky opening and creatures flying and screaming through the air flashed across her mind. Henry had explained more about it later, and about how Terriermon had been pulled towards it (a sight that was still bewildering for Suzie, given at the time she genuinely believed he was just a stuffed animal), but that was all well before Lopmon's time with them.

"Juggernaut," nodded HiAndromon, as out of nowhere he came to land next to them where they stood, fighting on the outskirts of town at one of its main routes in.

"You're alive!" Suzie exclaimed, although the sight of his data once again being warped and stretched left her with a certain unease as to those words. Behind him, the culprit was drifting towards them, dragging up Scorpiomon after Scorpiomon as it wafted towards the town. She had to pause for a moment to take the sight in, before she returned to the business at hand. "Are Kenta and the others okay?"

"They're fine. What about Jun and Henry's sis?"

"They're fine too."

"How can you two be acting so casual when that thing is coming towards us?" Mimi ranted suddenly, Rosemon waving a finger at the monstrosity in the sky.

"We've seen it before," Kazu explained. "I just wish I knew why it was here. But I think I could make a rough guess."

"That dastardly Rayleigh again, the fiend," Guardromon added, as if anyone needed any elaboration.

"_Suzie, this must be the Juggernaut. I've never this form of it before…it's so…horrifying."_

"_We can't let it get us," _Suzie agreed, before yet another headache played havoc with her mind. Even the horde Digimon seem to like it, the attacks having quietened down for a moment, although it could've just been that the appearance of another mega had caused them to re-evaluate their position. But were they even that smart?

"We have to make sure that Jaarin and Jun are okay," Palmon said from within Rosemon, and Cherubimon nodded.

"I'll stay here and hold the line," HiAndromon said, glancing to the now-advancing horde, the effect on their data doing little more than just making them even more savage. Fighting for their own survival. Suzie almost felt sorry for them.

"Be careful," Suzie said to the android, but he was already gathering energy from his shoulder turbines in his hands and launching it at the biggest concentration of Scorpiomon and Loweemon.

"ATOMIC RAY!"

They burst into data, and HiAndromon rushed forward, trying to capitalise on his efforts, but the sheer number of Digimon made it pretty obvious that it was a tall order.

"I think he'll be fine," Mimi noted nonetheless, impressed by the sight, as the pair of Mega level Digimon turned. Cherubimon's large form bounded along the relatively small streets, while Rosemon leapt rapidly from damaged rooftop to damaged rooftop, the brass funnel dominating the skyline now.

Finally, they stopped, finding Jun and Jaarin already at the opening of the building.

"What's going on?" Jun cried worriedly, raising her hand as it was elongated and contorted, her face bloated with queasiness.

"Suzie…is this the thing that Hypnos used three years ago?"

"Yeah sis…the Juggernaut," Suzie explained from within Cherubimon, before Jun interrupted it all by pointing between the two mega level Digimon to something (or rather, somethings) fast approaching in their direction.

Only one of them was familiar at first, although the fact there were three of them did ring a bell somehow. But in the palm of the one that was most familiar, a Greymon-like figure, were Matt, Gabumon and Impmon, the three hunched down and grabbing on for dear life. Impmon didn't seem to be having much luck with it, Matt holding his body down with a spare hand.

"Hey!" Matt called, as the warrior came to a stop and let the trio of Tamer and Digimon down. "Things just got a lot worse."

"You're telling me!" Mimi bit back.

"Who are your friends?" Jun asked, gesturing to the three large (and powerful-looking Digimon), all of whom had now touched down on the wrecked pavement.

"I recognise you," Suzie exclaimed, Cherubimon pointing a finger at the Greymon-like Digimon. "But I can't quite remember your name," she added, Cherubimon chewing that digit as Suzie forgot that her small actions currently controlled those of a far larger being.

"VictoryGreymon," the warrior replied, placing his hand on his chest. "And my allies: Dianamon and TyrantKabuterimon, but you will know them better as Crescemon and MetallifeKuwagamon."

"Sorry, I haven't a clue who any of you are," Jun called out.

"We are the Cult of Victory, a group fighting for justice in the D…"

"We don't have time for this!" Impmon exclaimed in irritation, leaping forward, but looking like even that took all the strength out of him. His whole body was covered in bruises, and he breathed deeply with everything he did.

"What happened to you Impmon?" asked Lopmon.

"These two had a plan that AncientSphinxmon outsmarted," Impmon said disdainfully, stopping short of actually blaming Matt and Gabumon for what happened. "Where's MarineAngemon and Kenta? I need healing."

"Oh, they're…actually…I don't know," Rosemon began, before chewing her own finger as she pondered. "HiAndromon didn't say."

"Oh great," Impmon huffed, before Matt stepped forward hopefully.

"I don't suppose any of you have got a healing card at all? We could really use one right now."

"Um…I have playing cards, if they help?" Jaarin said after a pause, the deadly silence making it clear that no-one had had any real time in their haste to escape to grab their cards. "I guess not."

"Uh, thanks, but I'm pretty certain we don't need no ace of hearts right now," Impmon said in his version of a polite rejection.

"Henry said it didn't matter what kind of card they were," Suzie disagreed. "It's all about what you wish for."

"Why do you just randomly have a pack of cards?" Jun asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I usually wind up using these with my university friends for a game of strip poker and drinking games, but I think saving our butts right now is a lot more important than losing what little cash I have." All those who were at university all seemed to nod in unison, although Suzie couldn't quite understand why.

"Strip poker?" Suzie scratched Cherubimon's head.

"So how does this wishing thing work?" Jaarin changed the subject, looking up to her (huge) little sister above.

"I don't know, Henry would just always talk about how he could get any card he wanted by simply hoping for it."

"I guess I'm not at home enough to hear these kinds of things anymore," Jaarin mused, as she pulled the card pack out of her bag. Henry's ravings about his ideas in the Wong household were almost as bad as their dad's. "Do you think it's worth a shot?" she held out an Ace of Hearts to Matt.

"May as well," he replied, taking it and raising it above his silver and blue D-Arc. "DIGI-MODIFY…Recharge Activate!"

With only fifty-one cards remaining in the deck, the card, now unmistakably your bog standard (but also burnt out) Digimon card, fluttering down to land on the cracked Bolton road. Gabumon, all the while, grinned, as with invigorated eyes he looked up to his (still worn out) Tamer. "Ready for another round?"

Matt clenched his fists. "Bring it on."

**BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION**

"**Gabumon Biomerge Digivolve to…MetalGarurumon!"**

"That's more like it," VictoryGreymon said, a hefty sense of pride in his voice as warrior looked wolf in the eyes.

MetalGarurumon's barrels flicked out for show. "I'll keep the pests at bay while you guys get that dish back up."

"Hellooooo, massive gaping hole in the sky Matt!" said Jun, exasperated. "I think we can leave the clean-up ops for a bit!"

"If we get the dish back up, we can get the shield working again, and we might just be able to save ourselves."

"But last time we were there, Datamon sealed himself in to try and fix the shield, and then he sent that signal…I think it's probably still broken," Jaarin noted.

"Then I'll fix it," Impmon pumped his fist. "'cause I sure as hell ain't sitting around being useless. If someone has to go and tap that data-brain in the side of the head and wake him up, it may as well be me."

"We'll come with," Suzie said, before the purple imp looked straight back at her.

"No way…this army of wackos isn't going anywhere, and they ain't really going to let you put that funnel back up without a fight either. I'll keep Jun and your sis safe, you just keep your mind on everyone else."

"Someone has to go with you," Mimi insisted, gesturing to the transmission station, still a reasonable distance away, even if the town was relatively scarce of foes now that the Juggernaut had driven them all out to 'take a peek'.

"He's right…we can't afford anyone else right now," Matt disagreed. "Impmon, you're in a really bad physical state…can I trust you with them?"

"Promise it," Impmon clenched his fist. "You just keep your mind on where you're aiming this time."

The metallic wolf visibly gulped at the memory. "Will do."

* * *

**Sakura Yuuna**

* * *

"I missed you so much!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed as she squeezed the Digimon tight.

"I was worried something had happened to you when the soldiers arrived," Floramon replied.

"So, still alive, huh?" Dracmon said dryly to Kohaku. "Am I in your will?"

"I don't have a will Dracmon, I'm seventeen."

"Hey, all I'm saying is that when you get around to putting it in words, you had better know how to spell my name."

"I don't even own all that much."

"I'll have whatever money you have."

"You _have_ whatever money I have."

"Will you two stop bickeri…wait…" Sakura began, turning to her partner with wide eyes. "What did you say?"

"About the soldiers?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, yeah, this bunch of army guys arrived and pointed guns all over the place. I could've cracked open their skulls like _that_ of course," Dracmon boasted, clicking his fingers. "But too much effort."

"Where did they go?" Kohaku asked, ignoring his partner.

"They're still there," Floramon replied, gesturing to the nearby clearing, out from the remains of the hideout.

Sakura glanced to Kohaku, before both edged subtly towards the opening along the path, keeping low in the bushes to get a closer look. Four soldiers, dotted about and paying such close attention they would surely be noticed soon. Eyes trailed across them, the girl feeling her heart seizing up in her chest as they made eye contact, that gun all too visible.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are Digimon!" shouted one of them finally, sounding frustrated and angered beyond belief. To her relief, he didn't look specifically in their direction, but was instead scolded by one of his teammates.

"Keep your voice down Trigger," he yelled, before seemingly talking to himself and saying "Lefty, any reports on the Digimon yet, over?"

After a moment of silence, it became apparent to Sakura that a headset was perched on his ear.

"I see. We'll keep vigilant for a bit more, out."

"This is the third waste of time today," said another of the four.

"Calm down, it's better than having to deal with one of those beasts," the last soldier said, his tone rather more mature and wise than the others.

"It's dull, that's what it is," 'Trigger' (undoubtedly not his real name) moaned.

"I wish I knew what we had to do if they actually appear," the commander, it appeared, said, a moment of unexpected nervousness from someone that Sakura thought would have been presenting a façade. "God only knows what we'd do with an army of them."

"We'll use a lot of ammo, that's what," 'Trigger' replied. "Stop being a crybaby, Bastard. We have the power…" he began, before putting the gun to the side of his head and staring down the sights, the barrel pointing right out at Sakura and Kohaku. She felt Kohaku's arm protectively go over her shoulder and the back of her head, ready to push her down. She wanted to tell him to stop and protect him too, but her arms froze. One bit too much attention, and they would be done for. "Now all we need is a damn good target."

"You sound like you want to fight?" the third soldier asked.

"Better than being jumped-up policemen. We should be kicking down doors looking for those Tamers, not…whatever the hell this is meant to be."

Sakura gritted her teeth, worried for Rika, and then for herself. They wouldn't make any distinction between them and the rest of the Tamers. Looking into Kohaku's eyes, a slight nod of silent agreement passed between them, much to Dracmon's chagrin, although Sakura was just pleased enough that he had stayed quiet. Once 'Trigger' had looked away, they inched back, ducking behind the protection of the trees as soon as they could.

A gunshot made Kohaku push Sakura to the deck instinctively, both frozen as they wondered who had been hit.

"Dracmon! Oow…" Sparks danced over Floramon as she reached out to touch his form, blue electricity lighting up the night, and stumbled back a bit. She was still far better for wear than Dracmon, who was paralysed on the ground, the bullet in his back.

"Dracmon!" Kohaku whispered, rushing over while Sakura's eyes flitted about, looking for the soldiers.

"YOU WILL STAND DOWN!" shouted a commanding voice through the clearing. "YOU WILL NOT FIRE EXCEPT ON MY ORDERS, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

She could see them through the trees, 'Trigger' practically hissing before he returned his gun to his side. "I saw something moving."

"You saw your own damn paranoia. Now move out before I reprimand you!" the commander finally said, gesturing over towards the entrance of the clearing and watching as the trio passed him, muttering as the misbehaved passed that "the public are in a rough enough state without random gunshots."

'Trigger', perhaps wisely, said nothing, but the juddering of his face towards the commander and back again gave Sakura the impression of a scathing look.

"Got it," Kohaku exclaimed, his voice a mix of worry and relief as the bullet landed in the grass with a soft 'plip'. The electricity stopped dancing, but Dracmon still lay flat, only a bit more movement in his form. "Are you okay buddy?"

"Lucky…bastard…let…me…at…him…"

"I don't think you can even stand in your state," Floramon noted, Kohaku rolling his partner over so he was no longer eating dirt with every word.

"Doesn't mean I can't fight." The imp was still fighting out every word. "God damn it Kuhako!"

"What? I didn't do anything."

"Everything…your damn fault. Always is."

"Thanks buddy," the boy said dourly as he scooped the helpless Digimon up in his arms. "I appreciate it."

Sakura frowned. "Let's get him back to mine before they spot us and we all have something to worry about."

* * *

**VictoryGreymon**

* * *

"METAL WOLF CLAW!"

The air gleamed with noise as a blast skewered a number of Scorpiomon and Loweemon, the sound of the horde below competing with VictoryGreymon's personal groaning, itself nothing compared to that of TyrantKabuterimon, and somewhat less disturbing than that of Dianamon. The dish was insanely heavy even for its size, still being only a short way off the ground after a minute of pushing from a triad of megas. Occasionally it would stretch upwards before resetting, giving the illusion that the presence of Juggernaut was doing anything to help them.

Data flitted past them as MetalGarurumon dealt with the horde, flying up into the Juggernaut above.

"It keeps getting bigger," Matt called out to them, the sounds of battle having a brief respite. "It's like its…absorbing them."

VictoryGreymon glanced over his shoulder down to the wolf. "We can worry about that later!" he groaned, before glancing across to his fellow Cult-members. "How are you two holding up?"

Their data was stretched just like everything else, hanging on for dear life to their own composition as much as they did to the dish. "The sooner this is done the better," TyrantKabuterimon bit.

"Oooaahhh…" Dianamon moaned, too focused for any actual words as the dish pushed hard into her wrists.

"ICE WOLF CLAW!"

As a missile, captured by Juggernaut, screamed past VictoryGreymon's head, he found himself unable to talk either. The data of the Digimon that the rocket's brethren had killed wandering past soon after, faster than ever before. Their time was running out, fast.

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

The gate creaked as it opened. The fastidious maintenance of her grandmother hadn't been undone overnight, however: rather, the gate itself was off its bottom hinge, a dent in it from a battering shoulder. She wanted up the path, past some kicked-down flowers, to her open front door.

The house was cold when she stepped in, not a single light on in the whole place. Catching a dim glimpse of herself, and her black hair, in a nearby mirror, she found herself appreciating it, but after she stood on a piece of cracked china she sighed, her hands glowing as she lit up the room.

"Bastards," she muttered, seeing the damage to her home. "Bastards!" she yelled, kicking the bits of the smashed tea cup into a nearby cupboard door.

No reply. The house was empty. She simply walked in the shadows of what once was.

Those same shadows moved in her light as she wandered towards the hallway, pausing at her bedroom with frowned concern, remembering the last time she was here, not even a day ago but a lifetime in her mind. The slot lay as abandoned as before, her cupboards sat open, and she grimaced as she knelt onto her futon.

Finally she fell to the floor, exhausted. "I'm done…"

"**Don't give up."**

"What's the use? I should hand myself over now." They had reached right into her life and yanked it away from her. Like a person mugged, her sense of personal security had been completely eradicated, along with any energy she had for doing anything, much less revenge.

"**I think you need to sleep."**

She rolled over, pulling herself up to put her head on the pillow. "Yeah…" she mumbled, yet something felt so missing about her midsection. She frowned ever so deeply when she remembered what it was. "Takato..." she mumbled longingly, remembering the simple things, like that arm she had lifted away to leave behind. The foibles of the Kabuki Village seemed so minor now that she was back in her own world, laying in a house so similar yet so very far removed from the World of Ideas on the other side.

Yet she still had so many questions swirling around her head. Juggernaut was Rayleigh's doing, right? If so, what was his plan? Would the others be grabbed eventually, and dragged back? It was a simple plan – their escape last time had been a fluke more than anything else, and the Brit was hardly going to fall for the same things.

She was the only one who could stop him.

She could turn off the system, and clear her name.

She could…

Be taken away to the world of dreams at that very moment, an insane world for her, yet one that would never even think of telling her that hidden within the cot nearby was a note, a note penned by a man she hadn't heard from in a very long while.

And it would certainly never tell her how much she would regret not knowing that…

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

Kenta looked manlier now than he ever had before. Ayaka didn't mean to pour scorn on him, but he had never quite been the most masculine of boys, even his voice breaking in puberty still not changing his personality enough from that well-intentioned but emotionally naïve boy. And yet, as Miki lay her head on his side in the bar, the three humans hidden from sight to the street outside, he for the first time looked like a 'bloke', his arm wrapped around her with an almost-Kazu level of masculinity.

"We'll be okay," Kenta mumbled to Miki, the girl nodding uneasily.

Ayaka glanced away, not dwelling on her own solitude as a third wheel to this situation long enough for it to bother her. MarineAngemon sat near a passed-out Starmon, the Digimon beginning to stir for the first time, yet the unnerving sight of his data occasionally being stretched leaving the girl at great unease. It was clearly not just an illusion, but she didn't have the heart to tell her petrified friends.

"Drink…drink…beer…" the pub landlord mumbled, his eyes beginning to open within the dark space at the centre of his form. Ayaka felt tempted to examine it up close, but it felt rude, as much as she was curious how precisely some of these Digimon functioned with body parts like that.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, MarineAngemon gently chirping the same sentiment.

"I…am…bar? What happened? What is…?"

"Ssshhh…" Ayaka hissed, putting her hand over his mouth, or at least where it should've been. "You're talking too loud, you'll get us noticed."

The Digimon looked uneasily around as he took the sight in around him, clearly trying to put two and two together. "Have you bought a drink? You can't sit in my pub if you haven't…"

"That's not important right now!" she sharply whispered. "The problem is…"

A crashing noise and a sickly clicking squelched into the room, a pair of bladed claws scraping over the bar as a massive Scorpiomon head peeked over, Miki screaming at the top of her lungs as it reached straight for her, its blade almost cutting her face.

Heart bubbles hit it, tossing it off the bar and smashing through the pumps on the way, beer gushing everywhere. A still-dizzy Starmon rushed forward and mourned it, while the arachnid rolled across one half of the pub, demolishing seats and tables as it went before finally coming to a standstill and disintegrating.

"You drop my pints, you pay!" Starmon exclaimed. Given how much he had been drinking earlier, his delusions probably weren't a massive surprise.

"We have to get out of here," Kenta stood up, pulling a frail Miki with him. Ayaka reached out for her friend, the girl clearly scared out of her wits by what had just happened. Tears dropped from a face but no noise left her lips, even as everyone else gave up on whispering.

"Where to?"

"Anywhere but here," Kenta said. "The transmission station! Maybe Datamon will be done fixing things?"

"Pipiiiiippiiiiiiii…" MarineAngemon sounded drained, as they turned to see his form being stretched upwards like a fabric.

"What's happening to him?" Miki asked worriedly, yet more fear inherent in her voice at the sight. "MarineAngemon!" she exclaimed as his body was subject to yet another contortion.

Ayaka found something far scarier, however. She and Kenta locked eyes, as both immediately realised that the situation was far worse than it seemed. He had never seemed taller than those brief seconds when he was being stretched up and to one side, and no doubt he was sharing the sentiment.

Saying nothing, he wandered to the door of the dark and damaged pub, opening it and staring up into the sky above.

"Oh this is so not good!"

* * *

**Kiyoyuki Nonaka**

* * *

The man lay on his bed in his hotel, staring up at the ceiling, while his phone sat on the side.

Nothing.

Nothing whatsoever.

He grimaced. Was it even worth trying? If he even found them, would they ever forgive him?

All he could think about as he looked about the darkness of the cold, clinical hotel room, is how much it didn't look a single bit like the home he had visited. He was tired of this life, and tired of running away from his past. But it didn't seem like it would ever let him get a break from it.

Turning over, he tried to go to sleep. But it would be a restless night.

* * *

**Jun **

* * *

"They did a number on this place," Jun exclaimed as they reached the door of the transmission station, while Jaarin visibly let out a sigh of relief at having made it all this way here alive. It had helped that the horde was a bit too distracted with saving their own behinds to pay too much attention to stalking them, but with plenty of the beasts driven berserk and attacking each other, they couldn't take anything for granted for very long.

The door, itself sealed up, was blocked in its bottom two-thirds by rubble, the transmission station itself having partially collapsed on it along with a nearby building. The sound of the dish being pushed up groaned over the town, no doubt drawing some of the fire of the horde. "Maybe we need some help," Jaarin mused.

"Screw dat, this'll be a piece of cake," Impmon insisted, taking a step back and running forward at the door, hands in the air. "BADA…"

The boom was provided by the door and the rubble, as he hit it too soon and too hard, rolling down the assorted bricks and glass to the bottom. His eyes had fallen shut, and he was making no move to open them any time soon.

Jun knelt down. "Impmon…are you okay?"

"Looks like he's old cold," Jaarin noted. "What do we do now?"

"Start shifting the rubble?"

"But the door's sealed…we need a…"

"METEOR SHOWER!"

"Get down!" Jun screamed, pushing Jaarin over and onto the concrete just as a whistling noise was followed by an explosion, Impmon's unconscious form landing nearby, no doubt even deeper into his knocked-out state by now.

Henry's big sister groaned as she stood up, brushing her grazed hands and looking to the source of the blast.

"You almost hit them you idiot!" Ayaka screamed at Starmon.

"Get outta my pub!" That quickly earned him a slap from the caramel-haired girl, and combined with his drunken slur and a badly-timed warp from the Juggernaut it seemed to knock him out too.

"It worked," Miki mumbled, her voice barely there, Kenta practically holding him up. MarineAngemon fluttered over to the prostrate Impmon, paying him more attention than the rest, who were distracted by where the door had once been.

Jun was first to wander into the dark inside of the transmission room, trying to see Datamon in the gloom.

He was right where they left him, in front of the controls, but he was on his back, his form integral enough to tell them he wasn't dead yet but the warping enough to remind them he probably didn't have long. His glass head was cracked, no shards left in its memory.

She dropped to her knees by him. "MarineAngemon, quickly!"

"Pipirupi…" The fairy darted into the room with the remainder of the group, Kenta dragging Starmon in while Ayaka picked up Impmon, neither much use right now. Hearts darted into Datamon, enough to wake him up and repair a bit of his glass, but so slow in their progress and small in their size that they served as a stark reminder of MarineAngemon's own exhaustion.

"I…tried…" Datamon mumbled.

"We can see you did…" she replied, looking to the shield machine nearby.

"It…just needs…power. And a few more tweaks."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Put…all those wires…against t'brass plate."

Jun lifted the wires, finding them to be cables more than anything else, and tried as best she could to make them stay against their target without any form of soldering. "Is that it?"

"Pull down the first…and fourth handles on the panel."

Clunk, clunk. Jun looked intently at Datamon, awaiting an order that was drowned out by the sudden scream of noise from outside, the sounds of battle.

Kenta rushed to the doorway. "Crap…we don't have long at all!"

"But all the Digimon are either too tired or knocked out!" Ayaka exclaimed.

"Then there's nothing we can do," Miki muttered sadly, as the predators drew closer and closer, Kenta stumbling back as a head and claws peeked in through the window, lips licked with delight at the sight. The purple-haired girl soundlessly screamed as she stumbled back against the far wall, spooked beyond belief as those hands tried to claw the opening wider, and increasingly succeeded at pulling the station apart.

Jaarin picked up a large brass hammer from nearby, and ran forward. "Take that!" she screamed, throwing everything she had (admittedly not much) into smashing it down on the Digimon's cranium. It stumbled a bit back, before going straight for her, grabbing at her leg.

"Jaarin!" Ayaka exclaimed, grabbing the girl by the hand. MarineAngemon quickly flitted away to deliver a heart to the Digimon, stunning his claw free but doing little else given the Digimon's current state. Jaarin fell onto her bottom, staring straight at the beast, as Jun could see its brethren piling up behind, all reaching their own claws in for a taste.

"How do we get power?" Jun practically shouted at Datamon.

"I could do it but I'm too tired…"

MarineAngemon was finding it hard to float by this point, dropping into Kenta's arms with an apologetic chirp.

"What can we do? Damn it Datamon, don't you dare fall asleep on me!"

"So…rrry…"

"No!" Jun exclaimed, but it was a lost cause, as the Digimon passed back into the world of sleep. "Please wake up! You're all we've got and I need you to WAKE UP!" she screamed at him, as a Scorpiomon broke into the room, barely missing Jaarin again as it swung its claw around, it becoming embedded in the wall. Another Scorpiomon pushed straight over it, not caring for its 'ally' as it caught the 'meat' of Ayaka in its eyes, crushing the handle of the brass hammer as it went.

"THUNDER BLASTER!" screamed a voice.

"DARK REFLECTION!" shouted another, as explosions sounded outside, one of them throwing the second Scorpiomon against a wall. The first went to complete his friends mission, but was grabbed by the tail by a GeoGreymon, yanking him back out of the building.

"HORN IMPULSE!" it cried, as the Scorpiomon was squashed flat by his head helmet, a hideous sight.

"Finally, some firepower!" Kenta exclaimed at the assembled Digimon of the town, visible to Jun through where the door's wall of the building had once been, now just a crumbled memory. How long would it be until the roof collapsed? "Thanks guys!"

"It is our noble goal to protect this town, and we are not so bitter as to allow you pass in the process," Mercurymon lyricized.

The GeoGreymon grunted in agreement, before the horrifying sight of two claws crashing through his stomach brought their happy moment down to Earth with a bump. He looked down, before he disintegrated, his data pulled away rapidly up into the Juggernaut above, Miki screaming in horror at the sight where she sat against the opposite corner of the room, paralysed by everything which was happening.

"No!" Ayaka exclaimed, but she was powerless to do anything. The horde was assembling, more and more of them surrounding the opening in the transmission station, and not just Scorpiomon. Someone had got the memo that this was the place to be, it seemed. They were just a tin of sardines to be gutted by a starving and scared cluster of cats.

"ROSE SPEAR!" cried Rosemon, swooping into view, yet she swooped backwards, firing her attack out onto an unseen foe. HiAndromon and Cherubimon backed into view with her, not so much their saviours as simply more sardines for the tin, the roster of Digimon outside vastly outnumbered by the ever-increasing horde. Even HiAndromon, one of the more recent additions to their side, looked worn down, his plates no longer glinting in the brass-coloured sunlight reflected off the dish.

"DARK OBLITERATION!" screamed the remaining Velgemon from above, while from the ground an array of Loweemon cried "SHADOW METEOR" as the lion head on their chests fired a blast of energy, all the shots crashing headlong into a weakened Cherubimon. She stumbled towards the station, putting her arms out to protect it before she fell apart, Suzie and Lopmon crashing to the ground with a bump near the girl's sister.

"Suzie!" she cried, rushing forward to grab the girl and abandoning her bag where she had been, inches from Jun, the girl transfixed by the broken Datamon below.

"You can help us…you have to help us, please…I want to help you! We can do this!"

If prayers did work, the Digital World would be the first place they would be answered. With those very words said, with all the emotion pouring from her heart, Datamon cracked an eye open, looking up at the girl, before he glowed with a dull blue light. Jun's heart beat with fright, but she found herself hearing it in her ears, so quiet yet somehow louder to her than the sound of Rosemon beating her final whip, Mimi and Palmon joining the refugees inside the rapidly-dismantled carton. Gone was the roof, and another of the walls, as rapidly it was reduced down to a skeleton, only the transmitter and the shield machine itself staying completely intact under the onslaught.

The blue light swept out towards Jun's hand, her instinctive reaction of fear turning to shock as she felt something appear out of nothing within it. Turning her hand over, she was greeted with the surprising yet familiar sight of a D-Arc, a mustard yellow ring sweeping around its screen as it burst into life.

"Mine?" she wondered, but somehow as she looked to Datamon she ran out of questions to ask, at least for now. Instead, she reached out for Jaarin's bag, grabbing it and yanking out her deck of cards, spilling them all over the floor but in the process managing to grab an Ace of Spades.

Images of what Davis had done on those odd occasions she had been caught up in a bioemergence flashed through her mind, as did that of Matt from only a few minutes earlier. Gripping the card tight, she reached deep down into her heart, eyes locked on Datamon's current state.

"DIGI-MODIFY…Recharge Activate!"

Light burst over him as his glass reformed, his wears smoothed, and he came to his feet, staring in shock at the girl who had suddenly become his Tamer.

"Quickly!"

"Right…I'll set the range on the shield, you need to get everyone over here. And I'm going to need some help from HiAndromon for this."

Jun nodded as Datamon began to throw levers up and down, valves hissing and whirring as the horde viewed them suspiciously. This was just too tight for timing. They would have to get together within seconds, or a blade would cut the machine, and their plans, right to pieces.

They needed to get this right first time.

They needed the whole group in one place.

Everyone needed to hear the message.

So it was good, therefore, that the girl with the loudest and shrillest voice known to all of Matt-kind was the one to deliver it to them.

"GET OVER HERE NOW!"

They didn't think twice, rushing over and dragging Starmon and Impmon as they went. After delivering a final stunning blast to a Cerberumon getting too close to the shield machine, HiAndromon landed by them, and hunched over the control panel, hands bustling with electricity.

"Ready?" he said to Jun and Datamon, the exposed panel of the device ready for whatever they could throw at it (or, at least, Jun hoped it was).

"Time t'blow the house down."

The air around them was ever-so-briefly sucked away as the pulse appeared around them and rocketed away, shaking the air and causing one or two buildings to collapse in its wake. The horde was washed away on a tidal wave of their own forms, carried up and into the sky in all directions, Juggernaut doing its own work from there on to pull them up into its grasp. Between it, the sight of the Digimon being broken down and dragged into the looming phenomenon, and that of the Cult and MetalGarurumon clinging on for dear life to the funnel as the pulse pushed it upright, Jun didn't have a chance to catch a breath anyway.

And then there was silence.

Followed by the most reassuring crack of lightning ever.

* * *

**Michael Washington**

* * *

The back door creaked as they opened it, clearly not having had much use in a while, but proving perfect for their 'access-all-areas' keycard. Michael flung it into his pocket with a grin before they headed for the emergency stairwell, only ducking periodically into an alcove to avoid a passing receptionist. Their footsteps echoed off the concrete walls as they descended, it being so much further on foot than it ever seemed like by lift.

"There it is," Willis said, pointing at the bulkhead as they stumbled into the corridor from before. One way in, one way out. They were going to have to be fast with this one.

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"I can't hold on much longer," Gabumon cried to Matt as the pair were yanked up into the air by the funnel, the teeth of the wolf being contorted beyond belief as he had to hold on with his mouth. The teeth gave in, and MetalGarurumon was tossed up into the air, heading straight for the beckoning Juggernaut

And landing, a few moments later and as softly as they could be, as Matt and Gabumon, back on the dish.

Silence. And then a crack of thunder. The jolt ran through the boy's hand, and he lost his footing, beginning to tumble downwards. Gabumon went to chase after, but did the exact same thing, both rolling down it and towards the pipe in the centre, the sound of turbines whirring up reaching their ears as the rain suddenly racketed down like it had never stopped.

Moments before they fell, a pair of large, orange hands grabbed the pair of them.

"You okay?" asked VictoryGreymon in a gruff voice. "You did well."

For the rest of his days, he would remember that moment as feeling surreal, like he was talking to a certain Gogglehead and his also-Greymon partner rather than what he knew he was seeing before him. But for now, relief simply swept over him. He was alive. They had fixed things. And, if the ripples of the edge of the shield between them and the vortex in the sky were anything to go by, Juggernaut wasn't going to harm them anytime soon, as much as it would try.

"Thanks."

* * *

**Jeff Newman**

* * *

"Flights for terrorists like the Monster Makers, an exorbitant amount on taxi fares, Yoga mats and LEGO…this place disgusts me in every possible way."

Jeff stayed silent, not wanting to feed the incredibly opinionated representative from the FBI, his agents swarming around the building and no doubt arresting all of his employees. They already had a list, and never was he more thankful than to have left both the children and the Monster Makers off the roll.

"Not a talkative one, are we?" The agent said with far too much pleasure for his own good.

"I run my operation in the way that best fits its employees."

"Without discipline, you mean. You're running a government department, not Google."

"If you're going to encourage the best minds to work, you can't lock them up in a grim office," Babel spoke up, the head agent looking towards him with a flat expression and speaking with just as level words.

"Providing a budget comparable to my organisation to such a small operation is completely unreasonable, regardless of what working environment it provides. If we are having trouble with the Digital World, we should be more direct in our approach. In any case, that is not my role today. Are there any other elements of this building which are not on this list?" the man looked down his nose and moustache, a slight smirk lifting a face which was just beginning to show its first permanent wrinkles. From stress or age, who knew?

"It is a full inventory."

"I am going to ask this question again, and in answering it you will remember that as part of the FBI, we receive reports on all Digital Activity in this city. Not trusting your department, we have set up a division to analyse them, and certain anomalies in how the reports say they have been dealt with have come to light. So I ask you again, and we can pretend you just didn't lie to me. Is this a full list?"

Jeff grimaced, conceding to the black-haired man. "On the ground floor, we have a project underway to use Digimon as a defence."

"It is good to hear the words from your mouth. Project Replica, correct? Oh, you shouldn't look so surprised."

"Elgar," the head of SDCO began, for this man, Elgar Stark, was not unfamiliar to him. "I am aware of your various projects too."

"But my department is not under investigation." The man clearly resisted a chuckle as he adjusted his black suit, turning as he did so to gesture to the door. "Now, with the rest of the world calling on you for information and being ignored, and our own government's concerns being ignored too, let's get to it. Basement, I presume?"

"Yes."

"Of course. How typical. Lead the way."

Jeff paused to glance at the Monster Makers, handcuffs already on them where they were sat on a few computer chairs. Clearly, they weren't coming with. He began to walk, heading for the lift, before Mr Stark spoke up.

"And I assume you have a method of shutting down this project should it go out of hand?"

The head of SDCO paused a moment. "Yes. Two levels of containment," he lied.

"Good. Tell me _all_ the details on the way."

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

"Wow…this place is going to need some work," Matt noted as he and Gabumon were put down by VictoryGreymon. Mimi ran up to him first and foremost, throwing her arms around him.

"Thank Christ you're alive."

"Yeah, I was pretty sure HiAndromon and Datamon were going to be the death of you there," Jun said more dryly, standing alongside Datamon in the 'building' that once had been the transmission station. But with one wall, transmission and shield equipment and the skeleton of the transmitter remaining, it was hard to still call it that. Thankfully the power station and weather machine too were intact, the machines now all whirring much like they had before all this chaos, albeit they were powering a rather more devastated city, water pouring out from brass pipes into the streets. It made Ayaka appreciate that the horde has been completely uninterested in any of the electrical equipment. Impmon, MarineAngemon and Starmon were asleep against all that remained of a nearby wall, unlikely to wake anytime soon.

"It was a close one," Matt breathed a sigh of relief, glancing back to the three mega Digimon behind him. "Thanks for everything."

A triad of nods met him, before Dianamon raised a hand curiously.

"So who are all of you? I don't think we've met. I am Dianamon, and this is VictoryGreymon and TyrantKabuterimon."

"Jaarin, I'm Henry's older sister."

"Miki," the purple-haired girl said, her voice limited and recovering, Kenta's arms wrapped around her for comfort.

"Ayaka Itou…we're friends of Kazu and Kenta…girlfriends, I mean." It still felt odd to say.

"Jun. Davis is my brother. Oh, and this is my partner, Datamon," she said, with no lack of pride.

Matt took a moment before he span round, raising both eyebrows in surprise. "Wait, what?"

The brunette grinned as she raised her mustard-yellow D-Arc, chuckling at the look on his face. "Yeah…now I'm a Tamer too."

"Oh…" Matt began, a cringing look on his face. "That's wonderful."

"Sounds it," Ayaka muttered to Miki, forgetting for a brief moment that the girl probably wasn't in a joking or bitching mood.

"Now I want to get involved in everything, and fighting, and all those things you always used to exclude me from and make me hitchhike for."

"Hey, that was just so you didn't ruin our alibi."

"Could you two be digging up any older disputes?" Mimi snapped.

"Yeah…we have way more important things to think about right now," Kazu said, pointing skywards to the Juggernaut, lumbering overhead as it sucked at the shield ceaselessly. It gave Ayaka the chills to look. She just dearly hoped it would stand up to such punishment. "Like that thing. Are we stuck here until it goes?"

"I guess so," said Gabumon.

"Then you can help us rebuild until you're all sorted out," Wizardmon 'suggested'.

"Plenty of hands doth plenty of work," agreed Mercurymon.

"Hey, you didn't even have to suggest it," Kenta shrugged. "I think we owe you a bit."

Ayaka eyes twitched away in guilt, still feeling like this whole calamity had been her fault. As much as others (including Kazu) were involved in the whole affair and as much as she knew she couldn't have known what would happen, the weight of the various deaths, not least of that GeoGreymon, would hang on her heart for a while.

"First of all we need to try and contact the others again, see if we can find out where they are," decided Matt.

"Datamon," Jun said with a smile, obviously lapping up the appeal of having a partner now. The Digimon nodded, wandering over to the transmitter and beginning to push at various buttons.

"What's the message?"

"We're okay and in a town in the Northern Region, and we'll make our own way back if we have to," the blonde man dictated.

"And off goes t'electronic post. T'bandwidth is a thousand times better now."

"Maybe it's because of the Juggernaut?" Jaarin suggested.

"Possibly the only good thing it's done," TyrantKabuterimon scathed, looking skyward.

"Whatever it is, I reckon we could send images and…"

One of the valves on the machine let out a whistling sound, all eyes looking curiously at it before the ultimate level began to pull at various levels and twist a few knobs.

"Well would you look at that," he tapped a dial, its needle as far right as it could go. "Huge transmission. Someone's trying to get through to us."

"Maybe it's the others?" Mimi said eagerly.

"Or Ai and Mako," Ayaka heard Impmon mutter hopefully, but clearly he didn't think it was very likely. The poor guy.

"I'll pull it up on the telly."

Above, gears began to turn and steam began to hiss as the screen, much like any other screen but surrounded by an array of mechanical equipment making a fair old racket, lit up, words fading in on it along with images, images that no-one had expected to see at that moment.

Not least Ayaka.

"What is that?" Suzie called out, Jaarin quickly forcing a hand over her eyes. The caramel-haired girl froze, while to her right, Miki stepped forward, forcing herself free of a speechless Kenta.

"Is that…Chiyo?"

"The Murder of Chiyo Suzume," Jaarin read off the screen. All the images were in full colour, even if that colour only helped to increase the impact of the gory sight before their eyes, the slight blurring of the 'mechanical' screen only providing a light amount of relief.

In one, a body on the floor, the gun in a brunette's hand, the shot from off to the side but showing practically everything there was to see.

In the next, blood pouring everywhere, seeping down through cracks in the paving and being soaked up in the grass of the park. A close up of the glazed eyes, the wound, the bullet lodged therein and the screaming agony on her face. These images weren't all from the exact same time, but together they painted a truly horrible picture, making the words down the side on one of the screens almost completely unnecessary.

**The Murder of Chiyo Suzume**

**24th October 2010**

**If you are reading this, then someone has dug too deep, and you have left me no choice but to show you and the world the wrongdoing that has transpired. This collection of images shows the dark side of your Tamers, the people you rely on so much to keep your world safe, even when they have twice killed humans in order to do so. The Tamers who are backed up by the Japanese Government, a government so afraid of genuine justice and a true solution to the problems that the Digital World poses us that it prefers to fund a group of potential rogues, simply out of its own fear. This situation benefits no-one, and if we allow it to continue it shall kill us all. So I have acted to destroy the Tamers once and for all, and to have them tried for their crimes. Humanity will never need to fall back on the monsters that seek to destroy us again. The governments of the world have failed to protect us, but I will ensure that humans never again have to pretend that murder can be justified.**

Ayaka tried to say something, but she couldn't. Her mind raced back to a pair of conversations with Kazu in a time that now seemed prehistoric.

* * *

"Uh…what…what's this about?"

"I'm…I'm just a bit concerned."

"About what?"

"You."

The gaze and grin both dropped, Kazu's head falling to stare at the table for a few moments. Ayaka watched his reaction curiously, pondering whether to keep talking or simply wait to see if he would be the one to do so.

An uncomfortable look on the boy's face was replaced quickly by an unconvincing bewildered one. "Uh…why?"

"This whole Chiyo thing…you don't seem to be that okay about what happened."

"I don't want to talk about it."

* * *

"You had to watch a crush die in front of you! A girl who hated you like a lot of girls so you're now scared that you'll never get anyone, and, I know that being you, you are never going to admit to any of this at all if I don't ram it down your throat like this," Ayaka quickly said, throwing out words she would never had said in a tactful conversation. It wasn't exactly the best method of getting him on her side, but right now it was probably her only method. "…right?" she asked, her voice unusually timid.

Kazu froze, staring towards her, before closing his eyes, breathing in deeply and falling back into the seat. His gaze quickly flew skywards, before he finally looked back down to her.

"Yeah," he sighed, pressing his hands together and planting them on the table. "Nice to know I'm _that_ transparent," he said with a hollow grin.

* * *

She looked over him in the present day, the boy as frozen as most of them were, the bloody images on the screen hypnotic, grisly but no-one looking away for very long, whether they knew the full story or not.

* * *

The girl's face went to avert again, before it looked up to confront him. "Not like that!" she insisted. "It's just, Kazu, you've been a wreck these past few days but you haven't even talked to anyone about it."

"Oh come on, it's not like I could tell you all anyway."

"Why not Kazu? You've got tons of friends, and we're all here to help. Why don't you talk to us?"

"Kazu?"

Kazu sighed after his long silence. "I really can't say."

"You can. I'm your friend Kazu, you can tell me anything."

The boy frowned, sighing yet again as he looked down at his hands, still clasped together on the table. He lightly shook his head, going to open his mouth before she quickly interrupted, knowing she was losing her chance.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier…and, ever…with the insults, I mean. I just thought they were a game, and…"

"They are a game," Kazu replied with a warm smile. "And it's yet another game I rule at," he quipped with a chuckle. Ayaka simply rolled her eyes, giving a content sigh as she repressed a smile at the cocky boy. "Listen, that's not what's bugging me now, so, you know, don't feel guilty and all Ayaka."

"Then what?"

"It's about Chiyo," he mumbled, looking sadly down at his hands again.

"Aw…Kazu," Ayaka said, a sympathetic look flooding onto her face. "We all miss her," she said, gently placing her hand onto Kazu's linked ones, rubbing her fingers across his skin.

* * *

He had changed the subject. He had sounded like he was lying about it. He had acted odd, and it had lingered on his mind for so long. Why hadn't she noticed it was all a bit too odd? Had she just assumed it was all to do with it being a crush?

In the gunshot picture, a red D-Vice sat on the wrist of the assailant. In another picture, Kazu was visible off to one side, amongst others.

"Kazu…please tell me you weren't involved in all this. Please tell me you didn't!" she wailed.

"Kenta?" Miki said timidly.

"I didn't do it," Kenta mumbled.

"What the hell happened?"

"We had to cover it up," Kazu bit, looking almost angered by it all. "This is not what it looks like!" he ranted towards the others, Suzie, Jun and Jaarin looking as shocked as the rest of them what they saw. Did Suzie not even know?

"Wait...is that who I think it is...with the gun?" Jun's voice was laden with worry that she was right.

"Yes, it's Ryder, okay?" Kenta shouted out finally, the pair of boys receiving the most flak. "I wasn't even there…" he mumbled afterwards, yet it was a lost cause.

Ayaka felt livid, wanting to punch Kenta there and then, something novel, and Kazu too, something age old. Her mind was red with the thought of it all, in complete disbelief about how they had been kept in the dark about this. One of their schoolmates had murdered another, and he had covered it up. They had all been there at the funeral. They had taken DarkBiyomon in. And all that while, as they put up the pretence that they too were victims of it all, it had all been their fault.

They had _all _covered it up. Just how deep did this rabbit hole go?

"You said she was killed by a Digimon! You bastard! You…lied to us all this time…you…you…" Miki cried, before her words broke up. She made a beeline for the exit. God only knew what was going through her mind, as those who had saved her two seconds ago were now turned on their heads.

Ayaka took a step after her friend, pausing only to glare straight into Kazu's eyes, her mouth ajar until she realised she couldn't even put into words what she felt right now. The boy's face was a mixture of anger and guilt. All this time she had thought he was simply missing her, but he had been there when it had happened. He had helped keep it from them. How dare he cry to her about it!

The boy who couldn't die had killed a friend of hers. The boy she loved had helped keep it secret. But one thing made it worse, worse than anything else in this whole sordid affair. They had all been in on it.

They were only in the Digital World because they believed the Tamers were just, and couldn't possibly have killed the PM: the Tamers would _never_ cover up a murder, let alone perpetrate it themselves.

Leaving the 'building' and ignoring Kazu's shouts, she raced after Miki, an eventual glance back to him and the group hoping to have been deluded simply filling her with loathe at all of them. It was just…sick. And she had to escape.

Her world was falling apart around her.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

And so, finally, a new chapter. Sorry for the huge wait people, have really had no time while I've been at Oxford. Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've made it my aim to finish Phase 2 within three chapters, which is a tall order, but should hopefully make me be concise in my writing and do things well rather than having massive slow-downs as we've seen a lot in the past.

I have, on a burst of inspiration, written a Christmas story, and I'd love to publish it, but it contains several massive spoilers for the ending to this Book. So, as a result, don't be surprised when I put it up in the middle of Spring or so.

UPDATE: Make that four chapters. I've just planned it out, and I can finish this Phase in four chapters.

Until next time…

B.C.


	43. Phase Two: Searching

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. And you may have seen an earlier version of this chapter (or received an alert): apologies, but some things came to light that needed to be rectified so I took it down again.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FORTY**

**Phase Two**

_Searching_

* * *

**FRIDAY, 13****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Kohaku Souta**

* * *

"He seems okay," Kohaku sighed, as he stepped away from Dracmon, sleeping soundly on Sakura's living room couch. Mentally, he felt like he should be making some snide comment about it being better with him silent – it's the comment the demon would've made in his situation, after all – but he instead found himself worrying.

So much for Digimon always being more powerful than humans.

"Good," mumbled the girl, frowning deeply and speaking softly, her eyes flicking briefly to Floramon, lying on the other end of the couch. How long had she been sleeping for? "We have such crap luck, don't we?"

"Compared to a soldier with the luckiest shot ever, yeah."

"I think we're just cursed. All our dates end like this. Horribly."

"I…don't know…"

"Huh?"

"I sort of enjoyed it."

"Your partner got shot."

"Up until that."

"Our dinner got interrupted."

"Yeah, but romantic dinners and all that…is that what really matters?"

Silence.

"Okay, maybe they matter a bit, but tell me you didn't have fun?"

"Yeah, yeah I guess I did. And Rika with that hair…"

"Yeah, she looked so stupid."

"Well…actually, I quite liked what we got done so fast. I just wish I had more time: I should take it up as a career."

"With our luck, your shop would burn down."

Silence again.

"Sorry Sakura, I didn't mean…"

"Don't worry. It's fine. It's just a coincidence anyway. Things won't keep happening like this."

"Yeah…but I still can't believe how far we've gone as a couple without having our first date."

"Yeah…" Sakura mumbled, before Kohaku felt her hand grip his, stroking across his fingers as she did so. "I don't suppose…you want to go further, huh?" she said softly but nervously, her eyes flicking across his face as if she were breaking some law. He had nothing to complain about, his mind pausing for a moment on how beautifully they were framed by those pretty blue locks either side before it truly registered what she had just said.

"Oh. You mean…?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I would…if you really want to?"

"I do," she clasped his whole hand, a slight smile creeping onto her face, one he wanted to admire but instead dampened as he drew in for a kiss. She paused him with a wider smile, putting her finger on his lips. "Just…can we keep it quiet? I don't want to wake my parents."

"Parents? What about Dracmon?"

Her mouth dropped into a flat line.

"Don't kill the mood."

He chuckled uneasily, stepping towards her bedroom, but pausing as he went to glance back to Dracmon, a frown crossing his face as it reminded him of the reality of this all.

In amongst all the cheeriness and attempts to make the bad seem good, his friend had still been shot. With their usual battles it always seemed so abstract – he would still on occasions look at Dracmon and be in disbelief at how he looked, much like when one began to notice the noses on people around them or became conscious of one's own breathing. But he'd seen so many action movies in his life, and walked by so many police in his life feeling he should be guilty for some unknown reason, that now they were after him the fear felt so real.

He glanced to Sakura, the girl looking as cutely uncomfortable as ever with things like this as she sat on the bed and crossed her legs, uneasily beckoning him.

What if she got hurt?

What if he got killed?

What if they lost a partner?

"Kohaku?"

As one half of his mind dabbled in sexual fantasy, the other dabbled in the horrible reality smashing down on it as he realised just how much his new life, and this girl, and hell, even Dracmon, and how much he never wanted to lose any of it.

And how much he so easily could, all thanks to the actions of a selfish group of arseholes who he was so falsely associated with now.

"Coming."

Damn Tamers.

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

Fittingly, night fell as she ran after her friend. It swept as rapidly across the land as it supposedly always did, plunging the rapidly re-flowering meadows into darkness, every individual petal pulled up towards the Juggernaut but the majority resisting it thus far.

"Stop!" Ayaka called breathlessly as Miki reached the edge of the shield, the girl practically skidding to a stop when reminded of the huge danger presented by stepping outside. She turned to face her caramel-haired friend, her face a picture of shock, fear and anger in every inch.

"How…? Why…did they do it?" she bawled, tears practically pouring off her face. Ayaka, finding herself bordering on tears too (for she would never let herself admit she was also crying), pulled Miki into her arms, both not even able to talk about what they had just learnt.

"I can't believe them."

"They don't even seem guilty about what they did."

As much as it was a throwaway comment by her best friend, it rather struck a chord with Ayaka, and not the one she would've liked right now. Her tears ceased for a moment as her mind ticked over the past few hours, remembering all too well that slip that had murdered dozens of friends and countless enemies. All those lives lost, simply because she couldn't balance, which in itself was simply because she had been too stubborn to let Kazu go up alone. Or was she too obsessed, obsessed with a boy she now couldn't stand to look at.

"Everyone was right…mum was right…being friends with Tamers is a bad idea."

Everyone had been angry with her too, as much as they didn't like to say it. Everyone had blamed her group too.

But she hadn't murdered someone on purpose, or directly. How could she even begin to compare with what had happened to Chiyo? What _had_ happened to Chiyo?

The sight of blood in those images, the gore of it all, flashed across her mind, the mind of a girl used to most horror films suddenly feeling queasy at something that was 'below' the vast majority of them.

"I hate being trapped here! I was nearly killed!" The Scorpiomon in her face must've had a massive effect on her. Ayaka wasn't surprised: she hadn't been right next to it, and it has still shaken her deeply with its horror. Without MarineAngemon's intervention, Miki would surely be dead by now.

"Come here," she uttered softly, hoping to calm her friends' shaken nerves as she opened her arms, pulling the girl into a hug.

"I just want to go home…we don't even need to be here, we're not involved. I hate Digimon! I don't want to see _Kenta_ or _any_ of them ever again!" Miki increasingly screamed into her shoulder, Ayaka resisting the urge to cover her ears. She knew what it was like to be this angry. Hell, it was probably only for the sake of supporting her friend that she hadn't been driven into a similar rage.

"Ayaka! Miki!" Kazu shouted out to them at the worst possible time. Ayaka felt Miki's fingernails drive into her skin.

She took a step to one side, greeting the newcomers and their partners with a glare while gently removing Miki's hand before it caused any more pain.

"Don't go through the shield – it's too dangerous!" Kenta warned, the pair wisely keeping their distance.

"We're not stupid!" Ayaka shouted. Her blood boiled through whatever second thoughts she'd had once she saw Kazu again. How could he lie to her like that for so long? They were friends, weren't they? "And I don't think Miki wants to talk to you right now."

"Do _you_ want to talk?" confronted Kazu.

"Not to you," Ayaka bit back, although on second thoughts she didn't know why. She wanted answers too. What had happened to Chiyo? But there she was again, being stubborn and locking horns with the boy who had poisoned her life.

She trusted him, and he'd been nothing but a pain to her since childhood. She reached out and gave him a lifeline when he started to get feelings for her, and didn't just swat his hand down like Chiyo had. She felt…sympathy for him. She felt he had another side, something honest and responsible, the guy who would save a child from being hit by a car or would try desperately to contribute to saving his town, something deeper than the jock-headed jerk-a-minute front he always seemed to have to her before.

And all he had done is broken whatever trust and faith she had ever had in him.

Arsehole.

If he wanted to explain, he'd had every chance.

So he would explain on her terms instead.

Besides, right now all he would do is lie to her, and she couldn't take any more cover-ups. God only knew how she'd deal with the next time she saw Ryder.

"Miki…" Kenta barely uttered the words for all the pain he was clearly in. He was the nicest guy in the world, he was kind and honest and had simply had to put up with the overbearing of Kazu all these years…what the hell had Miki been talking about? He was no better. And Miki was hardly world-hardened like she was (although something at the back of her mind called it a vice rather than a virtue)…she would take this even worse. Kazu had the potential for being a jerk…Kenta never seemed as up to it, except as a buddy-act.

"Pipipi…" MarineAngemon sunk onto Kenta's shoulder, patting him sympathetically before he jumped into the air again, startled by an unexpected outburst.

"Go to hell both of you! I don't ever want to see you two again!" Miki hollered, her feet pounding as she ran away, thankfully along the side of the shield and not straight through it.

Guardromon jetted down in front of her. "But Miki, you could be in all sorts of danger out…"

"Move!" she shoved the rust-bucket, the Digimon responding with an off-put "oof" as he turned to face his partner uncertainly.

Kenta took a step forward, but Kazu put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I think we're only going to make things worse."

"Damn sure you will," Ayaka attacked.

"But I need to talk to her," Kenta pleaded, turning his head back to his friend. "We have to make sure she's okay."

"I'll go. Don't you dare follow," she spat, taking a step towards where Miki had gone.

"I didn't tell you because I knew this would happen."

Her heels met the floor again, and she twisted back on the path to face Kazu. She tried to ignore the attention they were drawing from a few random Digimon, drawn out of the town by the commotion.

"Rayleigh threatened us into silence…but I knew this would happen…I knew you'd blame all of us…I just didn't want it to…happen…that's why I didn't say. I wanted you guys to be happy and not have this all on your mind like we've had to have."

"Bullshit! You aren't that smart. You were covering your own arse!" she said in the most spiteful of tones, a white-hot glare into his eyes.

"Of course I was! Wouldn't you…?"

"Ayaka…please can you stop Miki doing something rash!" Kenta interrupted, his hands together in a heartfelt plea. At least, that's what Ayaka thought he was intending. Nothing the pair did seemed genuine anymore. Did he really care that much for her well-being, or was he just afraid of his first girlfriend ever going down the drain so fast?

Were she and Kazu still an item?

She shook her head sharply, before nodding when she realised she was giving out the wrong signal. "I will. Now stay here and don't either of you _dare_ follow me."

"Thank you," Kenta bowed. Was he crying? The bitter side of Ayaka's mind said that he had better be, before it followed that thought out with something she knew would really hurt the other boy.

"And Kazu…we're through. I bet Miki thinks the same about cry-baby there too." It felt so good, and yet so guilty, to let out her anger like this. Before she could let their subsequent expressions prey on her, she turned, heading after Miki as fast as she could.

Deep down, of course, she had known for the past few minutes that she had already lost the girl. She just needed that moment to get back at the boy who had made the last twenty four hours simultaneously the worst and the best in her life.

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

"I agree with him…he didn't have a choice. It was either that, or Mari would be dead now. Chiyo killed Ryder already; she was deadly serious."

"Why didn't I ever hear about this?" Suzie asked, looking up to Matt. Amazingly, she wore an even more suspicious and incriminating expression than Jun and Jaarin, even after their reactions to the previous comment. Matt felt rather deserted, even with Mimi behind him, feeling like he was standing up to a riot, or playing the most dangerous game of devil's advocate.

"I don't know…I thought Henry would've said?"

"He didn't…stupid brother…keeping me in the dark…_again_," Suzie huffed, crossing her arms. Jaarin paid her an uncertain expression, before Matt was distracted by more of the Junish Inquisition.

"But murder?"

"There was no choice. And if we hadn't covered it up…"

"Ryder would've gone to jail…justice would be found for anyone involved…isn't that…right?"

"Rayleigh would've made our lives even worse than he has now."

"Huh?"

"Rayleigh didn't give us a choice. He made us cover it up."

"But you didn't have to go along with it!"

"He tied us up in so many knots, what other choice did we have? Hell, at least this way we had the government on our side. Look what's happened now without them. We've been kicked out of our own world! Don't you remember the WikiLeaks stuff? Last time I checked, governments aren't a fan of people breaking their secrets to the world."

"Don't you have any principles? A girl lost her life…if it were someone on the news you'd be calling this a travesty."

"She attacked us!"

"So does every mugger in the park if you're not careful, it doesn't give you the right to kill someone!"

Jaarin put her hands in her pockets, clearing more indecisive than her former fellow non-Tamer. "Wait…Jun…I don't know if we're making the right judgement here…the number of Digimon that have died at the Tamers' hands."

"Yeah…we've never had to face humans before. We've never had to make that choice, not until these Demons started showing up," Gabumon explained. "They are dangerous."

"So are the government," Palmon noted with a dour edge. "Everything here is new."

"I guess…having to make a snap decision like that for the first time." Jun seemed to be leaning towards understanding.

"Well…" Mimi let out with an uncertain voice. Matt glanced to her, having a feeling he knew what she was thinking. "It's not exactly the first time…"

"What do you mean?" Jun raised an eyebrow.

"Ryder killed a Demon before," Matt explained. "Taiki."

"Wait, what?"

"Taiki was going to destroy the city, maybe even the world, and he'd already killed enough. The government covered it up."

Jaarin chewed her lip. "Officially it was a terrorist attack…possibly. Or a gas fault. Or a Digimon attack. Or several of the above. Actually, I do remember it being odd that that whole thing just 'fell' out of the news."

"So Ryder shot him too?" Suzie asked.

"Yes," Matt confessed, seeing Jaarin looking uneasy at Suzie's involvement in all this, practically going to cover her ears. Why did her family seem to repress her so much? She would have to deal with things like this one day, surely? T.K. sure as hell never had such an easy ride. _"Hmm…haven't called him that in a while." _

Jun looked appalled. "But Taiki was going to kill so many…but Chiyo…she always seemed like an angel on the news. Her parents dead, her…"

"Jun, Chiyo killed her own parents," Mimi explained. Matt knew that Mimi was more reserved about all this than he was, the girl abhorring violence even in the old days when their enemies were clear cut, and their friends were reborn in primary village.

"They died in a gas leak, didn't they?"

No reply.

"Oh."

"We still don't have any way of dealing with them. Unless one of us turns out to be an Angel tomorrow, we're safe, but people like Ryder…they're the first targets."

"Ryder?"

"Yes?"

"Ryder who _can't_ die?"

"…yes."

"Then how on earth can he be a target? What are they planning to do to him?"

"Most people don't know," Mimi said. "Who says the Demons do?"

"Look, I'm not saying what he did was right or wrong," Matt began, wanting to avoid going off down a dangerous line of reasoning. "And I'm not saying that we should've gone along in covering it up. But last time I checked, the media aren't exactly our biggest fans, and neither are the government. Hell, if all this crap now happened after what _didn't_ really happen, what do you think would happen if people found out about what we _actually _did?"

"Stop arguing!" Suzie put her arms out to block Jun and Matt, probably the most convinced of their points of view on their respective sides. "We're meant to be working together as a team."

"I don't remember us being a team," Jun asserted.

"Huh?" Matt sounded surprised.

"I'm a Tamer now, but there are loads of Tamers. Hell, I don't remember the last time I heard Davis hanging out with most of you guys," Jun folded her arms across her chest. "I can see why you did what you did, but that doesn't mean I like it."

"But you won't pass it on?" Mimi asked, her palms together.

"I can't promise that. Not with my guilty conscience."

Jaarin gripped Jun's hand from behind. "Think what would happen to your brother. To all of us. I don't like this any more than you do, but…Matt, how many Demons are there?"

"Nine."

"There's nine of them?" Jun sounded startled. "And you're going to kill all of them?"

"We don't know!" Matt shouted, before quietening down once Suzie glared at him again. "I mean, unless we can turn them to our side, or imprison them in a way they can't get out, I really don't know. Taiki could destroy things at will, and Chiyo could seduce anyone into doing her wishes…and they were just kids."

"And we had the government on our side to keep things secret too," Mimi noted, frowning. "Matt, do you think…?"

"It's possible."

"What's up?" Gabumon asked.

"This file is out…who else could have it? If Rayleigh knows _this_ about us, then what else could he leak?"

"What, there are _other_ secrets? What other freaky games have you all been playing at?" Jun asked.

"Ryder's immortal, we have angels in our group, Rika and Takato _are_ gods…Digital Watch could circulate all that around the world in seconds, let alone governments," Matt explained.

"So I'm part of some club now?"

"Look, it's your choice Jun, but please…please make it the right way."

Jun closed her eyes, clearly at great pain about the whole affair. When they reopened, she still looked torn. "Fine."

"Um…excuse me?"

Matt turned, looking up before he could even let out a sigh of relief, and seeing VictoryGreymon towering over with a curious expression on his face, a quite comical image given his size.

"I don't suppose you could all…explain a few things."

"Like what?"

"Everything that you're talking about."

"What's the real world like?" Wizardmon asked.

"What is this government thing?" Datamon poked Jun in the leg.

"We're going to be here a while," Mimi massaged her temples.

* * *

**Miki Nakajima**

* * *

Her breath was all she heard, her mind blocking out the cries from Ayaka from outside the half-fallen building. She sat against a wall in the gloom, her tears sinking into a shattered brick, while her mind cried much louder over the same memories.

Scorpiomon, looking her right in the face.

Kenta and MarineAngemon saving her.

Chiyo's expression in class, her depression and sadistic happiness darting from one to the other.

The bloody images on the ground.

The horde sweeping over the city.

Running for her life.

The D-Reaper.

The pain on Jeri's face.

Kenta kissing her.

The bullet hole in Chiyo, making her want to throw up.

The images repeated again and again, drilling into her mind and overloading her, her hands clasping for a grip on the roughened floor.

She couldn't trust anyone.

She couldn't be involved in this anymore.

She had to go home, before something else leapt out at her, before more people and Digimon got hurt…before her friends murdered her too…

Ayaka's voice faded as she passed by, yet the noise barely even reached Miki's consciousness.

She was too lost in her own despair.

* * *

**Jeff Newman**

* * *

"Then where the hell are they?"

Jeff looked about the dark chamber, bewildered. The open bulkhead door had stumped him enough, and reaching into his pocket he found his card key was missing. But it was not the most conspicuous absence, for Elgar Stark, like even the simplest of minds, had noticed that the two tubes in the centre of the room were empty. And open.

He raised his phone up, calling into the building's communication system. "Lindsey…can you check if…?"

"**Lindsey isn't here,"** came the voice of an agent. **"She's handcuffed still."**

"Let me talk to him!" he heard her cry in the background. "Jeff, the door open light is flashing! And there's a light saying that…"

"I know," Jeff said, seeing movement in the corner of his eyes and sighing.

"This is shocking…think of what would happen if we hadn't turned up." Elgar was clearly lapping this up.

Jeff sighed, before, almost under his breath, noting that "you're the reason why this happened." He spoke up, looking to the movement behind a nearby machine. He turned up a lighting panel on the wall, two pairs of human legs manifesting in the corner. "Michael…Willis…what the hell did you do?"

"Children? Children?" Elgar wondered as two humans stepped out, looking guilty and apologetic. "You never mentioned…"

"What the hell are you two up to?" Jeff ignored the man he was already sick of.

"Don't just interrupt me like that," Mr Stark snorted.

"Sorry…" Willis apologised, hands in his pockets like a child.

"And stealing my keycard…I don't even know how to say how disappointed I am."

"We had to save them!" Michael insisted, the familiar shape of Betamon now atop his shoulder.

"Well…wait…where's Coronamon?"

Willis span round on his heels, before at the corner of the room a new voice cried: "CORONA FLARE!"

A burst of fire soared across the room and the tubes, glass smashing to pieces and metal warped while the lights burst on and off erratically, before settling at a dim gaze, not helped by the smoke now emanating from burning equipment.

"Oh, this is so bad for you," Mr Stark looked like he was salivating. Jeff wanted to punch him, but soon enough Coronamon went straight for him, doing the job himself.

"COROKNUCKLE!" A flaming fist flew forward.

"FIRE!"

EMP-charged bullets threw Coronamon to the wall, the two agents with guns behind Mr Stark clearly pleased with their effect. Jeff wasn't sure where to look any more, chaos erupting as an array of rookie-level Digimon set about causing as much damage as they could.

"**Jeff…Jeff…" **cried a quiet voice from nearby, somehow reaching his ears amidst the erupting noise, bullets shooting everywhere. With a cry, Willis had run to his partner, while Michael and Betamon glared viciously at the agents, Jeff throwing his hand up in an attempt to temper the boy's clear urge. He just hoped the Digimon would be more understanding, as he raised the phone to his ear.

"What's up?"

"**The system…it's back on…but…"**

"What?"

"**You have to get out of there! Now!"**

"**Give me that!"**

The call ended with a beep, while Elgar stepped over to Jeff, looking deeply angered. His men continued to shoot randomly, the occasional flicker of electricity in the dark telling them that a bullet had hit its intended target. "What's going on up there?"

"**CONTAIMENT LEVEL TWO ACTIVATED," **rattled the PA system on the wall. **"PLEASE EVACUATE."**

A scraping noise reached Jeff's ears, before the sprinkler system burst into life, attempting to douse some of the Digital Fires that had launched (but being largely unsuccessful in doing so).

"What is this?" Elgar snorted, the head of SDCO turning around to see the bulkhead door beginning to close.

"Containment Level Two…but…how? Who activated this?" Jeff's eyes widened, before his phone began to chatter away in a familiar yet recorded voice, giving him his answer.

"**Guess who. Guess who. Guess who. Guess who. Guess who. Guess who. Guess who."**

"Evacuate, now!" Mr Stark cut through the air with a sharp hand. Jeff swung his head round, looking for Willis and Michael, his fear for the pair overriding his own want for survival in the din that had erupted in the room.

Willis was kneeling over Coronamon, trying desperately to get a bullet out. "Nearly…there…"

Jeff rushed over to them, crouching down to talk. "You two, we have to get out of here, now!"

"He's nearly got it…oh…" Michael began, his whole expression changing when he saw the closing door. How distracted had the pair been? "Willis, come on…" he grabbed the boy's arm, just as he freed the bullet and stopped the electricity dancing over the Digimon's form.

"Come on," the blonde grabbed Coronamon's arm, while Betamon gripped onto Michael's shoulder.

Coronamon snarled, whipping his hand free from the boy.

"Come on!"

"We have seconds!" Jeff cried, looking to the door as only a thin crack of light remained, legs behind. A head peeked through, the deplored face of Mr Elgar Stark.

"I told you this was dangerous."

And then he was replaced by a thud in the now-darker laboratory.

"**BULKHEAD SEALED."**

Michael ran to the door, prising at it for a moment before he realised it was hopeless. "No…no…no! Open it now!"

"Level 2 cannot be disengaged for 24 hours," Jeff stood up, looking about in the gloom. "By which time they'll have cut us to bits."

"No they won't, they're…""

"ROWDY ROCKER!"

A crack spread across the lab's floor as Jeff stepped to one side just in time, the far wall splintering when it hit. Both boys cried as they did similar, the dust thrown up taking a while to settle.

"Wild. Wild Digimon Michael. Even yours…"

Coronamon was already gone, vanished into the gloom to join his brethren, Willis reaching out pleadingly with his palm. "Coronamon! Come back! Please!"

"No loyalties, no control, no nothing…this is why we wouldn't let them out of here."

Michael looked up to Jeff, the man feeling so angry at the boy right now, only slightly eased by the card key held out to him which he took with a grimace. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry."

Jeff reached into his pocket, replacing the key and drawing out the two Digivice iCs, the improvised devices taken eagerly yet guiltily by the two boys. "If we can't control this somehow…we know what will happen."

"Betamon, you ready to…?" Michael began, infused with enthusiasm all of a sudden, which died so quickly once it became clear that the Digimon he was calling to had too vanished into the darkness of the laboratory, shadows creeping in the few lights that remained on as snarls and giggles filled the air.

"We're alone," Jeff drew a gun from his pocket, cocking it as the two teens looked on, transfixed by the horror of it. "This isn't going to be pretty."

* * *

**Jun Motomiya**

* * *

"Did you find her?" Suzie called hopefully up to Kazu, Kenta and Ayaka as they returned, the caramel-haired girl a few paces in front of the others.

Heads shook. "I really don't know what to do," Ayaka sighed.

"We're going to have to stay here for a while. We can't leave with the Juggernaut up there, and I think all need some sleep. Miki will too…she'll come back…" Mimi said hopefully, as she lay down a blanket on the floor. The group was building a makeshift camp in the middle of the town near the transmission station, Wizardmon and the others being extremely generous given that this was all their fault, while nearby Datamon, Garurumon and the triad of the Cult of Victory were already helping with the rebuilding work. Starmon had already vanished off back to his pub, while Impmon stayed out for the count.

"In one piece?" Kazu asked worriedly. "I think we need to look for her more…"

"She won't go to _you_," Ayaka bit viciously.

"Well she sure as hell didn't come running when you cried either."

"Stop arguing," Suzie cried again.

"Suzie, stop shouting!" Jaarin scolded.

"But everyone keeps falling out and we can't afford to."

"I'll go and look. You guys can stay here, calm down and sleep," Jun finally stood up, Datamon nodding and scuttling over to her. "I'm not part of your group as much, so she won't get all horrified at me, and I have Datamon for protection."

VictoryGreymon turned around, having repaired a particularly precariously perched wall, and stomped over to them all. "Matt…I am going to go out there and follow the Juggernaut," he said, pointing upwards to where the edge of the 'vacuum cleaner in the sky' had just about passed the edge of the town's shield, having given up on trying to draw up all the data contained within. "I want to investigate what it's up to."

"Okay," Matt nodded.

"If you're doing that, then I'm going to fly ahead and warn anyone in its path," Dianamon fluttered over to him, landing graciously.

"And I'll just stay here and keep building…" TyrantKabuterimon decided, in a voice that Jun expected to be discontented but oddly sounded quite happy. Did he enjoy building at this time of night? God only knew how easy it would be to sleep now!

"Just be careful…all of you," Mimi said, looking around to Jun, who nodded, clutching her D-Arc in her hand.

"Will do."

* * *

"MIKI! MIKI! IT'S JUN! PLEASE COME OUT FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE!"

Jun paused, frowning before clearing her hoarse throat. "This isn't getting us anywhere," she sighed as they turned randomly into another alley, no rhyme or reason to their searching beyond avoiding routes blocked by rubble. God forbid she could be trapped beyond them, but Jun didn't know where to begin looking if that were the case. They'd already passed Starmon mourning his pub, at least until TyrantKabuterimon had arrived and offered enthusiastically to help.

Datamon had been silent this whole time, until the brunette finally looked down to broach the important question to him.

"So…how precisely is this going to work?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean, how are we going to be…as partners?"

"How do t'ey normally work?"

"You're like my friend but you fight any Digimon who try to kill me."

"Seems fair. You're a squishy bag of flesh anyway. You mess up constantly and are so selfish you nearly destroy towns."

"Thanks?"

"Any time deary."

"Deary? You know what, never mind," Jun replied, still unable to place his accent even though she suspected she had heard it somewhere on TV before. And was he being sarcastic or not? "I can't wait to show you to Davis back home."

"To who?"

"Davis…he's my brother, and he's had a Digimon for years. I just can't wait to see the look on his face."

"Where does he live?"

"With me, in the real world. You…you do want to come with, right?"

"If that's t'plan."

"Well, I think it is. You don't have to, but it'd be totally awesome if you did. But…if you want to stay and maintain the transmitter and everything…"

"Are you kidding? 'tis the dullest job in t'world, I'd jump at t'chance to do something different."

"Aren't the Digimon here would be relying on you to get messages for them?"

"We never have messages now that t'equipment's all broken. And don't think any of you did much good for it with all that damage."

Jun put her hands together, and resisted the urge to glomp the Digimon with both arms. "Great! We're going to make a great team."

"Aren't you meant to be calling out for that lass?"

"Lass? Oh, Miki. Oh, right…yeah…MIKI! MIKI! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

* * *

**Impmon**

* * *

"Ugh…my head…feels like I went fourteen rounds with Indramon again…" he moaned as the world blurred back into existence. "Are Ai and Mako okay?"

He looked up, seeing Mimi, and the whole reality of his situation smashed back into him. "Oh."

"Are you okay Impmon?" she asked worriedly, almost cradling him in her arms.

"Yeah…I'll live. I just want to go and find Ai and Mako already…I'm sick of getting side-tracked."

"We'll find a way home," Matt said, before frowning. "And sorry."

"Sorry?"

"For injuring you before."

"Yeah, our bad," Gabumon agreed, rubbing the side of his head with a sheepish expression.

"Don't worry about it," Impmon said, feeling irritated that he was worse for wear as a result but knowing that he would feel just as guilty and hopeful for forgiveness were he in a similar situation. "Wait…was I knocked out by head-butting a door?"

"I'm afraid so," Jaarin nodded.

"Oh for the love of Goddramon…" _"I need you Ai and Mako, I really do…"_

* * *

**Willis Price**

* * *

What had they been thinking?

"Work damn you, work!"

"Willis…I think you need to step back," Jeff suggested forcefully, as Willis' eyes flicked between his Digivice iC and Coronamon, encroaching on him without fear.

Had all that friendship been for nothing?

He jabbed randomly at the buttons on the improvised device, it making a collection of beeps but doing nothing much whatsoever.

Jeff put his arm in front of the boy, forcing him to retreat as he was pushed back. "The devices _won't_ work yet."

"But you said…" Michael began to object.

Putting his back to the wall, Jeff frowned. "We said a lot of things! You all expected so much progress, we had to."

"Great, so we're in a corner and these stupid things are useless."

Michael's iC hit the floor in anger, before it decided to continue that and emit a high-pitched squeal, forcing Coronamon to cover his ears.

And Willis, Jeff and Michael too. "It's working…in a way…" Willis claimed.

A microphone-stand smashed through one of the tubes like a hammer, blowing them to smithereens. "NOT GOOD MUSIC!"

"Crap," Michael mumbled as the Shoutmon approached.

"ROCK DAMASHI!"

Jeff and Willis dove for a nearby wall, while Michael dropped under the musical note-shaped burst of energy and grabbed for his iC, the squeal disabled with a jab of a random button. Jeff grabbed his hand and yanked him aside, away from the increasingly-rehabilitated Coronamon

"Move it!"

Willis glanced around, his heart sinking as he realised the trio had decided to stand in a worryingly narrow place between two machines, the darkness illuminating the glowing end of Shoutmon's microphone stand even more as he drew it back.

"Stand back," Jeff said sharply, reaching into his jacket and pulling forth the last thing Willis wanted to see right now.

The black metal of the gun glinted while it clunked as Jeff turned a dial on it. "What are you doing?" Michael asked.

"ROCK…"

The bullet smashed into Shoutmon, contorting his horrified face and sparking up waves of electricity all over him, before he burst into data.

"That's where the funding goes when we don't make progress. I'm sorry."

His words had to sink so much deeper than they first appeared. Every Digimon in here was assigned to someone, and as Willis saw the dinosaur's expression he imagined the tears of sorrow and pain on the face of the pool girl who was a proto-partner to him.

"Right now we don't have a choice. And I don't have enough bullets. We're running out of options, and if we don't think fast we will probably run out of air. I don't think those fires are helping anything."

"Then what do we do?"

The horde of Digimon seemed to have been driven into a frenzy by the death, even though they gladly absorbed Shoutmon's data. Willis, in the gloom, saw the barrel of the gun fly up again, held outward as Jeff gritted his teeth, on edge the whole time for the end that could come at any time. But that was not the most horrifying thing, for something far worse occurred to Willis in that moment, something which left him paralytic with fear.

The man with all the answers had no answer.

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

"I didn't have any luck, sorry."

"It's okay. I'll go look for her again."

"You need to sleep."

"Shut up Kazu!"

Jun frowned, hands in her pockets dejectedly, but it was only a fraction of the dejection in Kazu and Kenta's eyes. Ayaka forced herself to ignore it lest she sympathise with the idiots. "I looked all over…I hope you're more successful, but I just don't know where she's gone."

"I'll help you," Kazu said, standing up out of his makeshift bed, a pair of blankets on the ground, and putting out an arm.

She swatted it down, the commotion already stirring a few of the others who weren't already asleep. Behind it all, the white noise of trickling water emanated from the pipe, the turbines whirring softly as they generated the power for a town that no longer needed most of it. "I said no," she sharply whispered.

"Fine," he crossed his arms, sitting back down on his 'bed' but still not going back to sleep. She turned, wandering away from the group into the darkness of the town after bidding adieu to Jun.

She left it two minutes before finally turning around and confronting him, Guardromon nowhere to be seen.

"Why are you still following me?"

"Because I want a chance to explain myself. Please!"

She grated her teeth, wanting to be so angry with him, but the look of desperation on Kazu's face finally made her sit down on a pipe and cross her arms. "Fine. I'm listening."

"I didn't mean you to find out…I mean, I didn't mean to fuck things up."

"See, Freudian slip."

"Well of course I didn't want you to find out."

"Exactly."

"Because you'd react like this."

"Of course I did – you covered up a murder!"

Kazu ran his hands through his hair. "I just…what would you have done?"

"Me? I would've at least told someone who was close to me. Someone who trusted me so much to _expect_ me to be honest with them…I would've told them."

"But you really _wouldn't_ have."

Ayaka crossed her arms tighter. She told herself that she was being honest but knew she was unnerved by Kazu's exposure.

"Ayaka, you act all tough, but you'd be just as scared as me. Ryder killed two people and…"

"Two?"

"Uh…"

"Who was the other one?"

Kazu's head sunk. "Taiki…the first Demon."

"When was this?" Ayaka grated her teeth, her anger reawakened. This wasn't the first time? She'd talked herself thus far into being more lenient on Ryder, believing there had to be some explanation that wasn't as brutal as what she conceived, but…it was worse?

"Remember when all those buildings collapsed?"

"Yeah…wasn't it a terrorist attack? Or a gas line explosion?"

"Taiki had the power of destruction, and if we hadn't stopped him, he was going to destroy everything."

"Everything?"

Ayaka's disbelief that such was actually possible was shaken by Kazu nodding, raising an eyebrow. "What would you have done?"

"I…I would've locked the guy up."

"He could destroy anything."

"Then…then…fine. But Chiyo wasn't like that. Hell, she could get anyone in range gagging for her…she did it for you enough…but she wasn't a monster!"

"She was a Demon…she told us too. But she was fooling us when she said she'd changed…she destroyed Takato's parents' bakery, she turned all the girls on the guys they loved, and…well…she seduced people. It was her power."

"Did she use it on you?"

Kazu's eyes dropped. "I fell for her on my own."

As much as she hated the boy right now, Ayaka didn't want to drive the nail home. She had seen this boy drown in that crush, a boy who (and the caramel-haired girl would never admit this) she admired for his cocky confidence and self-assuredness. Chiyo kicked him to the ground repeatedly, and Ayaka had heard enough of Kazu's whining about it to be certain it wasn't just his imagination. The girl had taken the mick.

But she didn't deserve to die.

Did she?

Kazu's hands wiped down his face from his forehead. "Look…here's what happened. Chiyo shot Ryder dead, and she was going to kill Mari before he came back to life and shot her."

It seemed reasonable, at first glance. But…Ryder couldn't die. Death meant nothing to him. It irked her to know that fact now, and she found it hard to believe even when she had seen it with her own eyes.

"Seeing her die was the worst feeling possible…" his head sank further.

She frowned, giving him a moment's pause before her curiosity knew no bounds. She needed answers as to what really happened. "Is that everything you saw?"

"No. It's what I heard happened."

"And you believe them?"

"Yeah."

"The same people who are making you cover up this horrible secret?"

"We're honest with each other Ayaka. We couldn't get by otherwise."

"And I'm not part of that?"

"Sorry…but…you don't have a Digimon…and we only just started going out. There's no way I could've told you."

"Fine. Nice to know I'm a nobody," Ayaka said, standing up and walking away as the conversation took a turn for…well, exactly what she had expected and suspected all along. Without a Digimon (or programming skills), a person wasn't important to them. They were out of the group and out of the loop.

"Ayaka…wait!"

"Why the hell should I wait?"

"Because I didn't want to have to break your trust…I was just being an idiot and covering my own arse and I'm sorry. After what happened with Chiyo…I really didn't know what to do any more, and everything in my life got tied up in knots with having to keep quiet. I couldn't tell anyone what happened…but I was still so close to telling you so many times. I always stopped because I didn't want you to hate me. I thought I could get away with it, I thought I could tell you some time in the future once we were together and happy and you wouldn't leave me over something like this, but that time was never going to come. I was stupid Ayaka, and I'm sorry."

Ayaka spat, shaking her head in disbelief. Who did he think he was? "So you think that's all you have to do?"

"Is it?"

She stepped forward, her shoulder sinking. Why had she chosen Kazu? Why Kazu of all the people in the world?

A drip. She was crying? No, it was him…right?

It was both of them.

"I…I don't know Kazu."

"I want to try again."

"And you think you just get that chance? This isn't some card game. And you don't get points for boasting or win…you have to do things right from the start."

"We only just started a few hours ago…"

"But we've been friends for the best part of a _decade_Kazu! This is nothing to do with love," she pressed through tears. "This is about trust. I thought I was part of everything you did but it turns out you were just fooling me all along…I hate you!"

"But you don't…Ayaka…you really don't…"

"I…" she gripped her fists for a moment, before they dropped open. Who was she kidding? She looked into those eyes, blurred with tears, or was it hers? This was the closest thing she'd ever had with anyone. This was the first time she'd had anything like this, and as much as he boasted he didn't have much better. "I…know…"

"Then why do you always say you do?"

"I don't…"

"All you ever do is put me down like I'm an idiot."

"Be fair…you _are_ an idiot…

"T…"

"…that's probably why I really like you."

"What…?"

"But we're not going to work. Kazu, I just can't trust you again now that…"

"Please," he pleaded, planting his hands on his shoulders and looking into her eyes, the tears on his face now plain to see. "I don't want this to wreck this."

Why did the simple things like this, like what they always really wanted deep down, have to come with so much attached? Why did everything between the pair of them always seem like a struggle?

Why did she bother?

If she tried, she could probably find a normal guy, without a Digimon partner or blood on his hands. Someone who wouldn't be a jerk, and who would put up with her moods, and her quick temper. Someone who she could trust, and who…

Would never walk into her life.

How was she going to meet anyone now anyway, especially such an imaginary person, any time soon? University seemed so far off, and yet also seemed like the perfect reason to call both devil may care and screw the whole world.

It couldn't come fast enough. A chance to get away from the mess she was mixed up in, a chance to get away from idiots who lied to her and betrayed her trust, and who treated her like an idiot too. Because no option was no reason for the worst option.

A chance to get away from the tainted Tamers, the group she had felt like a part of throughout this whole trip, even without a Digimon, but whose name now brought a sickly feeling to her stomach.

His hands reached up and wiped a tear away, as she did the same, desperate to avert her gaze but not bringing herself to it, each of their hands settling on the side of each other's face.

This, before her, was the monster she had made in her mind. But it was Kazu, a hurt, crying Kazu desperate to change. She just couldn't make the images match up.

"Wait…" she finally forced herself to say, dropping her arms. "What are we…you…doing?"

"But…you were doing it too."

"Only because…I…"

"Only because what?"

"Because…I…"

What was the answer? Why was she being such an idiot? What did she even want? Was she willing to go for someone who didn't trust her just because he was there? She'd never in her wildest dreams want that, so why was she accepting it now? Even if he was the only guy alive, he didn't…

"Oh."

Unfortunately, it wasn't her or Kazu who said that.

Miki, after a glimpse of wide, hurt eyes that Ayaka would never forget, turned and ran away from the pair of them as abruptly as she had arrived.

"Wait!" she reached a hand out, but her friend was silent. She snapped herself free of the boy she had been so stupid as to have been fooled by, but he grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait, we need to talk…"

"Not now!"

"You can trust me now! I won't lie to you again! Honest! Please, I want to talk!"

She was close to covering her ears to hide his shouts after her. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when Miki turned a corner, ducking down a thinner alleyway and running as fast as she could away.

Ayaka followed, thanking God she didn't couldn't look back and see Kazu's face any more. His evil…probably quite hurt and really desperate face, the face of a boy she knew she had fallen for so hard…

"All Kazu has to do is stare into your eyes for a bit and you lose everything you stand for, huh?"

She stopped short, finding Miki glaring straight at her in a way she found more unnerving than the worst looks from her parents, Rika and Chiyo combined.

"What? It's not like that!" she cried, finding her voice still tearful and weakened as she wiped the drops off her face.

Miki's cheeks were raw from crying, yet the anger made her skin flush differently, her knuckles white with the rage of betrayal. "I thought you were the one person I could trust here! I came looking for you…"

"You can! I am!"

The irony hit her like a truck, knocking down whatever defences she had put up against Kazu's words. Miki was leaning on her as her only support in this world, trusting her so much, maybe even more than Ayaka ever had with Kazu, and she'd broken her trust by sleeping with the enemy. Metaphorically, at least for now.

Why had she done it? Was she that desperate? Or that suggestible? She hated the idea of being one of those pretty girls who did whatever their 'man' told them to, the horrid servitude and brainless idiocy of it all, any objections swatted down with bullshit. But all she could think of now, after the fact, was how close they had been, what they were heading towards, and why she hadn't just slapped his hand away. Now he just had something to use against her. Her knuckles clenched, wanting to hit him in the face.

Was she being cruel? But he was being so stupid! Was she? Even if it wasn't, this was all so fast. Did he love her, or just want her because she was there and he had no other options? Did he even know what love was? Was he that desperate too? Did he…?

"You're not even listening to me Ayaka…"

She snapped out of it again.

"I just want to sleep…I am so tired, and nothing around here is comfortable."

"We set up a camp." Ayaka found her words weak and flat as she gestured over her shoulder. "Are you okay around the others?"

"If they don't talk to me." Miki began to walk past, but paused for a moment, the sheer bitterness in her voice a stark reminder of that rare emotion that few others saw in her (former?) best friend: anger. "And if you want to fuck Kazu, please go somewhere else. It's horrible to watch betrayal."

Ayaka swung round on her heels. What did Miki think she'd seen?

* * *

**Rayleigh Thompson**

* * *

The spherical gateway shimmered as it dropped a pair of figures, one tall and human and the other short and bird-like. Looking back, Rayleigh could see the laboratory on the other side, before the portal shrunk into non-existence.

Smirking, he turned to his partner, clutching his PDA; the tool which would bring an end to this extended saga.

"_Carpe diem."_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

And so another chapter bites the dust. Two left in Phase Two, one of which will be a two parter. There's so much left to happen between now and Phase Three. Including a surprising ending to Phase Two. But I doubt you'd expect anything different from me.

Also, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! As little as this chapter has to do with Christmas, that is. I would publish the Christmas Extra Dimensions story I wrote, but it's a bit depressing and with far too many spoilers to be done yet, so it will have to wait until this Book is done.

Until next time…

B.C.


	44. Intermission: Some Alternate Universe

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

**Note: As you may have guessed, this is an April Fool's Day chapter, but since it borrows heavily from the next chapter you might spoil your enjoyment of it by reading the below. I've kept it here for posterity's sake. I've changed a few bits now to make it clear this isn't cannon, those who read it originally will remember how convincing this was. Enjoy!**

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FORTY-ONE**

**Phase Two**

_Slaughter_

**April Fool's Day Cutaway**

* * *

**SATURDAY, 14****th**** MAY 2011 (OR SHOULD THIS BE: 1st APRIL?)**

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

"So…this is what a morning after is like, huh?"

She was on top of him again, albeit without the passion or the energy of the night before. In its place sat bliss, her knees down his sides as she simply stared into his eyes. Those brown orbs transfixed him enough to ignore the itch of her dangling hair, flicking ever-so-slightly across his skin as she breathed, her chest moving only a fraction of what he remembered.

"It's nice."

"You look amazing."

MiniDonmon and DarkRenamon were nowhere to be seen, the latter presumably ensuring both of them gave their Tamers some personal time.

"Was I as good as I look?"

"Hey, that was going to be my question…only less boastful."

"Well…" Mari laughed as she planted her lips against his again, a moment that would leave any observers gagging. When they finally broke free, he couldn't stop smiling, the reality of what had happened only a few hours prior still not fully registering on his mind.

"I guess that means 'yes'."

"Once you had got my bra off, yeah. And avoided shooting yourself with my gun. Still…we'll have plenty of practice at it…" she whispered, gently squeezing his legs together with her thighs as she nibbled his ear.

"Why not now?" It sounded alluring in his head; in reality it sounded like a whimpering puppy. He would've slapped himself in the head, were doing so not to involve most likely slapping her too.

"Because…" Pushing herself up to kneel over him, she placed her hand on the side of her hip, and glanced down to her flat stomach. "We don't know the first thing about how conception works in the Digital World. I don't think we should push our luck until we have some kind of protection. And till I've had a test."

"Yeah, probably wise." At the back of his mind the Id couldn't help but be disappointed. Still, for that most primordial of urges there was the sight before him, something hard to appreciate in the sweaty darkness of the act. This was Marie Flynn in the flesh, a girl oozing confidence, control and kindness in everything she did, a girl who had given up so much just to dissuade his doubts. Still…no doubt her personal desires had something to do with it too. The diary, after all…

"Ryder…" As that uncertain err escaped her mouth, she regressed back to that worried little girl back in JFK, one with neither confidence nor control, the Mari he first met. Back was the forced confidence, a visible lump in the throat, and an uneasy question pursed from paled lips as she fought desperately for her own significance. "Did that prove it? D-did that prove I'm real?"

"Well, I never imagined it to be like that. So, I guess so?"

Her face dropped at receiving anything but a straight 'yes'. "So in spite of all my moans, all those sensations, every inch of my body pushing against every inch of yours…" she uttered breathlessly as she leant her torso down onto him again. Her breath returned with a bitter vengeance against his cheek. "In spite of everything I did, everything _we _did, I'm just…a wet dream!" she spat, shaking him. "A wet dream from an empty shell for you in your stupid coma. Isn't that right?"

"No, no, no, definitely not!" He forced down those memories of how she had once been his 'dream girl', and how she had once been exactly as she said. Amidst all this, he decided not to ponder how she could be before him today, and certainly not to mention the fact to her. "Look, you know how obsessed I can be with these things…but…that did more to prove anything than anything…anyone…else ever has. I don't know how anyone could do more. I mean…uh…thank you."

"Hmph. Nice Ryder, nice. Call a whore next time." She averted her gaze and rolled off him, retrieving her knickers from alongside the wall as Ryder let his head fall back to the bed in despair.

What the hell was his problem?

He rolled his head on the pillow to look to her as she wandered back, trying to keep his mind on subject as she dangled the pair from her finger and let her nostrils flare. Ungracefully, she planted her nose to her armpit in the blink of his eye, oddly not affecting his admiration of her one bit as it spread her grimace even wider. "Don't suppose this place has a shower or anything?"

"I don't think so…oh god, three dozen humans' worth of body odour. Hardcore computer geeks especially. We need to find a way home before we can't breathe in this place."

"Ugh, even worse…thank Sakuyamon for the flowers." A cringe crept up her spine, and her eyes briefly met the ground. She knelt to pick up the diary, frowning at its cover and draping her underwear over her knee while she bundled it into her bag, and then did the exact same with the frame.

There it was. His guilt again. How could he do this to her? How would he feel? She had lost everything, he was practically her family, and he was casting her aside as unimportant. He had been lost in that obsession before, not least with Ivy, and he knew how much it gripped and dominated your every act, how every word about another, or even about any interest that could even remotely diminish from what you felt, could throw you into a horrid loop into hell. But denial of existence? He felt like the biggest arsehole in the world right now, and, given the size of the Digital World (and its population of arseholes), that was saying something. No wonder Mari longed for those simpler times again, even as she outwardly tried to bury them deep.

He wanted to say something…he had to say something…but it stuck in his throat, leaving him simply staring at her form as she slipped her knickers back on. She grimaced down to him, sighing, but said nothing.

How could there be nothing in there, nothing in that body, in that head, in that mind?

But that would be exactly how it would feel, how a dream would feel, real as you live it, perhaps even on purpose. A dream trying to sustain itself, a dream trying to…

Stop it. His mind yelled at itself, as in real life he pushed himself up and out of the futon, dearly wishing for another 'him' to punch. As she plucked the familiar shape of the gun and holster from the floor nearby and strapped them to her leg, he stared on and hoped for but the briefest of instants she would twist round, firing. A trip back to death. Maybe a chance to work things out?

But she wouldn't do it. Death could mean losing him for good, death could mean the end of her, death could be permanent. Death was the closest he got to life.

If he was right.

He sighed quietly. He had never expected this to happen, any of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, none of it. This seemed impossible given that barely more than a year ago he had been in a dull ordinary class, staring at the blonde locks of the girl in front and hoping she'd turn to him for one moment, hoping she'd pay him a bit of attention. Now…now he was practically rejecting the hopeful attention of another.

How times changed.

She took a step towards him, the slightest flick of the eyes bringing an even slighter smile to the edge of her lips, before she pressed them against his. "Look…" She put her hand on his shoulder, and he swore that she pinched him for a brief moment, ever so gently. "I'm sorry about the whore thing. I'm sure I am much better than one, and besides, I should know better than to expect you not to overthink everything. It's just who you're always going to be," she said despairingly, her eyes flicking skywards. "Not that that's a _bad_ thing necessarily," she insisted. A lie if he ever saw one. "Now, I'm going for a swim or something before I wind up stinking. Once you're willing to believe I'm not an invisible pink unicorn, we'll talk."

"Look, I'm really sorry…"

She put a finger on his lips. "Not again."

He nodded. "I just need space to think." And to somehow reconcile how, even after those acts which matched so perfectly with the advice of both The Priestess and MiniDonmon, he still failed to believe this was all real. He had done something different, and something he had never done before. What was still to find out?

Everything.

Stupid rationality. Always spoiling his fun.

"Good." She crouched, picking up something from the floor with a mischievous expression. "Fancy old watch of yours?" she cocked an eyebrow, as Ryder gazed over the pebble-sized item. "Wait…I've never seen this before."

"Me…neither," Ryder mused, but for some reason couldn't quite commit to what he was saying. He reached out when Mari handed the object over, her face faltering further with every second. He turned it over, desperately searching his memories for that glimmer he had felt, that little hint that reminded him of what it was. His traced the bizarre circular drawings on its face, some bridged by random lines. It seemed to be made of brass.

"It's like one of those old watches…" she noted as she did up her bra, and threw him his pants. He put the object down for the briefest of moments as he put them on, before reaching out like it was a valuable diamond.

"A fob watch," he answered quickly, before realising he'd never used such words in his life.

But that was also a lie, of course. In fact, as he inspected it closer, he knew he'd seen this object before. He knew he'd created it.

His hand went to his breast, and then to the other. Something was missing.

"Ryder?"

He didn't answer, he was transfixed. The patterns, the dial, the switch.

It flicked open, bursting forth with orange specks of light towards the boy. His eyes stuck at it, barely seeing Mari's jump, but he heard her stutter.

"W…what?"

The light enshrouded him, embracing him…changing him. His mind told him to move, but he knew he shouldn't. And why would he?

His grin was as bright as the now-faded light as he looked Mari in the eyes, laughing. She looked back, bewildered, and stumbled backwards a few steps, as he put his hand to his breasts again. "One…two…two hearts, good. God, I'm young this time," he mused, as he reached for his trousers, searching about in the pockets. "Come on, come on…oh, wait…"

"Ryder…"

He wasn't listening, he was back in the fob watch again. A key, a long thin grey and gold object with a green end, a bourbon… "Excellent," he mused.

"Ryder!"

"Hold your horses Marie," he said, wandering over to the windows and sweeping the long thin object over it, a ring sounding as the translucent pane became as reflective as the most perfect of mirrors. "Hmm…messy hair, not really much muscle, two hearts, teeth…too much soda…not ginger, damn."

"What…what the hell was that?"

"Sonic screwdriver."

"A what?"

He swung round, realising his mistake. "Oh, sorry, I don't believe I've properly introduced myself," he said, as the sound once again emanated from the device, now pointing straight at the small key in his hand. "I'm The Doctor."

"Ryder...seriously, are you delusional?"

"No, no, never…I'm just not normal, keep up. Well, actually, I'd say you're not normal, I mean look at you. One heart, bit of an empty mind, and honestly, once you've been with River last night just couldn't compare."

"River? One heart? Hey, are you calling me stupid?"

"Hold on, I'll answer everything in a moment…" he mused, as a wind blew up through the chamber, a light burning out at the whole chamber. "I escaped…thank _you _51st Century, time machine in every colour so long as its black," he laughed, tapping the device on his wrist. "Geez, as a human I must've been so stupid. Unless…" he pondered, shining the screwdriver back over it. "Broken, damn."

"What the hell is that?" she shouted, pointing at the lights now forming a tall cuboid in the centre of the room, the most light coming from its very peak. As it gained its lovely blue colour atop its wood grain, 'Ryder' laughed, practically jumping for joy as he ran towards it. The words **POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX **splayed across its top panel in white light, while an emergency panel and a St John's Ambulance sticker completed the look.

"Hello old girl!"

"Ryder, that thing…it looks familiar. Phone box?"

"Why do you keep calling me Ryder?" he mused, as he looked back towards her.

"Because you _are _Ryder…"

"I said, I'm the Doctor, _do _keep up."

"The Doctor?"

"Yes, well, the twelfth."

"You mean from the TV show."

"Yes! No, wait, no, not exactly…big, complex story, a rubber band, a TV producer, and a big, timey wimey ball full of stuff – now, _attends_!"

He stepped inside the box, but paused, opening the door again and saying, to her absolutely bewildered face.

"And it's a TARDIS, get it right."

Ignoring her protests, he laughing as he slammed the doors closed again and looked into the depths of the machine. It shone with a brassy light, shadows cast by the various staircases and the control panel in the centre, while light came up through the glass staircase on the floor in the middle. "All looking in order…" he mused as he bit into the bourbon, pausing to point at the orb below. "That needs patching in a few hops time, must remember to go back to that moon again."

The machine ached and groaned as if to respond to him, and he patted the panel, flicking a few switches.

"Yessss…I know, I said I was just popping out for milk. I know last time I left you blew up, but that was when mean old Mrs Song was in charge. Besides, I had to regenerate, you know what the nasty aliens can be like…but…hold on, wait a moment…" He grasped a phone handset, something out of an eighties human office, not that he'd ever worked in one, full of Bakelite and wishful technology. "Are you coming in Miss Flynn? Been a long time since I've had an American one. Nooo, just look in…what do you mean cramped space, you just screwed me two seconds ago? How can you have issues? Honestly, it's more spacious on the inside than…"

"It looks…" mumbled a new voice disbelievingly, as the door creaked to a close.

"Bigger on the inside," he did an impression of her. "Like I said, TARDIS – Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. A time machine," he grinned at the hastily-dressed girl, her top wrinkled and her trousers twisted while she unconsciously did up her belt.

"Okay, okay, who are you…?" she stuttered. "This is a joke right?"

"You're surrounded by bizarre creatures, humans who've travelled in time, and, oh, a few demi-gods…must check that one out…and you don't believe what you're seeing? Come now M. No, wait, that's not a good nickname."

"Who are you? Honestly."

"Come to think about it, I must check out the Angels thing," he mused, as he wandered around the control panel, tapping random buttons. "…something about me coming here must've spread splices of Time Lord DNA through you all…hmm…that's oddly kinky…damn it River, what did you do to me?"

"Ryder…who are you?"

"No guns, alright," his sonic screwdriver came out, her pistol exploding and clattering to the ground as she practically leapt out of her skin. "Plenty of fear, fear is good, just no guns. And the universe."

"The universe?"

"Yeah, the universe. Time, space, everywhere, hold on, I'll show you a map…" he began, reaching into his jacket.

Or, he would've, had it been there.

"One moment…" he said, wandering off towards the staircase.

"Where are you going?" she called after him.

"Changing room," he noted, pausing at the top. "Possibly via the swimming pool."

"Ryder wait up!"

* * *

"Ta-da!" he chuckled, putting his arms out. "New outfit…"

"So you're from the 1970s?" Mari replied, perched against the TARDIS console with a raised eyebrow, yet her face was wrought with fear. Still, something about it was slightly more comfortable.

"Oh ha ha, I'll let you know this outfit is very popular in the 2060s," he dismissed her, gesturing down at his leather jacket, black trousers and lined white shirt. "Now, the 2070s, lots of fezes…hmm…fezi…"

"Ryder…"

"Doctor."

"Doctor, whatever. Is this the whole thing that you couldn't tell me?"

"Yeah, and quite simply, before you get incredibly bad M, it's because I didn't know myself."

"M?"

"Focus on the important things M!"

"Okay, fine – so what was all that dream crap about?"

"My mind must've known that I was close to waking up…no, wait…"

"What?"

"I put myself in human form."

"Doctor, just explain."

"Okay, you are being incredibly slow."

"_You _aren't explaining anything!"

"Fine, fine, right…I'm the Doctor, Time Lord, over 900 years old, from Gallifrey, can't die, just regenerate, was facing certain death against this big ol' ancient bad, the Fate Hunters – they get you by catching your death, literally. So I escaped by becoming human, using…" He raced down the stairs, and tapped a device which resembled a hair drier from an old hairdressers hanging from a wire. "Chameleon Arch. Mark 2. Only thing is, I sort of set the power wrong when I used it and regenerated, got this new body…for some reason look about 16, no idea why, must've gone weird. Oh, and this...this fob watch was _me_ in watch form, I just didn't realise because it had a perception filter on it. Got all that?"

"I think…wait…no, I don't."

"Just think about it," he yelled, running around the console and throwing switches left, right, and centre. "By god what do they teach in America, 21st century schooling eh? Never caught on until they started to employ robots…problem was the geography teachers, always the funny looking robots. I hate funny robots…you alright?"

"Just…confused…wait, what about MiniDonmon?"

"MiniDonmon…oh, right…you're standing in him…"

"What?"

"Data compression field…with a personality. Kept the TARDIS nearby and made sure no-one knew what they were looking for. Perfect camouflage in this time stream. Hold on, look…" he reached out with his sonic screwdriver, and a hologram came from the screen, materialising on the boy-turned-Time Lord's shoulder.

"Doctor…I'm all blue…"

"Hold on," he noted, shining the sonic screwdriver at him again, as he shone through in his full red.

"Thanks…did you call me old girl?"

"I…" The Doctor began, the phone ringing before he could do anything. "Hello? Oh, yes, come on in, we'll make tea…afraid I just ate the last bourbon though."

"DarkRenamon!" MiniDonmon cheered. DarkRenamon nearly knocked over the hat stand as she leant on it to keep standing.

"What…is this place?"

"MiniDonmon, run her through it!" he said, the creature nodding gleefully and fluttering over to the fox.

"Oh, that's just the start. Now…I need to make sure this old thing works…" The Doctor noted, flicking some switches. "Now hit that button!"

"But what about Rei and everyone?"

"Tap the Morse Codey thing."

"What?"

"If you don't want to fall into a black hole, tap it!"

"Fine…but they'll need our help!" Mari called, doing as she was told before darting around to stand next to Ryder.

"Fine, I'll come back in a few trips time. I am a hundred times more helpful to them than Ryder ever was. And we've got all the time we need. Now, where would you like to go first?"

"Go? Go where?"

"Anywhere. Anywhen. Anyhow."

"Wait, really?" A curious grin began to appear on her face.

"Well, so long as anyhow is a large blue box. And are you enjoying this?"

"No…maybe…"

"Haha – so you're coming then?"

"Why wouldn't someone?"

"I've had a few."

"There's been others."

"So many but so much time to tell you. So much to do first. So many places to see, aliens to meet, corridors to run down…there's a whole world out there."

"So…you have two hearts now…do you have…"

"Don't! I'm not having a repeat of Pond," he said, his face slightly glazed over at the name.

Marie grinned, rolling her eyes skywards as The Doctor locked the doors, before a more solemn look crossed her eyes. "Pond?"

"I'll explain later."

"Fine…still…I can't pretend I get this yet."

"Perfect, I never do either, tends to stave off madness." He flung off the handbrake, before flicking it back on again. He preferred it that way. "Now…Digimon, Marie Flynn…welcome aboard."

"Where are we going?" DarkRenamon asked, as she wandered up to join the others on the main deck, a grinning MiniDonmon in tow.

"Who knows?" he grinned, dragging down the throttle sharply and kicking the old craft into life, it shaking from side to side as the central time rotor shifted up and down. Everyone new leapt to grab something out of sheer horror, while The Doctor formerly known as Ryder more calmly grabbed the console and laughed. "Meet anywhere and everywhere!"

Thanks to the screaming whirr now filling the chamber, no one noticed as the screen blinked into life. Static resolved into a line of white text, and its speakers cackled quietly with a sinister voice.

**TRANSMISSION RECEIVED**

"**April will fall. April will fall."**

**(NOT) TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

And finally, I did it, haha. So many years I've wanted to do an April Fool.

Somehow I expect half of you are now cursing me because you know what the above is about, and the other half are scratching their heads in confusion. All I can say is to look up 'Doctor Who'. And to add to the disclaimer above: I don't own Doctor Who either.

Now, I suppose you're wondering about the actual chapter, as this chapter is quite clearly carved out of it. It'll be up soon, once I've finished completely rewriting it – I wasn't 100% happy with the original form so I have been going through and editing it to be better. I'll probably leave this chapter up but make it clear it's fake.

Until next time…

B.C.


	45. Phase Two: Slaughter I

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading. No April Fool's gags this time around, honest. Enjoy!

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FORTY-ONE**

**Phase Two**

_Slaughter_

**Part One**

* * *

**SATURDAY, 14****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Takeru Takaishi**

* * *

This was a horrible morning-after.

The D-Arc flicked through various pages. Even after all this time, Takeru hadn't a clue what most of them did, particularly since plenty of them were blank. Finally, in the darkness, a clock appeared: its white numbers finally something simple to understand.

Too early.

He glanced to the window, the day as bright as ever. _"As if early means something here."_

To his other side, Patamon slept calmly. Lucky git. Why had he woken up this early? Had he had a nightmare or something?

"_Then again, too early for what?" _All the future seemed to hold, unless they had some amazing breakthrough, was being stuck in this vaguely-sinister village. And if they did make it home, what then?

The worst thing was, either way he'd still have to deal with this 'hangover'. A real hangover would actually have been preferable. Even the one he'd had after that party that time back at home, when his mind's wise response to feeling ill had been to drink more. He remembered, unfortunately, only two things: staring down Kari's top at some point, and being sick in Davis' bin. The latter was better forgotten, but the former…there had to be some context around that memory, right? It hadn't just happened like that, surely? Either way, Kari didn't seem to remember or mention it.

Kari.

Kari.

Kari.

Memories rushed back with every moment, from childhood to the day before, things he'd rather forget. A person he'd rather forget. Or, at least, that's what he wanted to think, if it weren't for the fact that every fibre of his being pulled against that.

But the conversation yesterday…

A hand pushed through blonde hair as he groaned softly, not quite being able to stomach the reality of it all.

She knew.

She'd always known.

And she didn't feel the same way.

She didn't feel the same way.

He didn't want that.

But she didn't feel the same way.

The world had to change, it just had…

"Takeru…"

It was female. Could it be…?

It was Yolei.

Her lips were roused in sympathy until they uttered near-silent words.

"Talk?"

They made their way to a safe distance outside, pushing themselves up on the tips of their toes so as not to wake the other Tamers and Digimon sleeping around. Particularly not the heavily-snoring Davis and Veemon, as much as Takeru had wanted to touch them (hard) with his toes last night when he was desperately trying to sleep.

Glancing back, he pretended he hadn't noticed Patamon bat open an eye for but a moment.

"Are you okay?"

"You know, don't you?"

"How are you coping with it?"

"How do you think Yolei?" he said through tired eyes. A hand landed on his shoulder.

"I've heard so much from Kari…she took ages just to be able to talk to you. Please don't hate her…she worried so much it'd hurt you…"

"I know, I know, she's the best person in the world and I'm a horrible monster who would throw away our friendship."

"No you're not!" She put her other hand on his other shoulder.

"Then what am I Yolei? I've known Kari since I was eight, and Davis is one of my best friends, and I loved it when they got together as a couple. And I knew they'd be together for a long time, so why did I still even try? Why did Kari have to tell me? I should've known myself."

"Stop beating yourself up about this," Yolei insisted, her hushed voice a reminder for him to do the same. Her hair was tangled enough alone to make her look tired and restless, and her clothes were rippled from a night of tossing and turning. He regretted making her get up already. God only knew what his set looked like. "We all get obsessed with things. Have you met me? Look, Kari is an amazing person and I'm sure if I were a guy or that way inclined I'd be going for her too…no-one blames you. Of course you like her."

"But Kari isn't just some pretty girl or a nice person; she's…she's…"

"What?"

"…Kari. Yeah, that sounds stupid."

"Hawkmon would've moaned about that tautology." She dropped her hands from his shoulders onto her hips as she drew attention to the Digimon's absence. They were the only ones stupid enough to be up so soon, even if the Renamon of the village seemed to already be well awake.

Takeru would've been amused at the comment, but his mind was still wrestling with memories of the night before. At one in particular, he almost bashed his head on the house wall nearby. Only the memory of the sleeping Kari…and the others, of course, on the other side stopped him.

"I told her I loved her when she was trying to be my friend…" In lieu of the wall thumping, he grabbed his head in his hands. "Why did I do that?"

"Because…"

"And then she hugged me. Even in all that she put up with me."

"Because you two are friends Takeru; I thought you knew that better than anyone. I envy what you have with her."

"You'd think I'd appreciate it more. I nearly sacrificed it all for nothing." Hell, he probably had. When would he next feel up to talking to her? 2026? "I just…why do I still want her so much? Why don't words ever work?"

"Takeru, calm down. You just need some time to get some perspective. Go for a walk or something, smell the flowers and clear your head. And stop stressing or you'll make me stressed, and none of you want me to be stressed."

Takeru wanted to gulp comically, to validate what his friend had said, but right now he'd take Yolei at her worst over Kari at her best. Heck, even Kari at her worst would be better: it would give him reason to move on and validate his pain.

A step forward brought a glimpse of the lake, reminding him of something more, something guiltier, something that made him twist on his toes. "And then, when Davis turned up, he was the nicest guy in the…"

"Takeru! Walk. Now." Yolei huffed. "And if you dare think a thing about that girl on the way, I'll kick you so hard into the lake you'll be coughing up water for weeks."

There. He laughed. A brief dark laugh at the painful idea of such punishment, but a laugh nonetheless. "How will you know?"

"I'll know. I'm Yolei Inoue." She stood proudly, pushing out her chest like a superhero, and for that brief moment those roughened clothes looked spotless.

"Thanks Yolei Inoue."

He saluted. No doubt the girl was imagining a cape behind her.

* * *

**Takato Matsuki**

* * *

This was a lovely morning after.

Such a wide bed. So comfortable. A tucked in blanket. And a dying urge to get a double-wide futon back home. And best of all, a Rika to hand…

Uh…right?

She must have rolled free. Reaching out, he smiled as he went to stroke her hair, surely there in the darkness of his eyelids…somewhere?

Somewhere?

Anywhere?

One eye. The other.

Just the wall.

Takato let out a groggy groan as pushed himself up onto his knees. Had she gone for a walk? After all the revelations of the previous day, who would blame her? Still, the idea of waking up to those same blue eyes he'd seen that night – and that morning all those days ago back in New York – for every day he lived, was infinitely appealing right now.

Even with how much his parents fought and complained about their marriage.

And the less said about Rika's mum's marriage before, the better…

Maybe they could make marriage work?

"_**I'd say it was the tiredness, but you're a disillusioned idiot normally."**_

"_I can't believe even a God can't make marriage work."_

"_**Hey, I'm a beautiful guy, you know? I've got to share my love around. Shame I ended up in a runt like you this time round."**_

"_Yeeeash, adultery?"_

"_**Not even the half of it."**_

Figuring he should begin looking for his fiancée, if only to avoid hearing any 'fascinating' details from Chaos about his past affairs, he stood up.

"_**Some of them weren't even human…"**_

Too late. Mentally sighing, he dropped the blanket aside.

He dropped the blanket aside, before taking an uneasy step back and concealing his modesty.

"Good morning Takato."

"Aah! Renamon!"

Hands went to crotch as the boy stumbled back uneasily.

The Digimon herself was unfazed by the sight of the boy in the all-together, and indeed kept on staring with but a curious tilt to her head. This was even more disturbing for Takato, and he scrambled for his underpants, hoping to shift the feeling of being an zoo animal being observed.

Once he paid a bit more attention, however, and had covered himself up, he suspected she was too distracted to care about such a sight.

"What's up?"

Nearby, Guilmon, apparently having a bad dream, clawed at the ground for a brief moment, muttering something about bread. Turning over onto his other side, he fell back down into a gentle but increasingly-annoying snore. The human and the fox paid him a brief bit of attention, before Renamon delivered some dour news.

"I can't find Rika."

"Hasn't she gone for a walk?"

Renamon nodded. "She went for one in the middle of the night."

"Didn't you go with?"

Guiltily, the fox shook her head. "She said she wanted to go alone…and I was exhausted…I should've followed her anyway…"

"Don't worry; she's probably not gone far. Hold on…wait…shouldn't you be able to sense her?" he said with increasing worry. One unfortunate consequence of becoming more awake (as if the staring incident hadn't already snapped his mind into gear enough) was that his constant worrying returned.

She simply frowned. Once upon a time she would probably have said something too, but he had been in her company enough to tell her subtle expressions.

"Oh…well…Guilmon," he turned, before remembering the dinosaur was asleep. "Oh, right."

"Bread…bread bread bread!" the creature suddenly exclaimed, clawing at the air again before turning over. "Yum!"

"**Chocolate spread!" **Chaos took over, the tiniest of shocks emanating from Takato's finger and pricking Guilmon's ear.

"Yeeeap!" The Digimon leapt awake, sending a great thump through the floorboards as he landed and scratched at them. Upon calming down, he turned to Takato, the rubbing his bat-like ear. "Owie…"

"Chaos!"

"**What? I've done it tons of times before, never done him any long term damage. You're too soft Takato. Crack the whip once or twice, Rika seems like the kind to like that."**

"Guilmon," Renamon stayed on topic as Takato's mouth involuntarily mimed a cat. "Rika went for a walk in the middle of the night and now Renamon can't sense her…can you smell her trail?"

"Can I have breakfast first?" From anyone else his words would sound like arrogance, but from this Digimon of all Digimon, and in this state of awareness of all states of awareness, he conveyed only an innocent curiosity.

"Please Guilmon." As neutral as Renamon's voice and her expression were to Takato, something about it must've reached the dinosaur, for his expression totally changed.

"Right," he chirped as his nostrils began to flare, and were planted close to the ground. He guffawed. "Takato, your clothes smell funny."

"That's what happens when I have to wear the same clothes two days running."

"Aaah, okay."

"**And screw Rika."**

Takato mentally sighed. He hoped the smell of his underwear, which at this point was still all he wore, would not detract from the Digimon's legendary sense of smell.

"Screw her into what?" Guilmon said chirpily.

"Never mind. Can you smell her?"

Thankfully, as the Digimon began to move forward, it was clear that it didn't, his skills outpacing even Renamon's ability to track and sense.

"Wait up, I need to put my clothes on." He threw his pants and his top on, and glanced up to find he had already been left behind. It took a bout of running, the kind that had got him infamous with Ms Asagi whenever he crashed into her on the way into class, to catch up.

Renamon didn't look natural doing it, but she was forced to strike a slow pace after the dinosaur, who kept pausing. And then he paused for rather too long at a rather unfortunate location.

The edge of the village.

"Takato…the smell goes really weird through here…"

"Hmm…must be the perception filter." He reached forward to the thick bushes. Even though he knew exactly what to expect, he still hesitated before pushing his hand through. After a tad more hesitation, he finally stepped through and out into the (now-alien) outside world.

It was daytime. For now, at least. Some good luck at least, as experiences before had taught them of the time here's bad habit of being permanently out of sync with sense.

"I forgot what it was like." He stared down the 'endless' forest clearing, the Earth orb hanging above it in the endless blue sky amidst circuit board-like clouds. A long walk that way was where the DeuxTrailmon had dropped them off only the day before. It may as well have been a lifetime ago.

"Can you smell anything?" Renamon asked her lover as his head came up off the ground for the first time in a while.

"Nuh-uh," he shook his head. "They stop right here."

"That's weird," Takato mused, taking a look around the area for a clue. "Maybe she flew?"

"**Why would she have done that?"**

"Takato…I thought it was just the perception filter, but I cannot sense her any better out here."

"Oh."

"This is bad." Guilmon sniffed the air more and more, evidently hoping in vain that the girl might have left some mid-air trace mid-flight. "She's gone," he cried.

"**Rika **_**can**_** take care of herself, you know? She sure as hell tells us it enough."**

"But she isn't stupid, she…"

"**You sure about that?"**

Takato ignored Chaos and continued. "She wouldn't just wander off without letting us know."

"Do you think something took her?" Fear had begun to spark in Renamon's eyes, the concept clearly not crossing her mind up until now.

"Something powerful enough to break your link…or at least take her a long way away. Either way we need help."

Renamon frowned to Takato. She would feel so guilty for this, and even more for retreating to get help. So much like her Tamer, even if her voice gave the impression of grace and perfect wisdom. Then again, Renamon and their species seemed to revel in such contradictions, at least if the previous day's revelations had shown anything.

She nodded.

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

"So…this is what a morning after is like, huh?"

She was on top of him again, albeit without the passion or the energy of the night before. In its place sat bliss, her knees down his sides as she simply stared into his eyes. Those brown orbs transfixed him enough to ignore the itch of her dangling hair, flicking ever-so-slightly across his skin as she breathed, her chest moving only a fraction of what he remembered.

"It's nice."

"You look amazing."

MiniDonmon and DarkRenamon were nowhere to be seen, the latter presumably ensuring both of them gave their Tamers some personal time.

"Was I as good as I look?"

"Hey, that was going to be my question…only less boastful."

"Well…" Mari laughed as she planted her lips against his again, a moment that would leave any observers gagging. When they finally broke free, he couldn't stop smiling, the reality of what had happened only a few hours prior still not fully registering on his mind.

"I guess that means 'yes'."

"Once you had got my bra off, yeah. And avoided shooting yourself with my gun. Still…we'll have plenty of practice at it…" she whispered, gently squeezing his legs together with her thighs as she nibbled his ear.

"Why not now?" It sounded alluring in his head; in reality it sounded like a whimpering puppy. He would've slapped himself in the head, were doing so not to involve most likely slapping her too.

"Because…" Pushing herself up to kneel over him, she placed her hand on the side of her hip, and glanced down to her flat stomach. "We don't know the first thing about how conception works in the Digital World. I don't think we should push our luck until we have some kind of protection. And till I've had a test."

"Yeah, probably wise." At the back of his mind the Id couldn't help but be disappointed. Still, for that most primordial of urges there was the sight before him, something hard to appreciate in the sweaty darkness of the act. This was Marie Flynn in the flesh, a girl oozing confidence, control and kindness in everything she did, a girl who had given up so much just to dissuade his doubts. Still…no doubt her personal desires had something to do with it too. The diary, after all…

"Ryder…" As that uncertain err escaped her mouth, she regressed back to that worried little girl back in JFK, one with neither confidence nor control, the Mari he first met. Back was the forced confidence, a visible lump in the throat, and an uneasy question pursed from paled lips as she fought desperately for her own significance. "Did that prove it? D-did that prove I'm real?"

"Well, I never imagined it to be like that. So, I guess so?"

Her face dropped at receiving anything but a straight 'yes'. "So in spite of all my moans, all those sensations, every inch of my body pushing against every inch of yours…" she uttered breathlessly as she leant her torso down onto him again. Her breath returned with a bitter vengeance against his cheek. "In spite of everything I did, everything _we _did, I'm just…a wet dream!" she spat, shaking him. "A wet dream from an empty shell for you in your stupid coma. Isn't that right?"

"No, no, no, definitely not!" He forced down those memories of how she had once been his 'dream girl', and how she had once been exactly as she said. Amidst all this, he decided not to ponder how she could be before him today, and certainly not to mention the fact to her. "Look, you know how obsessed I can be with these things…but…that did more to prove anything than anything…anyone…else ever has. I don't know how anyone could do more. I mean…uh…thank you."

"Hmph. Nice Ryder, nice. Call a whore next time." She averted her gaze and rolled off him, retrieving her knickers from alongside the wall as Ryder let his head fall back to the bed in despair.

What the hell was his problem?

He rolled his head on the pillow to look to her as she wandered back, trying to keep his mind on subject as she dangled the pair from her finger and let her nostrils flare. Ungracefully, she planted her nose to her armpit in the blink of his eye, oddly not affecting his admiration of her one bit as it spread her grimace even wider. "Don't suppose this place has a shower or anything?"

"I don't think so…oh god, three dozen humans' worth of body odour. Hardcore computer geeks especially. We need to find a way home before we can't breathe in this place."

"Ugh, even worse…thank Sakuyamon for the flowers." A cringe crept up her spine, and her eyes briefly met the ground. She knelt to pick up the diary, frowning at its cover and draping her underwear over her knee while she bundled it into her bag, and then did the exact same with the frame.

There it was. His guilt again. How could he do this to her? How would he feel? She had lost everything, he was practically her family, and he was casting her aside as unimportant. He had been lost in that obsession before, not least with Ivy, and he knew how much it gripped and dominated your every act, how every word about another, or even about any interest that could even remotely diminish from what you felt, could throw you into a horrid loop into hell. But denial of existence? He felt like the biggest arsehole in the world right now, and, given the size of the Digital World (and its population of arseholes), that was saying something. No wonder Mari longed for those simpler times again, even as she outwardly tried to bury them deep.

He wanted to say something…he had to say something…but it stuck in his throat, leaving him simply staring at her form as she slipped her knickers back on. She grimaced down to him, sighing, but said nothing.

How could there be nothing in there, nothing in that body, in that head, in that mind?

But that would be exactly how it would feel, how a dream would feel, real as you live it, perhaps even on purpose. A dream trying to sustain itself, a dream trying to…

Stop it. His mind yelled at itself, as in real life he pushed himself up and out of the futon, dearly wishing for another 'him' to punch. As she plucked the familiar shape of the gun and holster from the floor nearby and strapped them to her leg, he stared on and hoped for but the briefest of instants she would twist round, firing. A trip back to death. Maybe a chance to work things out?

But she wouldn't do it. Death could mean losing him for good, death could mean the end of her, death could be permanent. Death was the closest he got to life.

If he was right.

He sighed quietly. He had never expected this to happen, any of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, none of it. This seemed impossible given that barely more than a year ago he had been in a dull ordinary class, staring at the blonde locks of the girl in front and hoping she'd turn to him for one moment, hoping she'd pay him a bit of attention. Now…now he was practically rejecting the hopeful attention of another.

How times changed.

She took a step towards him, the slightest flick of the eyes bringing an even slighter smile to the edge of her lips, before she pressed them against his. "Look…" She put her hand on his shoulder, and he swore that she pinched him for a brief moment, ever so gently. "I'm sorry about the whore thing. I'm sure I am much better than one, and besides, I should know better than to expect you not to overthink everything. It's just who you're always going to be," she said despairingly, her eyes flicking skywards. "Not that that's a _bad_ thing necessarily," she insisted. A lie if he ever saw one. "Now, I'm going for a swim or something before I wind up stinking. Once you're willing to believe I'm not an invisible pink unicorn, we'll talk."

"Look, I'm really sorry…"

She put a finger on his lips. "Not again."

He nodded. "I just need space to think." And to somehow reconcile how, even after those acts which matched so perfectly with the advice of both The Priestess and MiniDonmon, he still failed to believe this was all real. He had done something different, and something he had never done before. What was still to find out?

Everything.

Stupid rationality. Always spoiling his fun.

"Good." She crouched, picking up something from the floor with a mischievous expression. "Now…seeing as you were _so_ good at doing up my bra last night, I don't suppose you fancy it," she teased, dangling it in front of him.

"Oh ha ha."

* * *

**Renamon**

* * *

"What did you do to Rika?"

This was the _other_ Takato, one with fists clenched and face glaring as teeth gritted angrily. Indeed, his intended forcefulness was only beaten down a notch by the fact that this was Takato, the boy with the face and voice that couldn't hurt a fly.

Chaos, on the other hand…

"**Wow, angry…I mean, what did you do to Harmony?"**

Caring about his arch-nemesis? This was a rarity if not a world record.

"**I mean…um…it's **_**my**_** job to kill her!"**

Renamon sighed. Same old Chaos. Almost. The idea of a caring version of him seemed oddly more horrifying.

"I…I do…I…what do you mean?" The Priestess spluttered, taken aback in her chamber. Renamon definitely hadn't planned to just storm in like this and demand answers. Maybe her history made her too soft on this village? She couldn't imagine her being this reserved had anyone else been involved in the redhead's disappearance, but the hierarchical upbringing in this place came surging back with every moment she looked at the Priestess' mask. "Honest!"

"**Yeah sure! Burn the witch!"**

"You honestly don't?" That was Takato for you. Forceful at first, but thrown for a loop when things didn't quite turn out like he imagined. He would make an awful conman.

"I sensed Harmony's absence, but…I thought it was me. Please, start at the beginning." The politeness was back, the memory of Priestesses through history, so far away from the bumbling and chatty Renamon she knew to be inside the mega's form.

That Renamon had ceased to exist on that day four years ago. She was but an echo now, replaced by someone Renamon found herself hating even as she knew of her own conceit in those sordid events. And what of that girl who The Priestess had 'swallowed'? Maybe the politeness was from her, perhaps she was a respectful child beloved by all and happy…

But they only went after the depressed. The poor thing's last memory was probably of hope at her vixen guardian, just before she would've been pressed unto the Digimon's chest and…

Renamon couldn't think beyond that. How her chatty friend could've done such a thing, ever, just simply didn't register on her consciousness. How she herself had been so close to doing it with Rika, even up to those dark times when she and the girl fell out and Renamon recalled musing on whether to 'complete' her mission, even after she had long abandoned it out of curiosity and care for the girl's well-being. How simple it would've been to bypass the girl's tantrums entirely…

Dark thoughts. And she hated them.

"Uh…Renamon?"

She glanced to Takato, noticing the three pairs of eyes awaiting an explanation. First she had been so exhausted she'd lost Rika, and now she was so lost in thought she wasn't even paying attention any more. It sickened her. "Rika went for a walk in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep. She told me not to go with, but I thought she just wanted some time alone so I let our bond slack. When I woke up, she was gone…I searched everywhere obvious in the village, but nothing." Her feet kept a few floorboards back from her old friend still. "I thought she could still be in one of the houses, but Guilmon…" She paused and glanced to the dinosaur.

"I sniffed her and she vanished."

"Excuse me?" The Priestess tilted her head.

"Guilmon has a really good sense of smell, but Rika's trail went outside the village."

"I'm guessing she wasn't waiting to jump out and go 'boo', huh?" The informal vice was back, one of stress and childishness, the 'true' Renamon.

Takato shook his head. "They vanished into thin air outside the village. I guess she could've flown, but maybe a wind blew it, who knows? But we need your help to find her."

The Priestess nodded. "If Harmony is in danger then we all are."

And there it was. She didn't care about Takato, Chaos, the Tamers, her, or indeed, anyone except herself and her village. A sick taste in Renamon's mouth reminded her that this place would and could never really change, and while their goals aligned right now she knew she would be better off away from it all again. No doubt her old friend would be pleased to see the back of her, and even more so the back of Chaos, the spawn of Satan in the shaman's eyes.

"Taomon," she spoke across the room to the Elder, standing watching from the door with her ever-concerned expression. At the back of her mind, upon seeing the highest arbiter of punishment in the village's hierarchy (for such matters were trivial to The Priestess herself), Renamon felt guilty for bringing outsiders, let alone Chaos and his Digimon, anywhere near this most sacred of rooms. That old, beaten-in sense of rank failed to ever leave her. "Send out every Renamon to find Harmony at once. She is most likely outside the village."

No words were said, but Renamon distinctly felt a telepathic tingle in the air as Taomon glanced to Takato and back to the Priestess.

"I don't trust Chaos much either, but there are far more important things at work here, and for once our goals aligned."

"**Yeah. I need her back to kill her!"**

"So not helping," Takato slapped himself in the forehead.

"I will do so presently My Priestess," the elder Taomon said, and with a reluctant nod and a respectful bow she was gone.

"I hope they find her," The Priestess bowed, leaning her staff against the fountain before she sat at its edge, peering down. Renamon peered up, and around, taking in the majesty of the huge chamber, spanning every floor of the largest building in the village. Once upon a time, she would have deemed it deserved by the leaders, earned through tradition, holiness, and history, but this was just another lie drilled into her and debunked wholeheartedly by the incompetence of the current incumbent. "This is _so_ not good."

Takato stepped towards her, kind as always, but he paused, taking on that expression that Renamon usually dreaded: Chaos talking to him. With a frown, he turned instead and pointed to the doorway, glancing to the fox and Guilmon. "I'm going to go out and keep looking for her. Are you coming with?"

"Yeah."

"I…I will catch up in a moment." Renamon glanced to her old friend, and back to the Gogglehead. "Go."

"Oh, okay." The gogglehead was more surprised than hurt, and before long Tamer and partner rumbled away down the hallway. Guilmon only paused to pay a brief glance to his power, Renamon letting loose a brief wave to assert she was alright.

She then turned to her former friend, who certainly wasn't. But she wasn't about to accept a helping hand either. Which was good, because Renamon told herself she wasn't here to give one. It wasn't her fault if the Digimon had been hurt by all this. She didn't have to feel responsible for this friendship, in much the same way as she wouldn't feel responsible for her friendship with Impmon if he had not returned to their side.

Which, of course, was as much of a lie as her friendship with The Priestess. She had raced to get Impmon before the ark had returned home, even when his allegiance was ambivalent. God only knew how far she'd go for an even older friend. And that was a problem, since in no small way she herself _was_ God.

"Going to rub it in?" The mega's head remained drooped.

"Now is not the time Renamon."

"I am _not _Renamon! I haven't been for ages!"

"Fine, _My Priestess_. Enjoy your delusions of grandeur," she mocked. Sure, she would've done the same had any of her friends ascended to such a role, but she couldn't help but feel she was being overly harsh given the circumstances. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"How should I know?"

Renamon didn't even gratify that question with a response. Her old friend was ditzy, but she was never stupid, and having a second mind inside her form and the historic wisdom of the Priestesses couldn't have made her _more _so.

"Fine…I just feel like…there's something bad happening here. A great tragedy…I only wish I knew what it was." Her tone changed from informal to formal again, as Renamon racked her mind for the word Rika had given to describe such people (while insisting she herself didn't count). "Look, I'm just crap compared to the last Priestess, okay? If this place goes to hell, it's my fault."

Part of Renamon wanted to step forward, but the boundaries between them felt so strong and so real, and the other half of her didn't want to reach out anyhow. What did it matter? Rika was missing, and that was important. But the first part clung to those good times long ago against a tainted sky. In the end, she did nothing, simply leaving her friend to face up to her own problems. She told herself this was the right thing to do. Compassion wasn't what a leader needed.

Even if Takato served as an excellent counterpoint to that.

"Last night I had to deliver horrible news too."

"What?"

"A prophecy. But I can't say who or what."

"I see."

"It's completely useless if we don't find Harmony first…if only I could prophesize…"

Something snapped in Renamon. "Her name is _Rika_!"

The Priestess scowled, climbing to her feet with her staff and looking down on her smaller friend. "She's been Harmony for longer! You used to call her that too!"

Renamon, unafraid of her lack of stature, was about to fight back, but she refused to give her old friend the satisfaction of another argument. "I am going to look for her now, instead of arguing. Or _moping_ in a temple for all eternity."

"I am not moping!" The anger in The Priestess' clenched fists was practically taboo for someone in her role, even as the prize fighter of the village power-wise and body-wise. But she had strayed far from convention in her bloody inception, let alone in the present. This was no ordinary Priestess.

Renamon had had enough. She turned and simply walked away. The Digimon failed to put up any kind of objection or explanation worth staying for, and she couldn't think why she had even bothered to try. Or at least, that's how she lied to herself. _"I just wanted to help a friend."_

So much for that. This friend had changed for the worse. She didn't need Renamon. She didn't need anyone. She could go and die for all Renamon cared.

Yet a ball in her throat told her she still felt something for the Digimon, even if it was just a general dislike of the deaths of those she knew. Nonetheless, standing at the front of the temple, the steps of decadence drawing out in front of her down to the normal Digimon below, she decided not to think of her friend any more. She had bigger problems to deal with.

She leapt away down the steps. Rika was out there somewhere.

"Please be okay," she uttered to herself as she vanished upon the wind.

* * *

**Tai Kamiya**

* * *

"And here's the message we received from the others."

It was amazing how eager Izzy was at this time of the morning (not that there was a sunrise to tell it by), particularly given Tai still wasn't sure how many fingers he had, and that was only the top issue on a pile including such highlights as 'did I put my underpants on the right way around?' He was not a morning person.

"Hey, it's Matt," Agumon chirped. "'We're okay and in a town in the North Region, and we'll make our own way back if we have to'. They're alive!"

"That's fantastic!" Sora exclaimed. Tai should've heard the Monster Makers transfixed by the message that had reached their impromptu 'headquarters'. He should've heard a quip about how Jun hadn't killed Matt yet from his girlfriend. He should've noticed her concerned gaze. But, having dealt with the orientation of his underpants, the mess of his hair, and the presence of his Goggles, his mind, running at half-speed of course, had finally reached a rather more concerning item on the pile.

_**"**__**Step into the fire..."**_

_**"**__**One to lead them all, and corral warring men."**_

_**"**__**Guide all through hell and back."**_

_**"**__**Tip-toe on the borders of life and death, and take on the risks no-one else can bear."**_

The voices repeated like a bad hangover. Just what was going on? A dream with so little in it, yet one which made him shiver in worry. He wasn't even sure on what he remembered, let alone how it started and ended. Even the voices kept changing.

But he did remember them once having sounded familiar. Somehow. And that warmth, that fiery warmth throughout, an odd warmth since he had never done anything but see and hear in dreams before. A pillow to the head, a kiss on the lips or the smell of Sora's fragrance always drew him back into reality rather than forming part of his imagination.

"Tai?" He snapped out of it, and there she was. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…oh, yeah, just…thinking about everything."

"Matt'll be fine."

He nodded loosely, glancing around the 'nerve centre', in reality just a few disassembled phones, some wires, and a laptop. "Izzy, can you guys send back: 'that's awesome. We're in the Kabuki Village in the Southern Region, and we'll make our own way back too.'"

"Okay. Out of curiosity, what way back _are_ you thinking of?" his ginger friend asked as he wrote out the Morse code.

"Add 'when we can'. Besides, we'll come up with something today – I'm so sure I can smell it."

"I think that's your clothes…"

"Thanks Sora."

* * *

**Rei Matsuki**

* * *

"I don't think I can keep waiting."

"Dad, I don't want you to go out and get hurt if she's just here somewhere. I don't want to lose you. Tai said he wanted us to stick together until we'd searched this place." Rei glanced aside to the home assigned to the Matsuki-Nonaka parents, the door half open. Rumiko and Seiko chatted to the Matsuki parents and Kristy, the missing girl's mother looking just as worried, if not more so, than the Gogglehead. Talking to Takato's parents – particularly Mie who unsurprisingly had quite emotionally taken to her future daughter-in-law – probably wasn't helping. Kristy, meanwhile, was engaged in another game with Rejimon and (reluctantly) Kudamon, trying to ignore the chaos going on about her. Thank Goddramon for Seiko, as always looking a bit calmer, even if beneath she was probably just as much of a cauldron of emotions. Rei wished she could reassure them that the girl was safe, that her own existence was proof, but she didn't even know if her own future existed anymore, and that was increasingly looking like a bad thing.

Realmon pointed out a hand from where she perched atop the time traveller's head. "And the news is spreading like wildfire. If she's round here, they'll find her. And, be honest, Renamon and the Renamon are much better searchers than you."

"But we've got Guilmon, and we know the scent vanishes at the edge of the village. She could be anywhere in the Digital World. I feel like we're just wasting our time searching around here." Below, in Takato's arms, Rey looked up curiously, taking in all the faces about her. Her older form was glad she was too young to remember anything. Her life right now was complicated enough without a mind-bending paradox ripping through her, particularly since it took all of her self-discipline to avoid interacting with her younger self. She was just so adorable!

"**If she's not tied and gagged at the hands of one of the villainous creatures here, then I have to agree."**

"You have a sick mind Chaos," Realmon complained. Why did he always have to bring down the tone so much? From sweet babies to disturbing fantasies. Chaos had no limits in what he could say. Thank the guy on high pulling the strings that her father was there to limit what his alter-ego could do.

"**Hey, that's the last thing in the universe that would turn me on. But I don't live in denial. She's either here in some sadomasochistic Renamon's home, or something got her outside."**

"But Chaos, I didn't smell anyone else out there," Guilmon raised a claw.

"She could've flown," Rei suggested.

"Then she was running away," Takato mourned, dipping his head sadly. "I really think they're wasting their time searching in that forest."

"Then where is she?"

"I don't know…Renamon?"

Rei raised an eyebrow, before she twisted around. The Digimon had landed, or materialised, and now stood there, her eyes fraught with worry.

"We have to go well beyond this village."

"Yeah."

"Dad, what are you playing at? We're already split up enough…if we lose you too, we'll never get home."

"If we get lost, Guilmon can smell and retrace our tracks. I'm a God, and Renamon can more than take care of herself," Takato said with that gusto he could occasionally muster up in moments of extreme idiocy or courage. The problem was knowing which was which.

"Right," Guilmon inflated his Tamer's ego.

"Wait…Mom's going to be fine…I know she will…look, I'm still here. I think…" Rei defocused, lost in thought. Technically, if her mother died, then it would solve a few things, but…at the same time: her whole life would change. She'd never even heard of Rika going missing before either. Had she changed history? Or was this another thing people had decided not to tell her about?

"**Rei, no offence, but you have about as much grasp of how your time travel works as a piece of string does of the laws of thermodynamics."**

A pause, before Realmon added, "Or a pebble."

"**Go to hell."**

Rei despaired at their timing: her mother was missing here, and Takato was about to be lost too.

"Dad…you and Mom are so similar…what got her might get you."

"**My dear, I think Takato is for once actually hoping Rika's having an emo freak out."**

"Chaos, why do you always have to make her sound so insane?" Takato asked, even though he had to have known about his fiancée's erratic moves. Hell, as much as Rei loved her mother, she knew where she had gotten her temper and nature from, and Rika in this time frame wasn't as controlled and defined as the woman she knew. Anyway, given what they had learnt, why wouldn't she freak out?

"**It's in my job description."**

"If she went, why didn't she take you Mom?" Realmon interrupted, turning to face the bipedal fox. Caught off guard, she hesitated.

"Perhaps…perhaps the events of yesterday left her distraught towards me…"

"It doesn't have to be that. Maybe something or someone took her before she could get you?" Despite Takato's attempts, even this suggestion was still fairly fretful.

"So you're basically going to run out there and hope?" Rei couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sure, Takato had a habit of Gogglehead moments, but at a time when their togetherness was all they had, heading out alone to look seemed insane. Not that he couldn't handle himself, of course, or whatever came alone, but at some point they would have to move on from this village, and it was a very big Digital World (and real world) to lose another in.

"Yeah. And there's got to be more of a chance we'll find her that way than by staying here. I promised her…I'm going to promise to her at the altar I'll keep her safe…I can't let her down now." His head hung, and he saw the daughter in his arms, eliciting a sigh from his lungs. He glanced aside, and back to her. "Look…Rei…I wouldn't normally ask this, but I think my…your grandparents have gone to look for Rika," he gestured aside. Sure enough, they had vanished. "And even if they were here Rika's disappearance isn't really filling me with confidence that Rey'll be okay without a Tamer and a pretty strong Digimon to protect her. So…could you look after…you?"

"Dad…you know I can't touch myself!"

"But she's got a blanket…it worked before. And you've got all those psychic abilities if you need them…don't you?"

"Dad…"

"I know it's a lot, but…please…"

Rey peered up at Rei as the girl felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Even taking herself from her dad right now she could change history. The slightest tap on the cheek, or, heaven forbid, dropping herself, and god only knew what would happen. The Blinovitch Limitation Effect could change everything here. She had seen it before: Qilinmon and Sleipmon. This village couldn't take that much of an explosion of energy, and her timeline certainly couldn't. That time had merged Sleipmon and Qilinmon into one. God only knew what would happen if they did something. What on earth was going through her father's head?

"Give her to Kristy."

"Rika would kill me. She can badly hold Rey's head up, let alone run with her. Look, you've seen what she's like with all this, and it's really dangerous here."

Those eyes. The father who to her was lost, and to now was simply undeveloped yet. The events to come hadn't yet weighed on him, and maybe wouldn't. She felt so guilty to let him down, even if he wasn't yet that same person.

"Fine," she huffed, resigning herself to her fate, and finally reached out to the baby, Rey blissfully looking upon the world with such curious eyes. Stress passed from Takato's forehead to Rei's, her heart as ever skipping a beat as she took Rey in her arms. Surprise was followed acceptance in the child, while her future self closely checked her hands and the blanket. Good. Not even the remote possibility it was uncovered in a bad place.

"_Just don't reach out baby…" _God only knew what the outcome of a Blinovitch would be for them.

"Thank you so much. I don't know how long we'll be, but we'll be back as soon as we can," he promised. But she knew he couldn't guarantee it.

Rei nodded, but cocked an eyebrow. "What about Rejimon?"

Renamon's eyes flicked aside, before she looked curiously about the room. Even after so many years of seeing it, Rei was still surprised at Renamon's lack of active care or consideration for her daughter, particularly when Rey was being so mollycoddled. Terriermon's patch had just been so poorly programmed. It was better than nothing, at least.

"She's…I'm with Kristy," Realmon answered. Renamon nodded, letting out a slight sigh of relief, and Guilmon's ears settled from their perk.

"Could you please make sure she is safe too?"

"I will." The mini-Kyubimon's bells gently chimed as she nodded, exuding a calm that seemed completely out of place in this situation. Renamon twisted to face Takato, who nodded and glanced to Guilmon.

"Ready boy?"

"Yeah, let's go find Rika!"

"Good luck!" Rei wished. The boy bent down to Rey, gently kissing her on the forehead, and went to do the same to her older version but hesitated. He reached out to hug, but gave up for the sake for the baby and wound up simply and uncomfortably patting her on the shoulder.

Same old Takato.

"Thanks," he nodded, turning and walking to the door rapidly. As he reached it, he swivelled back, making one last request. "Can you tell my folks where I went?"

"Okay…"

"Great, thanks."

"…no, actually, wait!" she called, but it was too late. "Damn it!" The most horrible of jobs, but she resigned herself that it was the least she could do in the circumstances. _"Besides looking after me. Does that make me selfish?"_

A flash of bioemergence came in through the paper windows, as a thump hit the ground. No doubt some of the villagers wanted to run from Chaos' mega form, or, indeed, the form of a Royal Knight. A double threat.

Rey shuffled in her arms. "So…me…what can I do with you…me?" The baby stared up at her with wide eyes, bringing a wide smile to her face. "I'm so cute…"

She quickly checked that no-one was watching. That was a weak, girly moment, and not one she wanted shared with all about.

"_So my mother's daughter…" _She settled down on a low table with utmost of care, it creaking as she gently, through the blanket, shifted Rey in her arms for better holding. In response, the girl shuffled a bit, and inadvertently brought the worst idea possible her elder form's mind. "Oh Christ, please don't doodle! I can't clean it up…Blinovitch would go berserk!"

Thank Goddramon she stopped fidgeting after a few moments, without a smell.

"_Crisis averted…phew…"_

But what would she do? Burping? Crying? She couldn't feed her, let alone physiologically. She rapidly realised just how little experience she had with kids, and how the grown-ups would always take them away to be 'dealt with' as soon as any problem arose. How was she to know? What was going through Takato's mind?

And that was when she was certain. Rika hadn't run away. She had been taken. She may have been erratic, but she wasn't as bad a mother as to leave her daughter here without any way of being fed or anything.

"Rika…please be alright…I promise I'll keep Rey safe…"

But she couldn't say the same for herself. Something still unnerved her. Something deep down left her with a held breath, something she remembered distinctly from the day before.

* * *

"So you can predict the future?"

"I wish. I haven't any control over what I see or hear. I don't know what causes it. But yeah, sometimes I can."

"Do you know any more about me?"

"You know so much pain. And you will know so much more. And…a girl…you will meet a girl."

"A girl? What do you mean?"

"I really don't know. But you'll meet someone. Someone who shouldn't be in this world. Someone who will change your life."

"When? And who?"

"I don't…"

"Is her name Ivy Winters?"

"I don't know."

* * *

"There's one last thing…one last thing I know…one last thing I feel."

"What?"

"Rei…this girl…when you meet her...your time will come to an end."

"An end…wait…you don't mean…I'm going to die?"

"I don't know."

* * *

All this time travelling.

All this speculating: was she having an impact or not?

All this immersion in everything going on around her.

In it all, she kept forgetting: she, here and now, was mortal. Nothing was making sure she'd get back to her future. This valiant quest had once sounded so brave, so worthy, but now it increasingly seemed pointless. She wasn't having a good effect; everything seemed like her fault. Hell, if she hadn't even got involved, everything would've easily worked out. If she'd just gone and solved things when they arose, they'd have worked out. What was she doing getting herself so attached?

Rey silently stared up at her. Did she know they were the same? No tears, no fear, no nothing. Or maybe it was just because she looked like her mother. Still…what if this was always going to happen? If so, she had met herself before, held herself before, and she couldn't harm herself no matter what she tried, but everything she was doing here was pointless. If it could change, then what would happen, and what, more importantly, was keeping this baby safe from harm?

"Me."

Realmon was now on the ground, staring curiously up at her random remark. She shook her head.

"Don't worry."

* * *

**Renardmon**

* * *

Defined calves bound by string extended as hawkish eyes peered out from the top of a tree. They searched around for something – anything - that would give an indication as to where Rika had gone. The wood teemed with searchers, proving to be more of a hindrance than a help as every movement turned out to be a red herring.

Renardmon scowled. Soon enough the light would flick to darkness again, and their search would become even more difficult.

As he leapt down, he wondered what he was doing this for. Was it on The Priestess' orders, even though he found himself with no respect left for their great leader? Was it for Renamon, a friend who had cast him aside? Was it for the glory of Harmony, even if her current incarnation's arrival had only proved to dispel the great myths and infallibilities around their no-longer-sacred village?

Something stepped out from the cloaked bushes at the entrance to the village, something tall and red, and which sent shivers down the spine of the Digimon, but he advanced when he saw a shorter, yellow figure next to the Royal Knight. He felt uneasy when he saw the prominent Digital Hazard symbol, but he made his presence known by rushing to catch up and landing as casually as he could in front of the pair. He didn't want them to know he'd put so much effort in to trying to talk to them.

"Oh, hey Renamon? And…"

"It's me – I biomerged with Guilmon." Takato's voice emanated from Gallantmon, to the Digimon's surprise.

"Hi!" Renardmon found himself smiling at the other, more childish voice, yet how something so innocent could cause the destruction that Megidramon once raged was beyond him.

Meanwhile, nothing came from Renamon's lips, even as he coursed his eyes across her and repeated "hi Renamon."

"I figure that none of you have found anything?" He shook his head.

"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack full of Digimon looking like needles looking for a needle in a haystack."

"**That was a terrible analogy."**

"Yeah." Renardmon chuckled uneasily, the voice sending more instinctive chills down his spine than the Hazard symbol ever could. "I really don't think she'll be here though…I heard you said that the tracks ended just outside?"

"Rika can fly." Renamon was short with him.

"Oh. But couldn't she be anywhere then?"

"That's why we're going out to look for her."

"Need any help?"

"No."

"Any advances on that or…?"

"Keep her safe," she bit sharply, before averting her gaze and pretending that something over his shoulder was more important. Renardmon was taken aback by the comment, thinking he knew what she meant, but having to make sure. "Promise me."

"Do you mean…?"

"Renamon…The Priestess…" No eye contact. "She's a stupid idiot…but she's important. I may have moved on from here long ago, but I don't want to see any of you get hurt if she gets hurt." A frown was plastered clear-as-day on her face even when it would've been invisible to anyone else. "Especially not you. The good old days are dead enough already."

That was the closest to a friendly chat he knew he was going to get out of her now. He felt like he should've been appreciative, but he just couldn't. The pair of them, both Renamon, were so far above him now that they didn't even need to spare him the time of day (let alone what he and The Priestess had done when she had an urge with him in the vicinity). He didn't feel grateful at being tossed a coin of pity now, and instead felt tinges of anger. He suppressed them, knowing it wouldn't help.

"Thanks…I promise."

"We'll be back soon…" Gallantmon saluted. "If you guys are, uh…"

"We're done," Renamon stated. Renardmon had a feeling that Gallantmon hadn't the faintest clue what was going on between them.

"See you soon," he said to his old friend.

"See you," Renamon replied, before turning and leading Gallantmon away. Renardmon kept watching as the pair headed up through the clearing.

Gone again. Gone to that wide outside world of which he could only dream, while he was left, left with a task that meant he could never do the same. He found himself admiring DarkRenamon for running away, Renamon for staying away, and even The Priestess for doing something with her life, even if she hadn't a choice. So much more to them.

Renardmon sighed and began to walk, stepping back into the undergrowth to fish around for someone he just knew wouldn't be there. Why was he bothering? What was he expecting t…?

"Good morning."

His spine locked and tingled. How hadn't he sensed a thing of that figure sneaking up on him? Twisting round, he cursed that he didn't have the powers of a Renamon, and met a new face.

A human face.

"Hello?"

"Let's see… Renardmon, Data Type, Rookie Level, attacks are Sharp Foot, Data Punch and Dagger Storm…interesting, a variant of Renamon," the male noted, gazing over what looked like a digivice on his wrist. Funny colour though – the others' ones weren't grey, right?

"I don't remember you from the group in the village," Renardmon eyed the man up and down, the voice reminding him of Ryder's. His face was creaseless, and actually looked remarkably relaxed. He wore black clothing, apart from a second white layer underneath and a folded piece of red fabric just around his neck. He would have to ask about human clothing at some point, for this outfit faintly reminded him of that worn by one or two of the humans in the village right now.

The man stepped forward, taking it slightly slowly on one leg. "I am a new recruit."

"Of the Tamers?"

"…yes. Could you take me to your leader? I think we need to have a chat. Something is amiss with your village."

"The Priestess? I don't think she'll just talk to a random person. Do you want to talk to one of the Tamers?"

The black-haired man grimaced, nervously adjusting his bow tie as he glanced over Renardmon's shoulder. "No, it is of paramount importance that I see this Priestess right this instant."

"And it is important that I make sure she's safe. She's central to our whole village. We couldn't cope without her."

"Oh." The man's disappointment seemed unreal, Renardmon taking a slight step back as he wondered why the proliferation of Renamon hadn't turned up here too to confirm his unease. "It would be such a shame to lose her then?" He had said it a little too loudly for Renardmon's liking, before his fingers smacked together in an unusual fashion. "We have better make sure that doesn't happen."

Purple feathers gripped Renardmon's mouth and neck as the unknown stepped forward, grinning scarily.

"Calm down. I'm here to help. I'm here to change everything." He put his hand on Renardmon's tensed shoulder as the fox struggled. "Infiltration."

"What was that?" He found his body relaxing. Just what had he been so riled up about? This man was perfectly trustable.

"I didn't say anything. Now, I don't suppose there's any chance of meeting The Priestess? I would go alone, but I'm afraid I haven't the faintest clue how to get in. Your shield is terribly good."

"Are you kidding? _You_ don't even have to ask," Renardmon smiled. A man of this importance didn't need to go through anyone else: he was as critical to the survival of their village as The Priestess was. The sooner he saw her, the better.

"Terrific. Lead the way!"

* * *

**Lindsay Campbell**

* * *

"For Christ's sake let me out of this chair now before they're all killed!" She rallied her wrists against the cuffs, biting her lip as the pains kept repeating. Why hadn't she paid more attention to all those cheesy escape shows on TV? _"What I'd do for Houdini to show up now…"_ "They're trapped down there!"

"Until those abominations stop running amok, we cannot reopen that door." Mr Stark spoke so precisely and unemotional that he may as well have been a news reader from a bygone era, yet as he spat the 'A' word he flashed ever so briefly into the emotional reporting of the present day. He stared at a bank of CCTV screens, relaying horrifying images from far below into the safety of the control room.

"More so than you think: that door will be locked for 24 hours now," Christopher 'Babel' Newton grimly said.

"We're their only hope; we have to get them out of there now!"

"Lindsay, don't…" 'Babel' hissed, but it was just that little bit too loud.

But what was wrong with?

Oh.

Oh no.

Christopher's typical cool edge evaporated as he swallowed uneasily under Elgar's stare. "Don't _what _precisely?"

"Nothing."

Elgar began to stride around the trio of programmers, one hand in his pocket while the other made sharp gestures. "Hmm…I was under the impression that we had no other choice. But clearly you have a backup plan to discuss." He came to a stop in front of Rai, looking her in the eyes. "Either than, or your organisation is contemptibly incompetent."

"We just help out – we're not part of SDCO!"

He gripped the sides of her chair and shook it abruptly, before freezing as she fearfully looked back. "Three people will _die_ here if we don't stop those Digimon! Three of _your _friends!"

"Don't do that to…" Lindsay began to object, but Elgar simply turned, rage brimming in his eyes. His voice dipped to a snarl. "I don't think Jeff is that stupid, so _tell me _what backup you have!"

Silence. Utter silence.

Mr Stark's expensive-looking leather gained a dent as he rammed his foot into Christopher's chair angrily, before pointing sharply at one of his agents. "Weinstein, do a search on that computer!"

Why weren't they telling him? Lindsay screamed at herself, even though she knew the answer. They could save Jeff in an instant, they could've had control over the situation, they could've tried to subvert everything.

But they, more likely than not, would lose the Digimon.

The clattering of her handcuffs intensified, and she wanted to scream in frustration and the soreness of her wrists, but she resolutely refused. Nothing to give this sick man that pleasure, when he already seemed to rile in the pleasure of wiping out innocent creatures.

At the back of her mind, she knew he was just doing his job. But he didn't have to take this much enjoyment from it, and throw such vitriol at them.

The clattering clearly just egged him on.

"For what Sir?"

"Containment Level 3."

She gasped, and he turned around to face her, grinning sickly, and inadvertently confirming for him what he suspected. "Level 2 is lockdown, so Level 3…hmm, total destruction of the whole project? This is why we use code names at the FBI. Avoids our opponents easily outwitting us."

"Stop! You'll destroy innocent lives and all our research!" Metal banged against metal as Babel jolted forward, to no avail.

Elgar walked silently towards him, before practically spitting in his face. "Innocent? I deal with so many cases of people reporting Digimon, their attacks, even deaths…for Christ's sake, you employed one of the survivors here to keep her quiet!" He smashed his hands down on the arms of Christopher's chair before taking a few steps back as the African-American looked ready to headbutt him. "Your department is as out of control as those Digimon downstairs…so I am putting a stop to it before any more innocent citizens die."

"What about the Digimon?" Rai asked.

"It is the duty of government to protect its citizens. Digimon are wild animals."

"Sir, I found it," the agent spoke up. Mr Stark nodded.

"What does it say?"

"It deploys Yuggoth within the basement."

"Don't…" Lindsay began. But it was a waste of breath.

"Then activate it, now."

"No!" shouted the three Monster Makers. For a brief moment the agent, Weinstein, glanced to them, and Lindsay dearly hoped that in his heart he had even the slightest sense that following orders in this case was not the best thing. But, with a glance to his boss, the man went back to his training, and something which had been drilled into him for so long.

Compliance.

"Yes Sir."

Down went the return key.

"Activated."

* * *

**The Priestess**

* * *

It was an odd sight, one that one would never expect to see. The Priestess stared out on the world around her with glazed eyes, a world she was glorified as having perfect knowledge of, a world she should've observed through prayer. But her staff, instead, lay at her side along one of the grand temple's steps, the base an uncounted number below. The village teemed with life still, and life now far more heterogeneous than it had ever been before. The arrival of the Tamers, and the secret they unveiled, had brought shame on the village, and a great toll on its leader. The holy blessing of the creator herself visiting was tainted by the murky past of her partner, the heresy of who her current incarnation had consummated with, and her current absence. Practically every fit villager now hunted for her, some still in the homes while the bulk had now moved out into the forests beyond, the best and the worst trackers equally employed and leaving the ill and the human and the young in their wake.

As she watched, an egg hatched, drawing another poor soul out into these changing times.

Could even have been one of hers.

But for childhood she wished, a time before the pleasures of the patch and the price of being Priestess, a time she could get away with anything and not worry about the weight of the world, and a mentality she reverted to more and more now as she found herself unable to deal with the world today.

The weight of so many lay on her shoulders. The villagers, the Tamers… Her fingers gently tapped upon her flat stomach. Her. The girl whose name was lost in her mind. All those prophecies she told, and yet she wondered what lay in the girls' future – a lifetime of servitude within the belly of a beast, a creature who had kidnapped her solely for her misery. What future would she have?

Her mask dipped as she cursed the morals the newcomers had brought. Ignorance was bliss…

She winced as the image of a redhead spread on the floor returned to her vision, a memory of a prophecy. More flashed across her eyes: the girl Rei would meet, her demise. Ryder's loss. The deaths, the misery, the pain, and yet blurred in a world she couldn't even be certain on any more.

Was this place even real? She looked over her human hand, something she was half grateful for and half resentful of. Was Rei really going to die? The sight of her on that floor, all that blood, was so painful and sickening to behold. And then there were those things she had no prophecy for yet, not least her own life. Would the village still want her as a leader after all this?

Voices neared. A footstep, a footstep, upon the old case. A pause. "Priestess?"

Pandora. The boy who made her question everything she thought she knew.

"Priestess," DarkRenamon appeared a few steps below her, only giving the lightest of bows. The boy chased after MiniDonmon as he fluttered up the stairs, and the fox turned to him, her head tilted.

"_She seems…confused…" _the holy leader of the village pondered as she gazed upon the black fox. The bewilderment was almost…familiar. The glances to the hands, the gazes at the world, the curiosity towards Ryder…

She knew.

"Any luck finding her?" Ryder grimaced as he came to a stand a few steps below, a faint whiff of something from him catching her nose.

"Nothing. Why aren't you looking?"

"I was. But all the Renamon keep giving me the feeling that I'm getting in the way. I was going to go look outside in a moment, but…I couldn't help but see you up here looking all…sad."

She grimaced. What a wordsmith he was. "I'm sorry, it's just everyone's so worried that they want to keep searching for their creator."

"And what about you?"

"I'm…I'm worried about everything. Gallantmon and Renamon just left – I saw them. Either they've had enough of me, or they're going to look for her."

Ryder glanced over to the bushes where the perception filter lay, humming disapprovingly. "Doesn't seem like a good idea for us all to get split up."

"Mmm…I am surprised how much it irks me, considering how little as I _should _care for him. Then again, all the constants I know have gone recently."

DarkRenamon glanced to the boy. "Ryder, does she…?"

"Yeah. And I think Rei might know too, but…she doesn't say…" He put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I wish she wrote a diary or something. Right now I think I could solve a lot of my troubles by reading one. Then again, it's not like the last one helped me much."

"Mmm," The Priestess hummed. She had been right.

"Are you going to come out and look too?" DarkRenamon questioned, practically looking down her nose at the holy one. It was not a sensation she was used to.

"I feel like I should but every time..." She began to whisper. "Every time the Elder advises me not to…and then I worry. This whole village is built on me, I can't risk it like that."

"There must be some way you can help," MiniDonmon suggested, far more cheerful than the rest.

"Whatever it may be, I do not believe it will come from standing here watching," she reverted to politeness. In her head, she herself couldn't tell why, something just clicked, a feeling of how she _should_ act and what she _should_ do, rather than what she felt was right or how she wanted to. "Would you like to come inside?"

* * *

A long creak, and the door closed by an unknown hand. DarkRenamon looked surprised she didn't have to get it herself, before she gazed about at the wonder of the chamber about her. "It's…extravagant."

But she didn't sound too happy about it. She was, evidently, another of those who felt that the luxury of The Priestess was unfair, and broke her from the rest. Remembering who she once was, The Priestess found herself torn between agreement and the pleasures this new life bequeathed upon her.

The black vixen crossed to the fountain and gazed in, placing a paw to her face.

She span. "Ryder, reflections!"

"What about them?"

"If it's a coma, you wouldn't see your own face, right? Or can you dream of yourself?"

"I don't know if that's proof – I've dreamt of weirder things before."

DarkRenamon's shoulders sank while her paws clenched with frustration. "Oh…"

"I see you haven't changed your…" The Priestess began, but underneath her mask her nostrils flared. Something was off. Was it just that he was wearing his clothes again?

Oh. No. Wait.

It was familiar.

"I see."

"What?"

"More…I smell."

"Oh? Oh…" Ryder blushed slightly with embarrassment. "Is it really that noticeable?"

"You smell of Mari."

He slapped his forehead and cringed. "God, remind me to stay away from Guilmon until I get a bath."

"You could go and have one now with Mari."

"Well I think we'll do it normally a few more times before we move on to stuff like…hold on, what?"

"Mari. She's in my bath."

"Why?"

"I saw her from the steps earlier after everything began to go wrong, and she smelt a bit like you. She just asked if we had anywhere to wash, I didn't even think that was it until just now. Did it prove what you hoped?"

"No."

"Oh?"

"Well…it felt real, but so does everything…" Ryder dithered, looking uneasily at his shoes. Humans could be so odd.

"Isn't that proof?"

"I don't know."

By now, MiniDonmon looked thoroughly confused, and fluttered in between his Tamer and the holy one. "Ryder, what's going on? Why do you smell?"

"Well…Mari and I kind of had sex last night."

"Really? Wait, why didn't you tell me?"

"Hold on, are you serious?" DarkRenamon's eyes widened, her orbs practically blinking with light as she stood in front of the creature. "Wasn't it obvious? I took you away from it all, we didn't come back all night, I threw you in the pond to shut you up about the flowers, we slept outside together."

"Yeah, but I thought you and me were just…never mind. Ryder, isn't sex that thing you and everyone on TV are always talking about?"

"Yeah…but you make me sound like a pervert."

"So…Mari's pregnant now? I'm an Uncle!"

"No!" he cried. "I mean, I bloody well hope not, I've got enough on my plate right now." Catching DarkRenamon's judgemental gaze, he raised his hands defensively in her direction. "I mean, not that I wouldn't support her or love that, it'd just be my luck if that…uh…happened." He sighed, twisting to MiniDonmon. "Thanks a lot mate…"

"Hey, I just wanted to be an uncle."

"How on…you know what, never mind."

"I still do not understand why this is such a big deal," The Priestess shrugged, bewildered by the drama playing out in front of her. What was wrong with sex? Why was Ryder so embarrassed about it? She'd done it plenty of times with no problems since the patch. Hell, it was probably one of the few advantages of the new regime. Clearly, this was just another of those human cultural oddities - probably another one they would force upon them too, like with so much else. Accepting Chaos as a friend, making them feel guilty about the way they saved their village all those years ago. Not helped by their inexplicable trickle of knowledge from beyond this small village, she wound up inevitably being just as conscious about it all as they wanted. Why did they have to steal one of the last pleasures of her life? Even eating had been trivialised by the amount they ate, and news of how in the real world it was somehow obligatory. The guilt she had felt at the waste.

"It's hard to explain."

"Then what's pregnant?"

"It's when a woman is going to have a child," DarkRenamon explained.

"That's it? I've pushed out tons of eggs in my time. It freaked me out tons at first, I've woken up plenty of times with ones there. But who cares? They just go with the rest of the ones around the village." At least a half dozen or so of the Renamon here probably had 'royal' blood.

"It's not exactly that," Ryder explained, slow with his words as he twitched nervously. "It's like an egg, but it'd be…inside her," he gestured. "And when it's born we'd have to care for him or her, which might be a problem for me and Mari because…well…we have this thing in the real world called money that…actually, you know what, never mind."

Beneath her mask, the Priestess raised an eyebrow. "Ryder, you are possibly the most confusing being I've ever met."

"You should see me on a weekday."

"A week…day?"

"Never mind."

"…so, why don't you use the lake water? Is it clean?" DarkRenamon wondered, breaking the awkward silence.

"For what?" The Priestess replied, feeling like she knew where this was going. Did she have to justify everything?

"To wash."

"I think it is. I just have my own facility…that's all."

"I might have one too once she's out," Ryder noted.

Another oddity. "Why not go now?"

"Because…again, just don't worry, it's hard to explain."

She gave him a dismissive snort. Some things she'd never understand.

"I'm surprised that none of the other houses have bathrooms." The Priestess increasingly wanted to simply tell her darker friend to shut up, as much as her younger self agreed in principle, and her older self was begrudgingly polite.

"It is primarily a luxury for the head of the village."

"I see. Another luxury," the vixen muttered, glancing to the main door. "Could you tell me where Mari is? I think I need to talk to her about a lot of things."

The Priestess couldn't help but feel happy to see the back of her. "Go through that door, down the staircase a floor, and it will be second on the left." What was with former residents and being so cynical about this place? What was wrong with a bit of luxury? She'd been through all this stress – she'd earned it, hadn't she?

Hadn't she? As much as she tried, the new her couldn't quite justify it to the old.

The black fox bowed lightly, exiting as quietly and gracefully as any fully paid up member of their community. Sakuyamon breathed a sigh of relief, before she felt the heat of a glare from the human and his partner.

"You guys have been here a day and you've already made me feel like I'm evil, don't make a big deal out of this _too_!"

"I didn't say anything," he shrugged. He had to have been thinking it though. These days she felt like anyone could backstab her and everyone was talking about her. Thinking was a given. "We got into contact with our other friends, by the way. They're in Bolton, in the Northern Region."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"You're talking about a really long way. Particularly since _someone_ killed Yggdrasil and took away all the transport…"

The bitterness was intentional, and she felt some dark pleasure as he replied with an awkward "oh…I see." Reminding the Tamers they were far from pure in intention or outcome was good, particularly when it involved reminding them their actions did not go unnoticed. The Priestess was not the only one to feel the (unfortunate) creation of Goddramon on that fateful day, and certainly was not the only one to have heard the details. Rika and Takato were hypocrites: why was she wrong for figuratively killing someone else to save a whole village if their holy masters were right to literally kill a single being to save just themselves? And the ramifications…the Digital World just wasn't the same now. What made it work was gone. The Patch did little to help. And the creation of Goddramon had done damage even where Yggdrasil's demise hadn't.

But why would Harmony do such a thing? She had to have a good interest at heart. She knew what was right, and The Priestess knew she was heretical to doubt her. She would gladly lay down her own life to protect the Goddess, and if the universe knew what good she had done they would all line up to do likewise. Rika…well, she only mattered because she shared a body with Harmony.

Chaos could burn in a pit of agony for all eternity for all she cared. 'Should', in fact, although she could admit Takato wasn't such a bad guy.

"Sorry. That was harsh," guilt forced her to say.

"It's fine, we don't consider consequence enough. But we don't know as much about the world."

"Yeah – Yggdrasil is probably just a coma metaphor for your sanity anyway. No wonder he got blown up!" MiniDonmon mimed, yet his voice was racked with cynicism at the whole affair. Perhaps The Priestess could convince him to her side, given they shared a common ground. Then again, so did everyone in this universe…except Ryder.

As nice a guy he was, if The Priestess had the choice to give such a fateful decision to someone, she wouldn't have picked him.

"Firstly: are you joking or what?" Ryder asked his partner.

"Guess."

"Whatever. Secondly, sanity? I have plenty of sanity!"

"We're in a village of foxes being chased by an evil government man."

"That's not too…"

"You can't die."

"Yeah, but…"

"You have a girlfriend."

"Touché. You sound so much like me right now it's…"

"Don't!"

"...sorry," Ryder mumbled. The chord had been struck, and The Priestess could tell this would divide the pair forever unless they resolved it.

The bitter silence hung in the room, yet like the worse silences it hammered at her ears, pushed on her arms, played with her mouth. She wished to say something, anything, to move away from the awkward situation. It was worse than one of Renamon and Renardmon's fall outs.

A shudder.

Too much of a blast from the past. No more.

"Ryder…who is Ivy?"

Never before had she seen such a rapid reaction. The bewildered eyes, the cocked eyebrow, the calculating teeth biting at a lip. "Why do you ask?"

"Rei asked me about an 'Ivy Winters'…guess it rings a bell."

"Huh? But…she _knows_ who Ivy is, why would she need to ask?"

"Well…" Something felt very unnerving about this. His reaction was far too abrupt, his eyes betraying deep thought, must like Taijimon on those rare occasions when they had played Shogi. Quickly she regretted remembering him say the name before. Why hadn't she just let it pass by like any other?

But Rei had mentioned it. And that tickled her mind in just the wrong way.

"I was telling her about this…prediction." The words came out carefully, measuring the impact of each syllable. "And she asked if it was Ivy."

"What was the prediction?" If that had been curiosity, now he was a full-blown interrogator, his voice suppressing anger.

Surely not at her? What on earth had she uncovered? _"Damn it, of course Pandora would be like this. Don't open the box, idiot." _"I saw a girl…a girl who would come and change her life."

"Oh, that's very Ivy."

"Who is this _Ivy_?"

"She's…my ex," he mumbled awkwardly.

"Your ex?"

"Ex-girlfriend. Sorta. We never actually went out but…"

"He wishes," MiniDonmon whispered.

"Girlfriend?" The Priestess was stumped.

"Anyway…I don't get how she could change Ivy's life. She's a time traveller, it shouldn't be that easy."

"I…I felt another prediction about that." The Priestess' head sank. So much for Ryder giving some answers. "Rei's time is going to end at the hands of this girl."

"Ivy?"

"I don't know, it's just a name to me. It may not even be her, Rei was just wondering. What does this Ivy look like?"

"Free blonde hair…sorta…_this_ height," he gestured. "Slightly…built…with breasts…a bit smaller than yours, I guess…"

The Priestess closed her eyes, straining to remember. "Sorry, I just can't see it in that much detail. It's such a fuzzy feeling, like it's not quite resolved yet. All I know is that there will be a girl. Well…that and…don't worry…" she said, wincing as the mental image once again splayed itself across her mind's eye.

"Well…? Tell me! Please! This could be _vitally_ important!"

"I saw a redhead."

"Rei?"

"Looked like her. And…she was splayed out…on this surface. She looked hurt, and she was bleeding. Bleeding to death. And her wings…they were just so…damaged…it hurt to see it."

"Rei!" MiniDonmon exclaimed.

"Yeah, this is serious, we have to tell…" Ryder began, before he took a step back, blood draining from his face. "Oh god…oh shit…"

"What?" The Priestess was thrown for a loop by this reaction, the boy looking ready to be sick. She mentally said a short prayer to Harmony.

Oh no.

"Rika!"

Nothing more was said. Nothing more needed to be said. Feet pounded towards the door, while bat wings fluttered hard to keep up. As they ran down the hallway, Sakuyamon reached out a mental chord.

"_Elder…I mean, Taomon. Rika may be in mortal danger. I prophesied a redhead with wings bleeding to death, and I fear we may be too late. We cannot let her die. We need Harmony. Right now we need her protection more than ever before."_

"_Understood, I will spread the message."_

"_Thank you." _"I've told Taomon. She's going to spread the news. At least we know what we're looking for now."

"Wait, do we?" Ryder stopped, a few paces back from the main staircase up from the lower levels of the temple. "Rika's still badly lost."

"Hold on…I'll try my best to remember…" The Priestess stopped too, pressing a human hand into her masked forehead and closing her eyes below. The vision from the day before had to come back, it had to get stronger. But it was so brief. She tried to think around the vision, where was Rika? If it was Rika, that was. "Blood, grey stones, well, slabs…"

"Slabs?"

"…yes?" she questioned. Ryder's eyes burned with new intrigue, but whether that was a good or a bad…

"Sounds like a city. Crap."

Bad thing. "Domain?"

"Or Tokyo, or New York, or London, or…dammit, so many places."

"The real world?"

"Ryder, we can't search the whole real world," MiniDonmon insisted, as his partner nodded.

"You're right…" Ryder groaned, hand against his head. "Right, we'll start with what we can. Even if the prediction doesn't come true today, it's a start for where to look. Up for a flight to Domain?"

"Well, yeah but…shouldn't we get Mari first?"

"Oh."

Why had she said that? With the pair now looking at her in confusion, she floundered for words, pondering how precisely she could explain her reaction.

"Sorry, I had forgotten something important."

"About Mari?" Ryder's twisted enthusiasm for the search had gone, replaced with a twisted search for answers.

"Yes."

"What about her?"

"She's not…normal Ryder. She doesn't feel it."

"Not…normal?" Ryder had an unnerving piercing glaze, but whether it was out of concern for his girlfriend or offense at the insinuation she could not be sure.

"Well, at least, something bothers me about her. Something…off."

"In what way?"

"Well…I felt it before, but…earlier, I called her over here for a closer feel. She was heading to the lake – she wasn't going anywhere near this place. And she was running too; I guess she'd heard about Rika. I suppose I should've let her go help. But…I saw her, and shouted…probably more than I should have, and…"

"And?"

"Just…even with her closer I couldn't work it out. Something is just not right about her. Look, I don't want to confirm your theories, and I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about this…I need to sense her more when she returns from the baths. I didn't get much of a chance last time before she asked about washing and I had to let her go and use mine."

"She seems perfectly normal and human to me." Ryder almost sounded offended. Which was ironic, given in the short time The Priestess had known him head practically queued up to deny the Second Angel's existence at every opportunity. "She felt perfectly normal last night, outside and in…"

Something about the look in his eyes bugged her, but far less than what bugged her about Mari. "I did not mean it like that. I do not mean that she is not human, or sexually normal, or even outside your cultural norms." She found herself falling back on stoic language to distance herself from what she felt was a touchy subject. "When I talked to her earlier, it felt like there was something different about her to the rest of you humans. Something…less."

"Less than human?"

"No. She is human, I can tell that, even if she is also part-Angel. I do not sense people's physical appearance, and I think you probably know more than me about that part of her, but I would not say she is inhuman, or even less."

"Then what?"

"I don't know…but I sense lives. And just, something about hers bothers me. I just can't work it out. Something's missing."

"Prophecies?"

"Well, she has less than you but so does almost everyone.

"What were Mari's?"

"Compared to you she's a candle next to the sun." Things she had never witnessed were coming up in her normal dialogue. This was not good. Not good at all. Why hadn't she just said 'earth orb'? "I couldn't avoid yours, they shouted at me! Mari's were like a whisper, and…

"Are you talking about me?"

There she was, at the top of the stairs now beside them. The devil herself: a confused expression on her face, and a towel brushing through her hair. DarkRenamon followed shortly after, only highlighting Mari's general dampness, from the loss of brilliance on the numbers on her top to the fizziness of her hair.

"Feeling cleaner now?" Ryder changed the subject.

Mari shot his attempt down, and pressed on regardless. "I forgot how loud you talked. So what was that about?"

"Uh…what did you hear?" MiniDonmon asked the girl and her partner.

"Smart talking," Ryder flicked him in mid-air.

"I don't know, that's why I'm _asking_."

"Uh…"

The Priestess debated whether or not to tell Mari, but quickly decided against it, and instead searched out with her mind. There had to be something to find here, something important. Her history, her whole life, just what was it?

"_Priestess."_

"Yes?"

"I really don't know how to begin to explain Mar…wait…Priestess?"

"Yes? Oh, wait, sorry…meant to telepath that…" As much as she was cursing herself for being so distracted and useless, he couldn't have looked more relieved at the well-timed interruption. Mari, on the other hand, simply looked irritated as she finished drying her hair. _"Yes?"_

"_We have a visitor outside the temple." _She tilted her head, the four others crowding around to look her in the eyes inquisitively.

"_A visitor?"_

"_Renardmon's brought the visitor. I…think you should come and see, he says it is urgent. It is another human."_

"_Will be right there." _"Another of your friends I presume?"

Mari looked from side to side, confused. "Who is?"

"Taomon says some human has turned up. Renardmon brought him. He's just outside, if you want to go and say…I mean…you both look really worried…"

"Who is it?"

"I guess it's another Tamer? How do I know?" she shrugged, taking a step forward along the aromatic hallway but pausing again as they failed to follow. "Are you coming?"

Mari was looking Ryder in the eyes, the boy on edge. "Ivy?"

"It's _probably_ not."

"Ugh…be certain of something for once…" The Priestess heard her mutter under her breath as she walked away from the boy. The benefits of having a powerful sense of hearing. The group resumed walking down the last few paces of the hallway, its calculated elegance of perfectly blended flower scents lost under the unrest in Sakuyamon's heart.

"It could be another Tamer," MiniDonmon posed.

"We don't really know any other Tamers," Ryder disagreed. "Not in this world, at least…"

Mari span round, snapping at something unsaid. "Ryder, I swear if you wake up, I am going to haunt your sleep every night for the rest of your lives. If I'm a cancer on your head, so be it."

"I don't know, you in my dreams, doesn't sound so bad." Even without understanding human culture as much as she probably should have, The Priestess could tell this was an unwise line.

"I'll be dressed as your grandma and I'll bring a miniature guillotine."

"Waaaaah!" he screamed, hands over his crotch protectively, as she laughed darkly.

"If that wouldn't kill the mood with Ivy, I don't know what would."

"Oh, so you know about Ivy too?"

Mari stopped. Everyone stopped. The Priestess regretted saying anything, and yet again found herself far from that door. What had happened to their hurry?

"I may have mentioned her." The temptation to leave the boy to his awkward fate was high, but the bitter sharpness to Mari' tone left The Priestess with a sense of obligation. Still, she found it hard to empathise with whatever problem this was meant to be. Did all humans resent other members of their sex this much?

"Rei did too," she added.

"Why?"

"The same reason we're now worried that Rika be going to die," Ryder explained.

"Sorry, what? Don't you want to elaborate when you say something like that?" Mari was visibly horrified.

"She had a crackpot vision of a winged redhead tasting blood and concrete," MiniDonmon explained grimly.

Sakuyamon snorted sharply, the gust knocking the Digimon's balance off slightly. "Crackpot? What cheek…"

"Well…that makes _perfect _sense…" Mari's tone had sarcasm and worry in equal measure, as the fragrant scent was replaced with the gentle breeze of the world outside the temple. "So we have to find Rika before…"

"What _the hell_ are _you_ doing here?"

Along with Ryder's shout, in the space of a moment, DarkRenamon tensed up and bared her claws, Mari drew a gun, and MiniDonmon burst into light, replaced by a snarling Donmon. What gripped at The Priestess' heart the most was watching as Renardmon's expression dropped from the proudest it had ever been to a sharp fear. The peace of the village that she was used to seemed dead and gone at the top of the steps, even if life continued as normal far below.

Who was this unknown man, standing nonchalantly at the top of the stairs in response to all of this?

"Don't move!" Mari shrieked.

"Hey, hey," the newcomer said, holding up his hands flat but keeping his fingers around his own pistol. His smile seemed completely at odds with the horror of the situation…whatever it was. The Priestess felt thoroughly confused at all of this. Was she missing something huge?

She gazed over the man. His clothes resembled ones she had seen on one of the blondes, but he wore them with such composure that she began to wonder if the weapons held by him and the brunette Tamer were real or not. She gripped her staff tight, and glimpsed back to Taomon by the doorway to the temple interior, the wizened Elder looking unnerved for the first time as she hid behind the frame.

Not a good sign.

"I was in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd pop by. Now…drop the gun…before this lovely creature drops first," he said, switching his aim to Renardmon's back. The Priestess' breath stopped, even in all her power the sight of her old friend being held hostage bringing terror to her heart. "He was so nice to lead me up here, don't make me do this."

"Renardmon, why did you let him in?" DarkRenamon asked.

Renardmon opened his mouth, but the man interjected.

"Keep quiet, there's a good boy. He was just doing what _anyone _would do in that situation."

"Please, leave him!" The Priestess exclaimed.

"Oh…you are an equal society, well done. I never expected you to talk to him. You look to be of much higher rank. Why would you bother yourself with such a…pathetic waste of time? No offense, Renardmon my old boy."

"Yes, but he's my friend!"

"Then I chose my target right."

The poor male was practically white with fear, while Donmon continued to growl viscerally in a way worryingly reminiscent of Guilmon.

"Now, let's see, close range, not enough time to use retcon, Ryder. Hey, wow, I reckon this bullet might actually clear his chest, it's not that thick. And then, who knows where it'll go…so…back down, _Mari_."

Twitching slightly, and glancing to Ryder, she reluctantly did as she was told. It clattered as it landed on the step below. The man smirked, chuckling.

"Hands on your head, tame that…beast…and then breathe…it's good for you all. Do it."

Donmon continued to glare and snarl, even as the others did as they were told. "You don't scare me!" he hissed. "I've learnt there are far deeper things to be afraid of now! If we're going to go down hurting…"

**Bang.**

The bullet barely cleared the Digimon, as The Priestess let loose a breath she didn't know she was holding. "So be it? And next time I won't miss," the man continued, clicking the gun to reload it and watching as both DarkRenamon and Donmon retreated in fear. Renardmon's moment of safety was too brief for him to do anything. "Now none of you speak unless you're spoken to. Understand?"

Silence.

"Good. You!"

The Priestess' heart stopped. Not that it was beating regularly anyway. The sight of her old friend in this bind, and the sparks gently bouncing off the bullet on the steps, dismissed her initial thoughts of mounting an attack or a shield. The gunshot would hopefully have gotten them some attention, but to what use? If they were 'saved', Renardmon would surely be shot. What could she do? _"Elder…" _she mentally whined in a way she had not done since her early days as Priestess.

"_I cannot do anything…if you don't want to risk his life…"_

She gritted her teeth and nodded, dearly wishing that the male half of the species could hear her messages. She wasn't going to risk him, but if they could co-ordinate…

"You are the leader of this village, right? All those loyal fighters at your command."

"Yes, but…how did you know that?"

"Thank you for confirming."

Crap.

"Besides, you look pretty leaderly, as much as you are in a dressing gown. Nothing wrong with dressing gowns, Arthur Dent did pretty well in one. Still, it's nice to know that Renardmon here wasn't bluffing…'cause I just couldn't be held responsible for my actions otherwise. I take a tough line on disloyalty. Ask the Tamers, they know what I'm talking about. PM goes ugh, they go haha, and I chase their arses to the end of the world. See, and I can't afford to have favourites either. Unfortunately for him, I never let friendship get in the way of duty. Now, drop the…mop…thing, and come over here."

It wasn't a mop. Why was this man so insulting? And more importantly…"why?"

"Do it. Now."

"_Priestess, this doesn't seem…"_

"_Shut up, it's Renardmon…I can't leave him," _she thought, nudging forward towards the man and his hostage after placing her staff on the step.

"There's a good girl."

"Don't patronise me, I'm powerful beyond your imagination."

"And yet crippled by something like this. How ironic."

Play for time, that's what she had to do. If she could, she could maybe intervene, cast a spell she didn't need the staff for or use pure strength to…

"You, kneel down. You, stand still."

"Huh?"

"INFILTRATION!"

Before she could think through what was happening, a hand was on her shoulder. A bang ran through the air from very close by, a girl screaming as the man yelled to "keep away from that gun!"

"Mari, just do it!" she heard Ryder yell, or at least, she thought she did. All went silent again, except for the glimpse of a kneeling Renardmon, the gun pointed down onto his skull. Even it began to blur, while a pain wreaked havoc in her mind and burnt through her limbs, forcing her to her knees.

Something grabbed at her.

Her thoughts.

Her feelings.

Pulling them in an unknown direction.

A new idea: replace yourself with Rayleigh as the leader of the village. Yet she violently resisted it, without even trying. The forces collided, and she felt her legs buckle up towards her stomach, her body curling up on the ground as a searing pain burned through her mind.

"You were all so blind to the most obvious fact," she heard a voice proclaim at close range, louder than it should've been. He was in her head, planting ideas, making her surrender herself.

But something in her violently resisted it without her even trying. The clash of mind and invader pushed her down more and more, her body curling up on the ground when he legs buckled up beneath her. Dazzled and disorientated and senses shot to bits, she prayed for the pain to cease by whatever means. It was torture in every way possible.

Stop.

It had to stop.

She tried to scream, but she couldn't.

And then it did.

Her head still rang, but the hand was gone, the pain shifted from a sharp active stab to a dull overall ache. She couldn't speak, she couldn't telepath, she couldn't move. All she did was listen, and try to look when her eyes finally began to recover. How had a human done that to her?

"You're a Demon!"

"The blind men never could see the full extent of the elephant," he muttered, before his voice boomed loudly in her ear. "Now what was that? How did you _do _that?"

She thought she felt a kick in her side, but it was so distant she couldn't be sure.

"Fine, fine…I still have my hostage…" the man rambled, The Priestess seeing the thin shining barrel pointed squarely at her old friend's head and knowing she was powerless to do anything whatsoever to stop it.

Someone had to come. Someone had to be watching below.

But everyone was searching, and they would be outside the village doing that by now. Only a few, and the Tamers, remained here to do anything, and they were thinly spread. The gunshot might have got their attention, but only on an off chance. Even if they did, would they do anything?

She called out with her mind, but she still couldn't. Instead, she prayed to Harmony, but she found it hard to string a coherent sentence together in her mind for long enough. What had he done?

"What did you do to her?" she heard Renardmon ask, his head still down. "Did you _hurt_ her?"

"I did the same thing to her I did to you: Infiltration, the perfect way to put yourself in any position in any organisation you wish. Now how did you break it? Speak, dammit."

She couldn't, not yet. She could even bluff. He wouldn't notice: why would he? She looked around, noticing a small circular hole on his trouser-leg, through which she could just barely see a white sheet over his skin. An injury?

She moved slightly. Good, it worked. Her body was actually listening to her. Now a little more.

3. 2. 1. Head butt.

"Arggghhh!" the man cried, staggering aside as the gun clattered down the steps. The Priestess mentally cheered, as she heard scrambling from all around her. Renardmon got to his feet and knelt over her, helping her up as her senses continued to return.

"Thank you," were the words she hoped left her mouth. She saw Mari get her gun back and walk towards her to check she was alright, while Donmon and Ryder headed towards the man. DarkRenamon landed on the gun, putting one foot on it to stop anyone reaching it.

"Don't move or I'll blow this place sky high!" he called, drawing a device from his pocket and holding it to the air.

"What is that?" DarkRenamon asked.

"PDA linked to Hypnos…one move, and I'll unleash everything on this pathetic scrap of data. Boom town."

"Why are you doing this?" The Priestess called out as she stood up from needing Renardmon's support. In his glee, the man had danced to the top of the stairs, an absent Taomon hopefully a good sign. But what could they do? This man had such power contained in a single piece of technology. She didn't doubt it either: the humans had made clear their ability to devastate this world time and time again.

"Yeah, you got rid of us Rayleigh, you destroyed our lives – why are you still digging your heel in?" Mari cried.

"Because Ryder here _tricked _me…you _all _tricked me. It was going to be perfect, but I had to suffer the indignity of failure. But if there's one thing that I learnt at St Luke's College, it's that the best never let failure stop them. Now…now even more are going to have to die," the man called Rayleigh spat through his teeth. "It could've been so simple…this whole village could've simply served me. Still…I could be so flattering as to blame this all on you, but that's far too much of an accolade. You're all just simply in my way now – and there's nothing wrong with wiping out a few Angels in the process."

"If you could just destroy this place to start with, why didn't you? Why not just delete the Digital World?" Ryder wondered.

"I would if I could, but I simply haven't had the time or the access to resources back there to do it. And there is so much to be had from here too, precious resources for the next stage of my plan. Shame none of you will see it."

"Who precisely are you anyway?" Renardmon asked sharply.

"I am Rayleigh Thompson, the Third Demon of Infiltration. Breaking into organisations is my power, cutting the links of hierarchy and entitlement, but…my real strength comes from up here," he tapped his head. "A fantastic mind, educated in the finest university in the world and honed to deal with anything. I'm 22 and I'm in the prime of my life…well, actually I'm Prime Minister."

"So this is why everyone listens to you?" Donmon asked.

Rayleigh clapped sarcastically, before shaking his head in despair. "Very clever. You don't half know how to train your dragon Ryder…this one's almost…smart. Oh, but you don't think any of this is real, do you? Or was that just a line?"

"Shut up. Just _shut up_!"

"I'm sorry, but you might want to reconsider those words. See, I don't think you 'get' what is on this PDA. This program will kill everything around here, everything. With ease."

"No it won't," Sakuyamon objected, shaking her head as she stood up, revitalised. Her staff was still some way away, but she didn't need it. She had already won. "This place is surrounded by a shield…that thing won't do anything."

"A shield?"

"_My _shield and perception filter, rolled into one, an ancient power dealt out by the high Priestess. Because I may be useless at being moral, or being mature, or being like all the other Priestesses, but I can hold their line as damn well as I can. This village is safe thanks to me. You can never take this position from me, because I am the sacred leader of this village. I am chosen by Harmony herself."

"Clever girl. I must say, I'm impressed by the _fire_ in your _belly_."

The Priestess felt on top of the world as she watched Rayleigh's PDA-wielding hand drop to his side, the man sighing. He had been caught out, outnumbered, surrounded. His hostage was gone, and Mari was now pointing a gun at him again. Taomon had gone for help, and the invincible Ryder here could probably keep him down even if he tried to cause a problem. The man who seemed to be at the heart of everything, by the sounds of it, was now immobilised.

She put her hands on her hips, and looked down to her stomach, thinking of the child that dwelt within. Maybe she could've gone on to serve her memory by doing good in this world, spreading the reach of the Kabuki Village in much the same way as the Tamers had. Yes, they had done wrong in the past, but it had taken a hole in the stomach for her to realise just what she could do.

That's right. Had.

She dropped to her knees, the steps exploding and crumbling nearby as the laser blast attack hurtled into them. Her insides felt gutted, her body writhed in agony, and she tumbled under gravity, every step adding to her pain as she rolled. She could hear Renardmon's pounding footsteps after her, but before long she came to a stop of her own accord.

Grass. Beautiful grass.

And flowers too, aromatic flowers. Poking up through the hole in her chest.

"Renamon," cried Renardmon as he dropped to his knees by her and forgot all pretence of who she was. "Don't die! I promised I'd keep you safe, I'm sorry!"

Promise…obviously to Renamon.

Even after their final meeting, she still cared, deep down. She had to. And now here it was, the very end, a grisly end at the hands of a madman she barely knew.

Her redemption. An ironic reversal of fortune for the girl who met a grisly end at the hands of a mad Digimon she barely knew.

Would she die? Was she in her stomach, or throughout her data? Was her core okay? Even if it was, with all the data pouring from her…

Renardmon's hands twitched around as he clearly looked for something he could do, but he wound up clutching the sides of his head in hopelessness. Even so, she felt glad he was here. Her old friend, a loyal one even if he had never really got much out of his life, one she had shared so many happy and pleasurable times with, and who had comforted her in her share of bad ones too, even at the end of her life.

"Renardmon…I don't want to die…" she cried. Was she meant to be noble in this moment, in her death? All the stories of ancients told of brave Digimon meeting Anubismon with no fear, but she wasn't a brave Digimon. She was a silly Renamon, playing about, being immature, and having a fun time. She never wanted any of this. Why had she been picked? Why her?

The mature half of her, The Priestess, feared for the village without her, without the shield.

And then there was the girl. For but a brief moment, The Priestess heard her loud and clear, a voice which would scar her in whatever time she had left.

Screaming.

A primal scream of pain at the top of a voice which she had never heard before, and would probably never hear again.

No-one else heard it, even though she could hear others around. It was just in her head, free from the faces of all those she stared up at. Their worries were for her.

Were they misplaced? All those Tamers, looking so sad for her, even though the very day before they had seen her actions as atrocious. How could they forgive? How could they care so much?

She didn't even know what had hit her either. She knew nothing. All she saw was the sky break open, and hell spew forth.

* * *

**Marie Flynn**

* * *

As Renardmon raced off down the stairs after the tumbling Digimon, Mari turned her eyes to where the Priestess had once stood, and where now hovered a large white and black crow with a gold helm and weapons. Where had _he _come from?

"Every Demon has his dog…but mine is a Crow. I like to be original."

The gun shook in her hands, the only reason why she failed to fire at Rayleigh straight away. She had seen horror films, plenty, but the sight she had just witnessed she swore would never leave her. The Priestess had been skewered with shocking ease, and Rayleigh now laughed from his position atop the stairs, the position he would grab with Infiltration or no Infiltration.

He had to be stopped.

This couldn't continue.

She swept her gun arm out to one side and pointed the pistol squarely at him, ignoring the bird in spite of the dangers it would probably pose. "Mari, what are you doing?" Ryder asked. The bird look rather bewildered too, probably not expecting a reaction like this.

"Yes Mari, what _are_ you doing?" Rayleigh mocked, although his question was honest.

What was she doing? The crow Digimon didn't move, probably for fear its partner would be shot if it did. Rayleigh didn't move, clearly aware of his own mortality. But what about hers? If she shot Rayleigh, the crow would no doubt avenge his death, and what hope did she have in taking out a Digimon with a handgun that had just done _that_ to The Priestess?

"You have to be stopped!"

"Go on, try me. Your hand doesn't stop shaking. You're afraid…"

"I'll Synchronize so I don't miss," she insisted, gripping the gun tighter. Was she going to do this? Her first murder? Her mind was red with blood, practically savouring the idea.

"You've been lucky to avoid bullets so far Mari. Do you want to test your luck?"

"Your gun's down there." She tilted her head lightly to where it was pressed under DarkRenamon's foot, stubbornly intact after all this while even though that Digimon was currently a barrel of nerves.

"_Mar…pl…"_

"_Sorry." _She hoped DarkRenamon would hear it all.

"Who says I don't have more backup? There's a bullet with your name on it somewhere Mari. It's just dying out to meet you."

"Is that some kind of threat?"

"Call it a prediction."

"Mari, please don't risk this!" Ryder pleaded. "We can get him another time."

"But even if I drop the gun, that creature will shoot me. I have to stop this man who destroyed all of our lives Ryder…you'd do the same. Don't pretend that being invincible, or being _you_, gives you a right to play with other people's lives!"

"Look who's talking," Rayleigh quipped.

"Shut up. You destroyed our world. You probably killed Rika. Even a bullet is wasted in you."

"Catchy chatter but not that brilliant. What a diet of 24 does to a person…you need Spooks…"

**BANG**

Mari opened her eyes again, looking to where Rayleigh was.

Once.

Something glinted in her vision…all over her vision, and she glimpsed back. The crow had her by the neck, her arm jerked into the air, and her gun had missed. Rayleigh was fine, and smirking, holding his PDA with a sick glee.

"By the way, he's very fast."

"Thank you Sir." It was a remarkably antiquated crow, by the sounds of him, the politeness clashing with the visceral nature of his actions, those crushing golden blades too close for comfort.

"Now…"

She didn't hear him tap the screen. She didn't even see him, her mind too paralysed by fear. But as the sky screamed out, torn apart into a swirling frenzy, she knew it was his fault.

"Let me go," she cried, pointlessly, to her captor, but she didn't struggle. He could break her in a second, and she couldn't take that. Ryder couldn't work out what to watch, her peril or the whirlpool now opening in the sky, while DarkRenamon was visibly restraining herself from intervening and invariably making things worse.

"What's happening?" Donmon snarled at the sky, his body tensed up more than she had ever seen.

"Is that…?" Ryder began, gobsmacked.

"Juggernaut. In reverse. Thank god that pesky shield is gone eh? Now…behold, a disaster of your doing!" he swept his arms out, smirking like he had won the lottery.

"MAGICAL FIRE!" cried a new voice, and the crow Digimon fell forward. Mari wasted no time in ducking, but twisted her neck slightly in the process. She almost missed a step too as she indulged in a look back, seeing a snarling DarkBiyomon staring down the far larger bird. Had she flown in…?

"_Wow…there are a lot of people at the bottom of the steps…" _she thought as she looked down, holding her mouth when she saw The Priestess. _"Please don't die!" _she thought, as DarkRenamon put a protective arm around her. Her stupid actions had almost got her killed, and she had completely misjudged how vulnerable Rayleigh was.

No wonder she hadn't biomerged yet. She couldn't even cope normally.

"DarkBiyomon," Rayleigh smirked, after the briefest moment of surprise. "How good to see you again…"

"Shut up! This is for Chiyo…TSUIBAMI ATTACK!"

She leapt into the air, spinning as she shot towards him, and caught him off guard. Donmon, meanwhile, threw himself at the crow with both claws outstretched, ready to deal as much damage as he had to in order to keep the Digimon down.

"CLAW SLASH!"

It didn't do much, and neither did DarkRenamon's attempts to hold the beast, but at least it kept him distracted. Rayleigh jerked aside, his partner not coming to save him, and the bird hit his arm, knocking his PDA loose.

And it fell, it fell so far off the edge of the stairs, cracking from the damage into data. While triumph raced through Mari's mind at the sight she also watched as Rayleigh slammed a fist into the Digimon's eye, hissing as she fell back.

"Piece of crap…I should've put you out of your misery ages ago,"

"I'm here for Seiko now," she cried, covering her eye with a wing as she recuperated on the steps.

"Whatever…I don't need my PDA. It's already done what it needed to."

"What?"

He looked skywards, a thick mist descending from the hole in the sky. "Behold everything you ever defeated!"

As if by magic, a large ape Digimon crashed down on the steps, denting their ancient form with his weight. He didn't seem to be in pain at it, he didn't even seem to notice. And as he raised a third arm which didn't even fit his body, Mari began to work out why.

"What the hell?" Ryder wondered, as he swung his D-Vice aside. "Gorillamon…I think…but it's not showing any proper data. It keeps saying it's corrupted."

"A simple glance would tell you that," Rayleigh smirked. The crow Digimon threw Donmon and DarkRenamon to the steps, and returned with a flash to a smaller owl-like form. He grabbed the gun, no longer held under foot by DarkRenamon, and landed beside his partner, bowing as he passed it over. "Thank you. I think it should be immediately apparent that I found this abomination in Juggernaut."

"Henry…what the hell was in those bananas?" came a new voice, and Mari looked round to see Henry and Rapidmon. The group at the bottom of the stairs grew all the time, and currently seemed to be working to move the Priestess into a building. Or, at least, they had been, until shapes fell from the Reverse Juggernaut in the sky and trampled the town, raising small dust clouds wherever they landed.

They all looked familiar. But none of them looked right.

"What happened to them?" Henry wondered. Mari felt ready to wrench. Gorillamon's face looked punched in, and his chest was fractured, data grazing forward and backward like a tectonic plate. The third arm came from a Harpymon, or so it looked, and one of his eyes was red and popped.

"You happened to them. Every time you let one go without absorbing it, they were lost in the network."

"But they were meant to go back to the other side."

"How? Do the souls of the dead know where heaven really is? They just festered, sucked up over the years in a hurry by Juggernaut and more slowly by the Hypnos system…it was a stroke of luck I found them. These are your reminders of the damage you do, and the way you hurt people. I thought I'd give them a chance for revenge. Justice, I call it."

"We didn't do it on purpose," Henry cried. "We meant to be good."

"Yeah, absorbing felt cruel," Rapidmon moped, floating above the damaged steps which Henry tip-toed around. The mist was thickening around them, blocking out the outside world from their vision more and more with every moment.

"Since when does the world give a 'nice' option?" Rayleigh snorted. "You all had the chance to grow up, but you did it too slowly. So…time to clean up for once!" he yelled, his voice booming from the natural oratory point at the top of the staircase.

"Henry! Can I shoot…it?"

"ENERGY CANNON!" cried a warped and hysterical voice, as a far larger blast than they were used to shot forth from Gorillamon's cannon towards Rapidmon. Thankfully, he was able to protect himself by living up to his name, barely.

"RAPID FIRE!" he cried, letting the energy blast obliterate a pair of his rockets. He was thrown back by the blast, while the ape just dug into the steps and prepared to fire again.

"He's so powerful!" Henry stuttered. "But we'll crush the buildings if we digivolve."

"Oh, and did I mention? They didn't just get warped in their physical appearance. It's like karma has a sense of humour. Now, I must bid you adieu, as much fun as it would be to…"

"No you don't!" Ryder cried, leaping at Rayleigh and smashing his fist into the man's cheek. The pair tumbled backwards, slipping over the side of the steps and audibly crashing down below. Falcomon and Donmon swooped down afterwards with cries of "Sir" and "Ryder!"

"_No!" _Mari's mind cried. She ran over to the edge, DarkRenamon grabbing her hand and holding her back as she peered over. The two had landed below, separately, groaning in pain as they tried to move. Ryder climbed up onto his knees, but it was clear the fall had been painful. Rayleigh didn't even bother with that, instead throwing his D-Vice straight to his chest.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

**BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION**

**Falcomon biomerge digivolve to…**

The man and his partner blurred with light and swooped up into the air, black and silver armour covering a dark blue humanoid form before black wings shot forth from his back. Red claws shot out and a sheath shot back, before a red mask burned over his eyes. Drawing his sword, he proclaimed his name.

…**Ravemon!**

"Mari, digivolve me before you get killed in the crossfire," DarkRenamon whispered in her ear, her arm around the girl's stomach to keep her steady on the precipice. Her mind wobbled with worry as Ryder pushed himself up again. He'd never died in the Digital World before…would the same happen again?

Would he go home?

Would he take that choice if it were given to him?

Sense taking her again, she nodded, reaching for the digivolution card she had used earlier in the desert. So much had happened since then she almost forgot about it, but she knew she could keep a straight head in situations like this. A blue sheen overtook it, and it was emblazoned with a new logo.

"DIGIMODIFY…Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

**MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION**

**DarkRenamon matrix digivolve to…Doumon!**

The dark wizard landed in front of her Tamer, reaching out her arms to grasp the girl. "Come on, we will have to protect The Priestess."

"Yeah."

Protect. Not fight, protect. As much as she wanted to feel like a big part of this group, Mari couldn't help but feel like a bit player in it all, surrounded by people who could work better and shoot faster.

A rush of air buffeted them, and BlazeDonnermon shot past the side of the stairs, screaming up into the sky. In bed, mentally, physically, emotionally, in arguments, in all these places, she could match her boyfriend at his own game, drag him down to earth with a (hopefully pleasurable) bump. But when it came to being a Tamer, the world had conspired against her: by now, most Tamers she had heard of had reached their mega forms. Doumon's first digivolution had been out of anger. What was wrong with the pair of them?

"Rayleigh…you are not escaping this one. It's two Brits, duking it out," Ryder declared, BlazeDonnermon floating to Ravemon's level. Why the Digimon had not left didn't seem too clear at first, before he smirked, calmly removing his mask.

"Didn't you ever work it out?" he taunted, floating down towards the others, and dealing a hit to Rapidmon in the process. Doumon ducked low, before protecting her partner and the bird with a shield spell.

"What?"

Ravemon stood before the large group of Tamers on the staircase, smirking calmly as they finally got the Priestess into a home. Joe and Fumiko were already beginning to nurse her, joined by the elder, but the injuries were grave, and data bled from her rapidly. Renardmon stayed permanently at her side, talking in her ear even as life seemed to leave her.

"Ignore that corpse," he said callously. Doumon prepared to attack while Rapidmon threw Gorillamon to the ground, getting a nice shot in before the Digimon could retaliate. He danced in the air and cheered. "In all this, didn't you ever wonder _one simple thing_?"

"How you got up the ranks so fast?" Yamaki hissed.

"How you could be so evil?" Gatomon spat from Kari's head, while Cyberdramon next to Ryo let out a low hiss as he swatted a weakened and warped Goblimon into oblivion, the sounds and smoke of battle rocking the town.

He shook his head. "How I framed Rika."

"Wait, what….?" BlazeDonnermon stopped creeping up on the Digimon, while Rapidmon let his guard down for one moment and was victim to a Gorillamon blast. Doumon pushed Mari low to avoid its searing effects, a good thing since she herself was too stunned.

"No…he couldn't have…"

"The stupid media fell for it so easily…with a bit of Infiltration-based convincing."

"You killed PM?" cried out Jeri's brother, her mother holding him close to protect his innocence. In trying to retreat to a safe distance, she hesitated, witnessing an explosion nearby be tended to by an unknown Kuzuhamon, while Leomon swept out his hands to keep guard over his Tamer's family.

"Of course I did, you silly little child. Why are you even here? Why aren't you dead already?"

"SWEPT SLASH!" cried BlazeDonnermon, swinging his claws where Ravemon had once been as the child cried into his mother's legs. Ryder came perilously close to cleaving Rei from her head, the girl clutching her younger form close in a blanket. "Shit." He landed, looking up as Ravemon lorded it over them, arms wide.

"I'm the king of the castle and you're a dirty rascal," he taunted in a childish voice, his main enemy hissing.

Doumon landed Mari and DarkBiyomon alongside the others, the latter running to her Tamer and being given a thankful embrace that she was still safe.

"We have to keep her alive or this village is done for…" he added, the Juggernaut spewing out more and more Digimon and the digital fog enveloping all. Soon they wouldn't be able to see each other to fight.

"It's worse than it seems…with this much fog, we can't use Imperialdramon or MegaGargomon, they'll crush all the buildings!" Izzy added. So much for the kind of hard-hitters which could take out this many Digimon on one shot.

"Then we'll improvise…" Davis called, drawing forth a golden digi-egg card he didn't know he was carrying, and grinning widely. "Veemon…"

"Yeah!"

One by one, people gathered what they could card-wise, or biomerged, or ran for shelter. Doumon gathered a shield around her and Mari, holding the girl close.

Ravemon watched the preparations with his arms crossed, his form rapidly hidden by the pea soup of the atmosphere now even against all the lights of digivolution shining around them.

"I'm going to kill him if it's the last thing I ever do." BlazeDonnermon looked skywards, focusing on where Ravemon had been, as Mari dearly hoped that his words wouldn't come true in their entirety. His wings flew back and glowed white, the fog dancing with a vague blur of the enemy above.

"ANGEL INFERNO!" he screamed upwards into the air, burning with fire and light.

"SPIRAL RAVEN CLAW!" screamed another voice down towards them.

The explosion swept away a ball of fog, revealing them of the hell the village was in for the briefest of moments, and then leaving them in the unknown.

The Priestess at death's door.

The swarms of unholy Digimon everywhere.

The explosions ringing in the sky.

Rapidmon, fighting a horrid battle against an enemy he long thought dead.

Rika, nowhere to be seen.

In that very moment, Mari felt that things couldn't get any worse. It was a shame she was wrong.

What a horrible morning after.

**END OF PART ONE**

* * *

And…sorry for the lack of updates. And, to a lesser extent, for the April Fool's. This term kept me unbelievably busy, and I had left this chapter in such a state I wasn't sure where to pick up at first. Even when I did, I had to go back and edit it to improve it because I just wasn't satisfied. But I hope you enjoyed it. A fair few things have come out into the open in this chapter, and Phase Two is only another part and another chapter away from its end. And then the real fun begins…

Until next time…

B.C.


	46. Phase Two: Slaughter II

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FORTY-ONE**

**Phase Two**

_Slaughter_

**Part Two**

* * *

**SATURDAY, 14****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Ayaka Itou**

* * *

Snore.

Snore.

Pause? Blessed relief?

No. Snore.

Idiot. She desperately wanted to kick him, but right now it felt like crossing a line. Yesterday it had been so easy: now their lives were so uncomfortable, and every time she looked at him she remembered the images of Chiyo.

How could she ever get rid of such a curse?

Why would she even want to know Kazu, a boy who had kept from her this horrendous act? If she wasn't a part of his inner circle of trust, then how could she be his close friend, let alone his girlfriend?

Her feet began to carry her, as she wandered around. She knew perfectly well that Kazu's snoring was nothing to do with her restlessness, even if it had been the thing to wake her up in the first place. The savaged town lay all around her, so silent yet every so often letting lose a creak as a building somewhere strained on its foundations, or a flow of rubble subsided. By contrast, the constant background patter of rain was actually rather calming, but it alone wouldn't rid her of her thoughts, and the eerie sensation of walking around what felt like an abandoned city.

"Going somewhere?"

She jumped and turned. Kazu? Kenta?

It wasn't, and an eyebrow went high at the sight of one of the Cult of Victory instead. "Oh…uh…who are…?"

"Dianamon," she bowed, her pink ribbons unscathed despite dragging along the ground.

"Sorry."

"It's fine Ayaka. What is keeping you awake at this hour?"

"I was just trying to clear my mind. Did you manage to warn Digimon?"

"Yes, but I don't know when Juggernaut will stop. VictoryGreymon is still out there studying it…I really hope it doesn't turn back this way. Are you okay?"

"You wouldn't understand. It's…human stuff. No offence."

"Try me. Compared to phallic-sword and the rhinoceros, I'm practically human," she replied, calmly sitting on a shorn brass pipe and crossing her legs. She seemed remarkably awake for this time of night.

"I don't k…"

"You are worried about how they kept Ryder killing Chiyo from you, and about your friend Miki."

"…you weren't kidding about the human thing."

"Call it an ace up my sleeve. The other two can barely even manage Digimon stuff. I talked to some of the other Tamers, and I know they feel guilty about this."

"Mmm."

"Come on, sit down, it's not that sharp or anything. Just….avoid that bit," she gestured along the pipe with a metallic finger. Ayaka nodded, and settled down, wiping some accumulated rheum from her tear ducts. "So, what do you think of him?"

"Kazu…he's…just…"

"Oh no, I meant Ry…actually, never mind. Go on, please."

Ayaka raised an eyebrow, yet kept talking. Sure, Ryder was more at the centre of all this, having actually committed the murder (or, rather, two murders), but she'd focused far more on her thoughts about Kazu lately, what with him being nearby and all. Ryder also had the slight justification of being murdered beforehand, even if he was just as complicit in the cover-up as the rest of them. Actually, he was probably worse than all of them.

"He just…I thought I could trust him, you know? He seemed really nice…no, he is. You know, underneath that jerk of a personality and that thing he calls a face."

"Is it normal for relationships based on insulting each other to continue like that even when the other's not around? Not that I have any personal experience," Dianamon asked.

"Kazu's easy to insult. And I have to admit some, just some, of his ones work too. You know, you throw enough crap at a wall, some of it has to stick," she shrugged, before her face turned down and she chewed her lip. "I don't think we can be in a relationship any more anyway."

"Do you like him?"

"I like him when he tells me stuff. Yeah, we insult each other but I always thought we were being honest in insulting each other. They always say you need to be honest in a relationship: even with friendships it's the mark of a close friend. And…about Chiyo. I mean, Christ," she pushed her hand down her face at the gravity of it all. "I'd hate to think what they'd tell people if I died out here. Slipped on a wet patch. Accidentally brutally disembowelled."

"With the way this place works, absorbed into the chest of a dragon would be more appropriate…but, uh, yeah, I do see how you feel," Dianamon quickly corrected.

"It wasn't just Kazu either, they all did it. Christ, even people like Takato…I thought he was the nicest guy in the universe. A klutz who stupidly knocked up Rika, but nice and honest at his heart. I remember he broke a baseball bat when he was six, and he told the teacher within seconds. The damn thing was falling apart anyway. Now he's covering up murder. God, just what happens to people when they become Tamers?" Ayaka cried in disdain, shaking her head in her hands.

"You all seemed heroic when we fought you before."

"You can be a heroic bastard. Kazu practically embodies that. God, what do I see in him?"

"What does he see in _you_?"

"I'm sorry?" Ayaka started, affronted. What was she suggesting?

"Oh, I just heard how that sounded. No offence intended, honest," Dianamon said, white metal gloves rising apologetically.

"Oh, right. Well…I sometimes think I'm just like Chiyo to him. I insult him, I treat him like crap, but I'm accessible…and not dead," she frowned. "We've always been friends…well, if you call it that…but the moment Chiyo dies, he starts liking me? It's way too convenient."

"Were you there for him when she died?"

"Yeah…he was a mess, you know. He was beforehand too, even if at first he acted all tough about it. If I'd known what happened, I'd never have put up with all this. Always going on about Chiyo and how much it hurt for her and that stupidly good arse of hers to die… crap, I shouldn't speak ill of the dead."

Dianamon let out a morbid laugh. "It sounds like you liked him first."

"Maybe…but…yeah, I never hated Chiyo, as much as I resented her in that regard. She was a friend - we both insulted Kazu, it was a common interest. We should've made a club."

"What about Miki? Did she get along with Chiyo?"

"I…guess so. They talked, but I don't think they were close. Even so, when a classmate dies, you don't exactly shrug them off as someone you don't care about. They offered us counselling and everything. When Kazu said he'd been there, right when Chiyo died, but still turned the offer down…I just thought he was being stubbornly tough. Hmm…I guess a lot of stuff now makes sense. Poor Miki though, I don't think she'll ever get over this. I think I'd be a callous bitch to get over it too. What they did was just…wrong. So wrong."

"Isn't wrong a matter of perspective?"

"Not murder. There are some lines you don't cross."

"What about war?"

"Nice try: I'm a bit of a pacifist. I don't see why anyone _has_ to kill anyone. Still…I always find it more difficult to consider it when it comes to Digimon…aren't they life too? I'm glad I'm not a Tamer: I destroyed enough lives with my mistake on the funnel."

"Hmm. It's hard, from my position, to understand what you mean. I've just had to make so many tough choices, kill so many Digimon, and I can't imagine not acting in the circumstances if a human was a threat," Dianamon mused. "Still…I'm amazed how insightful you all are. I didn't really think any of you had proper minds."

Ayaka raised an eyebrow. "I think you need to work on your compliments."

"Ah…oh, I see how that probably sounded."

"Mmm…" Ayaka hummed. It was creepy, really, talking to someone who sounded so human right up until they said something like that. Uncanny valley. "God…Miki didn't want to talk to Kenta, Kenta didn't want Kazu's help, and she's not even talking to me now because she thought she caught me just after I'd locked lips with Kazu. Christ, how did things get so bad, so fast? I thought the stuff that happened with the funnel was bad enough…at least I didn't do it intentionally."

"Life escalates. I know that all too well. Speaking of which…what do you think of Ryder?" Ayaka thought and she thought, but she still couldn't quite see whatever link Dianamon was hinting at. "Out of sheer curiosity, obviously. He seems to be at the centre of all this, I have observed."

"I thought he was a good guy. Came out of nowhere and didn't really explain his history much at first, but not someone who'd kill someone. Twice. Let alone not being able to die. Guess you just don't know what someone can be like. I really can't look at him the same way again."

"It surprised me too to learn he couldn't die. Particularly considering how vulnerable…uh…you fleshy humans…look."

"…thanks?"

"I mean, so easy to piece probably even with the moons on these boots."

"I gotcha." She really hoped that was only idle speculation. "It's weird, you seem really interested in all this. You're a Digimon, you can spend your whole life smashing stuff to bits and eating without getting fat. Why do you care?"

"I just…have a passing interest. Never mind," Dianamon shrugged.

"_What a weird Digimon,"_ Ayaka pondered, feeling like she was a latecomer to a party full of freshly-angry people avoiding an elephant in the room. And then, after a few twitches of the ears, like all partygoers could, changing the subject.

"Hey, do you hear that beeping?"

"Beeping? What beeping?" Was she going mad or something? Ayaka watched as the Digimon stood up, glancing her head around, up, down, everywhere, her ears twitching. She froze, staring off into space with her back to Ayaka. "Bleeping?" the caramel blonde repeated, climbing to her feet.

Dianamon turned back to her. "That beeping. Can't you hear it? Why can't you hear it? Are you going back to bed now?"

"What beeping?"

"Never mind, I fixed it."

"Fixed what?" Ayaka cried, frustrated.

"Never mind. I'm not used to this body, that's all. I…uh…digivolved really recently, and I've not got used to it yet," Dianamon explained.

"Uh…yeah." _"Please don't turn into a killer, please don't turn into a killer…"_ Why did even the sensible ones turn out to be insane?

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

Ryder's head rang as BlazeDonnermon's was crushed into the village floor by Ravemon's foot. _"So…fast…" _He was hard to track with eyes alone, let alone pre-empt being drop kicked by from on-high, and not being able to fight back with a 'Firestorm' or 'Dragon Force' or two thanks to the vulnerability of the villagers and his friends was turning into a major disadvantage. Thankfully, Rapidmon had managed to get in a few missiles, but he was at a power disadvantage, and with a glance across Ryder noticed Henry running a hand over a particularly worrying crack in the android's armour.

It probably wasn't even from Ravemon either. As he had rushed about through the fog, Ryder had seen the carnage being wrought – a gash in the side of the grand temple here, a lower lake there, and an army of disgustingly warped creatures doing the damage everywhere. Every so often, he'd turn a corner and find a misleadingly big Digimon with three eyes and a tail off another would be broken to bits by an even bigger one who looked like he'd been the victim of his own mace-laden tail. Those that didn't scream in anguish looked out with pleading expressions, practically begging to be put out of their misery right up until they tried to borrow your head.

Not that his felt worth much right now. It pounded, the ringing modulated back and forth, again and again, and his vision started to black out.

Then, clear as day he heard it. A heart monitor.

Beeping.

What?

"Ryder, pull out of it!" Donmon cried to him. A burst of energy flowed through him as his partner shocked him back into commission and out of pain. While the dragon was on his A-Game here, Ryder knew he wasn't, and a fretted glance through a gap in the fog to a vulnerable Mari and Doumon reminded him why. If they laid one finger on that amazing body of hers…he probably wouldn't be able to do much, given how tied down he was with his own affairs. She was only the tip of the far more worrying iceberg - she had a partner to protect her, and her powers – she was far from the worst off here. He never realised how much they relied on how their enemy looked to judge how powerful they were. A triage strategy to warfare had gone out of the window.

"_Stop getting distracted."_

A Tyrannomon crossed with a Monochromon and a Missingno stomped towards him, both of its mouth and all five of its feet making the most atrocious noise. Ravemon leapt up with a grin, before he clashed a loose fireball away into the lake, promptly dropping its level still further. What had happened to this heavenly paradise?

He raised a claw, and drove it forth, wasting more precious energy that could be spent on fighting the cackling raven above. "SWEPT SLASH!"

It was like a knife through butter. Another deceptive weakling. _"I'm sorry," _he thought, putting the abomination finally and properly to rest.

* * *

**Yamaki Mitsuo**

* * *

This was psychological warfare as much as anything. Throw that in with a horrible case of unintended consequences. Every time he looked one in the eyes, he only remembered what he had created in Juggernaut, in Hypnos. The guilt clubbed him, even though he knew the Tamers had just as unintentionally been responsible too. The most twisted ones screamed like they had all those years ago. Were they _his_ victims?

Death was meant to be final, dammit.

A ceiling beam dropped towards him as the building shook violently, the back of WarGreymon's shield breaking through for all the assembled parents and adults below to see. He groaned as he pushed back, his jets starting a small fire above. After (barely) dodging, Yamaki put his arm about Riley instinctively. "We have to move out of here."

"Where to, everything is in tatters already?" Mr Katou huffed.

"Anywhere! Anywhere is safer than here," he ordered back. Not that they could really see anywhere else, for even as the thick fog settled it was replaced by even more smoke and dust coupled with fog from the Juggernaut above.

"Don't argue! This isn't the time," Riley snapped.

"Yeah…has anyone seen the Nonakas? I think they got separated in the last safe house," Takato's dad cried, looking around frantically.

Yamaki glanced around the room and the amassed adults and young children, grating his teeth. This could only get worse.

**Click.**

* * *

**Rei Matsuki**

* * *

"Rei, give me Rey!" Rumiko cried hysterically as Verdamon's glowing blue arm blade smashed a Goblinmon to the ground. Yet, promptly and strongly, the creature got right back up again, Realmon's champion form grating her teeth in frustration.

"One second!" Rei shouted back, juggling balancing the girl in her arms with her not touching her skin, all while avoiding a scared-stiff Rejimon getting loose, on top of dodging whatever was thrown at them. _And_ she had Takato's inherited reflexes to do it with. What the heck was he thinking of when he gave her Rey?

Then again, with how things were going, even Destinymon would've been up against the odds here: plenty of biomerged Digimon were having trouble amidst the chaos of it all. Rei tried to reach out to the destinies of these Digimon but they were as mangled and uncertain as their faces.

"You're not helping honey…" Seiko added as DarkBiyomon head-butted a Greymon aside with bizarre ease. Beyond even Takato's wishes for Rey to be with her to keep safe, Rei doubted her grandmother would be much better in this circumstance, and her great grandmother seemed just as distracted by her own battling.

Verdamon grappled with Goblinmon's club, knees bending as she strained herself. "This is so confusing!" she moaned, before mustering up the strength to throw Goblimon aside into a wall.

"I'll look after her if you need me to Rei," Seiko suggested. Rei glanced to her.

Was this the right time? The baby shifted in her arms, but she held as tight as she could without touching her skin. What if this was the time when the worst happened? Rei could never forgive herself for such a mistake. Quite literally, too.

"GOBLI STRIKE!" a corrupted voice cried, Goblimon striking through the intervening Greymon and shattering him into data.

Unfortunately, the club didn't stop there, and carried on into the unfortunate bird who was fighting it.

"DarkBiyomon!" Seiko cried as she was pounded into the floor again and again. Verdamon threw herself at the goblin and threw him aside and off their friend. Rei felt her breath freeze as she watched the older woman run to her partner's aid.

"Are you…?"

"SEIKO!" Rumiko cried, gesturing sharply behind her.

Seiko swung around, finding Goblimon standing, a bomb held in his hand and a sickening half-smile, half-frown ripped across his mangled face.

"DON'T TOUCH MY GRANDMA! BIFRÖST!" another voice cried, an icy arrow finally slicing Goblimon's head off - along with the foot attached to it. Rejimon quivered back into Rei's chest as Sleipmon landed besides them, Kristy defiantly still growling. "Take that!"

Seiko watched the gruesome spectacle, but turned back to her partner straight after, catching a glimpse of the physical compression causing her data to shudder violently. That could never be a good sign.

"Are you okay?"

"I…I…ow…"

Rei rushed – as fast as she could with a crying ball and a younger version of herself in her arms – over to the poor bird, while Verdamon swung her blades around, watching everywhere for the ever-encroaching enemies. Explosions roared from all around, not least from the sky, as Sleipmon flew back up to fighting to keep them safe.

"Shit," she cursed, upon seeing the damage. DarkBiyomon had to have been off her guard, right? Goblimon couldn't have been that powerful…surely? Yet the gaps in her data from the club's spikes said otherwise.

"Can you do something?" She'd never heard Seiko this panicked. There had to be something she could do.

Rei closed her eyes, set Rejimon down and put her hand on the Digimon's arm, feeling her energy drain as she tried to use her powers. Her wings flew out from behind her, and she forced herself to ignore a gasp from her ancestors as she cursed her parents for how fortunate they were to have half-Gods backing them up. She barely even had a cell phone battery by comparison. If that.

Her hand went into a spasm, leaping away like an electric shock from the dark bird's feathers. She let out a gasp of pain as she shook the limb in a pointless attempt to reduce the throbbing currently coming from it, but she quickly felt guilty as she heard DarkBiyomon similarly cry out in agony.

"Rei – did you remember that she's the partner of a Demon?" Verdamon called, as she swatted aside an errant blast without turning to face her Tamer. She was right too: they didn't mix. How could she forget? With her father, however, how could she _not_ try to help.

"_Dammit…" _Rei nodded, turning back to Seiko and Rumiko, the latter of whom was almost in hysterics at the grim sight of their family friend. She couldn't let them down. "We have to get her to Fumiko, or anyone who can patch her up." _"Where are my parents or Kenta when you need them?"_

* * *

**Takato Matsuki**

* * *

"I'm achy Takato. Even Renamon isn't running anymore, why are we?"

"Because we're a mega level Guilmon."

"It doesn't matter: I shouldn't be giving in like this," Renamon said from Gallantmon's shoulder, her eyes sinking as the surface flew by. "If Rika has still lost trust in me after what she learnt about the village and our plan, then I have to do everything to regain it."

Takato grimaced inside his sphere. "But you can't do that if you're exhausted. I don't suppose either of you feel anything yet, huh?"

"Nothing like Rika, no," Renamon shook her head, as Gallantmon landed in the desert to recuperate. Takato himself couldn't deny he was already wiped out, and had been fighting by with simple bone-headed insistence for a while. How far had they gone? Every part of this place looked like every other.

He collapsed back, blessed by the relief of a lie down, while Guilmon landed head first. Or, more importantly, nose first.

Sniff. Sniff sniff. Sniff. "Hey, I think I smell something…"

"Is it Rika?" Renamon darted over, her tiredness rapidly receding through enthusiasm. Guilmon sniffed again, but shook his head.

"No…I think it's Calumon. Hey, that's funny, what's Calumon doing in a place like this…?" he mused, following his nose to a short mound in the ground. "Oh?"

"What is it?" Renamon wondered, bending down and peering suspiciously. Takato took a step closer, swearing the mound wiggled.

"Calu…?" he began.

"ESKIMO KISSES!" leapt out a white shape, attaching itself to Renamon's face and doing exactly as it promised. With a slight smile of familiarity, the vixen pulled the creature off. As much as she was pleased to see the creature, she clearly wished it had been a lead to find Rika.

"Calumon! What are you doing here?" Takato wondered, the fairy dancing with joy once the Kitsune set him on the ground.

"Hide and go seek, silly! Your turn!"

"I think what Takato means is: what are you doing here in the Digital World?" Renamon said.

"Ohhhh…I met these funny people and then I went to the hideout except it wasn't the hideout and then everything went funny and then I was here again. I thought Makuramon made me feel ill but I had a headache for sooooo long. I thought I'd never find you guys," Calumon rambled.

"Funny people?" Takato rose an eyebrow.

"Hey, have you seen Rika?" Guilmon wondered, planting his nose close enough to Calumon to nudge him. Instead, the white fairy leapt onto his head between his bat wing-like ears.

"Nope. Why?"

"She's missing."

"Oh…that's bad. But I'm sure she'll turn up. Wouldn't be Rika without cheerily turning up all over the place."

Even having fallen in love with the girl, and having seen every good side of her, Takato couldn't help but think it. And Chaos couldn't help but say it. **"Have you **_**met**_** Rika?"**

"Yeah, of course, silly. Takato, have you got a cold? You sounded really gravelly."

Takato decided against asking whether Calumon seriously didn't know who Chaos was. "No, it's Chaos…actually, never mind, I think the same thing. All of us Tamers are here in this world, but Rika went for a walk and didn't come back and now we're searching for her, and I think that…uh…uh…uh…"

"Uh?" Guilmon copied.

"Uh…?" Calumon mimicked.

"Takato? I don't think it's helping your explanation at all when you pause," Renamon said.

"**Just look where I'm looking, ugly."**

For sure enough, Takato was now, inexplicably, prey to the sight of a Juggernaut. It wandered casually across the desert sky and trawling up a few odd Digimon as it passed. His finger traced its passage across the horizon, the boy's words simply failing as he watched it go back the way they had come only moments before, setting a bee line for the worst possible destination.

"Takato…this is bad," Guilmon surmised.

"**You should do government warning levels."**

"Makes my ears tingle…" Calumon said disapprovingly.

"This could be a good time to run, Takato. I think we may have a village to warn," Renamon said. Unfortunately, Houston had yet to reach Major Takato.

"**That means use your legs Takato. Move them. One in front of the other. It's like riding a bike. Dammit, why did I get stuck with **_**you**_**?"**

* * *

**Takeru Takashi**

* * *

With one of his legs caught in the foundations of a house, and the sheer strength of the Garurumon, Seraphimon was surprised his spine hadn't snapped back yet. The chilling similarity to Takeru's brother's partner wasn't helped much by the assorted five tails, the large sickly green gash down through one, bulging eye, or the arm off some human-like Digimon jutting out from his leg.

"Takeru, has anyone told you that this is ridiculous?" Patamon cried, through, as angelic hands reached out and forced the beast's jaws further open than he had been trying. Takeru found himself being more brutal than ever before, and he hated it. He felt sharp teeth stab into his left hand as he left himself with just it holding the mouth open (far wider than he swore should've been possible), before his right arm raised in front of the gaping maw.

Now for something grisly.

"EXCALIBUR!" they cried together, the brilliant radiance of the Seraph's sword generated from his right hand armour becoming somewhat tainted as it became a glorified kebab stick to skewer Garurumon.

"If they did I was too busy being sick," Takeru shuddered, the Garurumon still breathing and letting out ungodly screams of agony. Seraphimon shifted the sword from side to side, before sharply tossing the wolf off the end. Its form flew over through the fog into a nearby house.

And Davis.

"MAGNA PUNCH!"

Nearly.

Garurumon had burst into data even before he could've hit the ground. Magnamon growled, floating in front of his Tamer and turning his fist into an angered point. "Watch it!"

"Sorry!" cried Patamon, Seraphimon pulling his leg free and wandering towards them.

"It wasn't intentional!" Takeru snapped. Why, he wasn't sure, particularly as he saw Davis' arms full of digi-eggs, trying to avoid more of the yellow or black balls becoming victim to the ongoing carnage.

"It wasn't his fault," Davis said, as Seraphimon drew closer to them. "Hey, relax Magnamon, I'd probably have survived it anyway – like always!"

That 'everything's okay' grin appeared again across Davis' face. The previous night's talk replayed in the blonde's mind, even as he tried to force it down. He found himself wanting to skewer the part of his mind that had thoughts like it and 'ooh, maybe it would be better if Davis had been crushed'; certainly, he wanted to skewer it far more than he had that Garurumon. But the voice never died, it just got stronger. It was the voice which thought of one's parents in bed once someone mentioned anything even approaching it, it was the uncontrollable voice which thought the unthinkable, and it sent its owner into a painful shudder.

"Come on, I'm trying to move these to somewhere safe," Davis said, lifting up another two digi-eggs.

"Where? Everything is getting flatter than my litter box here," Gatomon's voice descended from the heavens, a point not lost to that voice in Takeru's head. Ophanimon landed with her six wings, turquoise heels touching the disturbed dirt.

To back up her thoughts, a blur of Rapidmon and Henry backflipped past, partly-cracked cannons lifted and charged. "RAPID FIRE!"

The blast shot down into an unseen target, a sound of a growing blast silenced as a cringe-worthy roar screamed across the fog. Rapidmon shot forward, looking to find out if he had been successful, and pumping the fist that wasn't holding Henry.

"Bingo!"

"Rapidmon!"

"What? Come on Henry, I beat that ape once, I beat him twice…" the voice faded into the mist as the fighters continued their battle.

"If we don't win this fast enough, this place won't have anything left to protect," Patamon said sombrely.

"We need a miracle. Got anything Davis?" Kari asked her boyfriend, who stepped out from placing an egg under the floorboards of a house with a bemused expression. He shrugged.

"Hey, I'm just waiting for some voice from the sky. Or in my head. I envy Takato and Rika."

"I don't think I'd want another voice in my head," Takeru said. "I think it'd just drive me nuts." His own mind did perfectly well on that front alone.

"Voices in my head…huh…" He heard Kari mumble from within Ophanimon. "Maybe…"

"Maybe what Kari?" Takeru asked.

"Just…a dream I had last night. It doesn't matter…" Would she have shared with Gatomon? Davis? Maybe Takeru was just being paranoid. Now was positively the worst time for that. And therefore, for that voice in his head, it was the best.

"Hey, we've got time to kill!" Davis said in mock enthusiasm, an explosion crying out yet again as he finished speaking which almost knocked him off his feet.

"We really don't," Magnamon growled. "Seraphimon, can you dig a pit with your sword?"

"For the eggs?" Patamon asked.

"Yes. I think we might be able to keep them safe for just a little longer."

"Enough have died today," Kari nodded sombrely. "But I don't think it's over yet," she added, as Ophanimon turned her head to one side. "This work stops for no mon," she noted in Gatomon's voice.

* * *

**Renardmon**

* * *

"Don't fall asleep on me…dammit Renamon, don't!"

"I…would love to…again…" The Priestess mumbled deliriously. Her head moved as though dreaming as she struggled to look her old friend in the eye. They had retreated to Taijimon's dojo, the chief warrior standing nearby at the door and trying to beat down anyone who dared to attack, helped no end by TigerVespamon's Royal Meisters (when Cody wasn't checking up on his grandfather) and Zudomon's Mjölnir. "Would feel much nicer. Though wish I were smaller than you again. Less area to be in pain too." She winced as she tried to lift her head again.

Renardmon was too fearful to be aroused. Why wasn't she shrinking back to Renamon? That was how it worked, right? It had to work.

But, of course, it didn't. Not here, not normally, and particularly not with that huge hole in her. She couldn't break free of that girl inside her normally, let alone now that girl was probably suffering from a huge stomach wound. Even as she acted as that immature Renamon again, she was as far from it as possible.

What could he do? All he had done couldn't be fixed: he had brought Rayleigh here, and he had failed to do anything to stop the steady flow of data from his old friend. For a moment, he wanted to sacrifice himself to fix things: all she needed was data. Right?

She gripped his arm. It was bizarre, and he was glad that, besides the respectful Taijimon and Taomon, none of the rest of the village were about to see this. It felt embarrassing, in a way, and wrong: he was below her in rank. Far below.

Friendship died hard. The death of Renamon and The Priestess' friendship was testament to just how hard.

She wasn't about to let him die just as much as he wouldn't allow the opposite. Besides, if they needed data, there was plenty floating about in that mist. The problem was, this damage was grim and physical: she wasn't just weak, she was wounded.

"I just wish I knew how that girl was," he heard Fumiko mourn, sitting on a chair nearby with her arm slung in a borrowed piece of white cloth. "Although I don't know how much I could help." She wandered hopelessly over to Cody's father, checking his forehead with her other hand. Joe was closer to The Priestess' form, yet dithered back, both out of impotence and respect for Renardmon's moment with her.

"It's still so grisly," Joe mumbled, bending down to take another look at the gaping hole in the Digimon's chest. His hair had become tangled with coursing; his voice strained with desperation. The edges of the hole were blurred, data separating itself off regularly and increasing its size. Even the spell Taomon had cast had only managed to slow the process.

The staff lay at the great one's side, a reminder of how vulnerable the village was to attack now. No shield stood between them and their enemies.

"Please…just stay with us…" Renardmon tightly grasped The Priestess' hand while glancing to the doorway in fear that something would come crashing through at any moment.

"It hurts so much." The alien voice emanated from the holy one's mouth, leading Renardmon to freeze up in horror as he looked back at her face.

"Who was that?"

"I…who?" Her voice was back to normal. Just what had that been before? It had sounded so much younger, so much…different. And an accent. Such an unknown accent. Just what, or who, was that?

"_The girl?" _"Don't worry…but…do you know anything we can do to help…? Any spells? Anything?"

The Priestess' head turned to her staff, and she reached out to grasp it, loosely setting her hand on it. She seemed barely conscious, and even as she tried to use it Renardmon could tell it was hopeless. The 'mop-like' object may as well have been a real mop.

"Sorry…" she sighed and cried, falling back to where she had been as her eyes closed weakly.

"Stay awake!"

"Joe! Fumiko!" cried new voices, a commotion behind Renardmon drawing his head around. A Digimon looking like a cross between Taomon and one of the unholy forms of Guilmon flew in, dropping a bird on one of the futons which had been laid out.

"Shit, DarkBiyomon!" Joe cried. "I'll get the bandages!"

"Joe, I'll do…" Fumiko began, before crying out in pain as she went to move.

"You're my patient too. Settle down – I know I'm not qualified right now but my hands work and I have the bandages."

"You're scared shitless Joe…this isn't…"

"Of course I am!" his voice quaked. "Now let me work…DarkBiyomon…" he said to himself, clearly trying to steady his nerve as he knelt next to the gruesomely injured Digimon, dents across her body from some form of weapon.

"DarkBiyomon, stay awake! Everything's going to be fine!" Seiko said, quickly touching her partner's face as Joe began to wrap a bandage around the creature's talon, holding back the flow of data. Renardmon knew there wasn't anything like enough of it to do the same for The Priestess.

"I'm…meant to protect you…" DarkBiyomon mumbled weakly back.

"You're meant to be dead."

Renardmon flicked his head round, and found a deep, guttural growl coming involuntarily from his lips. He climbed to his feet, ready to rip the night warrior's face off. "GET BACK! I'm warning you!"

Ravemon ignored him and stepped forward from the doorway, sweeping his upturned sword's blade precisely back and forth by his leg. "No-one needs you any more, not even that old lady."

"Where's Ryder?" Cody asked, crawling on the floor alongside a crumpled Armadilomon, Gomamon and Tajimon.

"Incapacitated, for now," he swung his head back. "Nice hospital you all have here."

"RAPID FIRE!"

Ravemon swung round, calmly cutting the speedy bullet out of thin air and blowing away the doorway to the dojo. Taijimon shielded Cody and the weaker rookies with his body as flames licked over them. Renardmon stood in the way of The Priestess, letting debris rally up his back rather than worsen her wounds.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" he cried, spinning around and taking a brave (or foolish, perhaps) few steps towards the Demon's biomerged form.

"Oh, I haven't seen you in ages. How have you been? How's the fiancée? Oh, badly wounded, right, right. You have Bupa, don't you?"

He didn't understand half of what the man-turned-Digimon was saying, but he didn't care, his fists clenched in spite of the sheer risk as he continued to approach the cocky raven warrior. The Digimon could (and would) chop him to bits in seconds, but something in his mind he wanted to stand up, to make a difference, to make up for his role in bringing hell itself down upon them.

And then something else stopped him.

"Renardmon…don't kill…yourself…" he heard a pained voice from behind. "Please," cried _that_ other, accented voice, coming from the same lips.

"Oh yes, don't be a hero," Rayleigh added, before Ravemon swung a fist backwards into Taijimon creeping in from one side. The warrior stumbled back, someone who Renardmon had idolised wounded. Why wasn't he taking another step forwards?

Damn it. This was the most important thing he could do in his life. The _only_ important thing he could do in his life. Wring the neck of the bastard before him or choke him for all he was worth, or die trying and forever be remembered as a martyr. Why were The Priestess' ill-informed words still so effective on him?

"Renardmon," she cried again, the room's air sitting still.

He could do something.

He could change things.

But he didn't want to let her down, to push her over the edge.

"Ravemon…" he began, hoping that the dramatic words would flow to him.

Green robot arms suddenly wrapped around Ravemon's waist, a voice laughing and interrupting Renardmon's moment of glory.

"We're out of here! Keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times!" Rapidmon tried to make humour in spite of the risk, as he dragged Ravemon backwards out of the room and away from the injured. Sharp, red fingers tried to scrap at the android as he staggered back unwillingly, yet only once outside was he successful in breaking free.

"You need myxomatosis," Ravemon growled as he shot out a claw and practically pulled Terriermon out of his ultimate form. The dog-bunny was toss him screaming into the centre of the dojo, just in time for his newly-arrived partner to make a failed attempt to catch him.

"Sorry Henry…" he whimpered as he was scooped up. "I messed up."

"It's okay. I should be able to help you more," Henry growled to himself, although Renardmon hadn't a clue why.

"Don't…" Terriermon began, but commotion overrode his voice.

"TALISMAN SPELL!" Taomon cried, a taijitu cast upon the floor and producing an orb like shield within the room and about the patients. The Priestess' data began to flow away faster, as the spell upon her stopped being cast, while Taomon winced with every pound upon the shield from Ravemon's sharp sword, so rapid as to quickly crack away at its surface.

"It's not enough!" Rumiko cried in horror.

"ANGEL INFERNO!" cried a new voice, a burst of white light swooping down from above and careening into the mega level Digimon. Smoke, even thicker than the fog, burst out, yet even before a scathed BlazeDonnermon had landed it was clear Ravemon was still standing.

"You have no idea how much I nearly managed to accomplish when I stopped procrastinating with you," Rayleigh said, as if they were mere work colleagues having a dispute.

"Quit the wit. You're fighting me!" BlazeDonnermon growled. "And you're a perfectionist. Come on, obsessive compulsive, finish the job you started!"

"If you insist!" Ravemon cried, and leapt for his enemy, the pair banished out of Renardmon's sight into the mist, leaving only the sounds of battle.

The male Kitsune unclenched his fists, the smell of burning wood and the sound of static reaching his ears as the shield broke up around them. Taomon sighed in exhaustion, before resorting to working on her patient. Renardmon walked back over to The Priestess' injured body, and looked her in the eyes, the pair sharing a frown as he took her hand again.

"I'm glad you're alive," she mumbled. "I need all the friends I can get." He nodded. It had been a close one. He wished BlazeDonnermon the best of luck, but there just wasn't enough in the universe for all of them today.

* * *

**Willis Price**

* * *

"**CONTAINMENT LEVEL THREE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED." **Although it was quite hard to hear the announcement over the wailing sirens, that just made it doubly hard to contemplate what it could've meant. **"TEST SUBJECTS WILL BE NEUTRALISED IN TWENTY."**

"What? NO!" Jeff cried, taking a step backwards. "Our work!"

Willis gritted his teeth and clutched his Digivice iC tightly, praying to whatever god existed for it to become more than a useless heap of trash. He had learnt that the project had been far less advanced than he knew, and the dent in its top from when he threw it to the floor was testament to its flaws.

Now it was going to cost him his partner. The most interesting thing that had happened in his life: gone, before he even got to know Coronamon properly. Even though Level Three would save his life – presuming, that was, he could survive the intervening day without a way past the bulkhead without killing himself out of depression – it still felt like the worst possible ending.

"**FIFTEEN."**

"There has to be something we can do!" said Michael. Willis glanced again to the bulkhead door, but they had already tried: neither Coronamon nor Betamon were by any means strong enough to shift or destroy it, and the other Digimon were too panicked about their newfound freedom to be cooperative.

"**TEN. YUGGOTH SYSTEM PRIMED."**

"There isn't," Jeff said with a frown. A bulkhead descended from one of the walls, revealing a metal bar surrounded by three sprung prongs, snapping apart as the door opened. Some of the Digimon in the room continued to dance madly about; others, those who presumably understood what it meant, simply ran away from it. "It was designed by Hypnos to destroy all data life forms. Still…" He raised his gun, ploughing his remaining bullets into it with the EMP-engaged.

Nothing, barely a scratch on it. Jeff's head sank.

"And I designed it to withstand attacks."

"**FIVE. YUGGOTH ENGAGED," **the PA continued, electricity cackling across the prongs.

Willis felt something pull on his trouser leg, but didn't expect what happened once his eyes flicked downwards. "Sorry," said a tired Coronamon, before running forward, as the program's final stage activated.

"BETAMON!" Willis heard his friend cry, as the pair of Digimon rushed forward, heading straight for the device on the far wall.

Bognor or bust.

"**YUGGOTH ACTIVATED."**

The wave started, spreading outwards to envelop the whole wall – lest a Digimon hide against it – and continued on, claiming its first maddened victims as their data was rendered into nothing but an echoing scream. Coronamon clenched his fists as it approached him and a ball of flame shot from his forehead, as simultaneously Betamon let an electric shock rip loose from his fin.

"CORONA FLAME!"

"ELECTRIC SHOCK!"

The attacks shot forward, but disintegrated amidst the Yuggoth wave without even reaching the emitter. This was hopeless.

Willis looked down, finding himself now there, by his partner's side, all the while ignoring Jeff's calls from behind and his quickened breaths thanks to the pace at which he had just run. To be there, alongside him in his final moment, was worth it. Glancing aside, he witnessed Michael doing the same. Betamon leapt up into his arms and engaged in one final staring contest, so much like the first day they met. Here was the strange being on the other side of the glass. Someone and something so real and so unusual, yet seeing no reason for fear.

Coronamon looked up at Willis, his face turning from surprise to sadness as he uttered "sorry," and let out a hand.

Contact from the Digimon who avoided it the most. Shame it came so late.

"Sorry," Willis reached back, touching his partners tiny fingers just as Yuggoth rushed over them, and he broke into data. Gone.

So was Willis' Digivice iC. For a moment, at least: in the next, its data gathered, and reformed. A glowing slot along the side, three buttons, and a circle at the end, all upon a black body with an orange strip: was it a digivice?

Michael had the same, his black and blue, the blue light bursting from its slot the only thing competing with his own.

"_Here goes nothing…" _Willis thought, sweeping his hand through it. It did the same to him, going straight through his hand to cover the data of his recently-deceased partner as Yuggoth crossed them. The data converged, and condensed onto a single point, which exploded with orange light.

**BURST DIGIVOLUTION**

**Coronamon…burst mode activate!**

**Betamon…burst mode activate!**

Willis removed his hand from his eyes to witness his partner's dazzlingly bright body, an orange aura from all of his flames creeping into every part of the air about them. Apart from that covered by Betamon's blue aura. Even the Yuggoth was forced aside helplessly.

This was…amazing!

Betamon's eyes lit up, and shot wide. "Michael, I feel so alive…now…ELECTRIC OVERLOAD!" The blue aura concentrated on his fin, before dozens of electric bolts launched straight for the Yuggoth emitter.

Not a chance. One prong was torn back, another blown clean off, and the whole system screamed from the overload. At the back of the room, the wave stopped, a quick dodge saving Willis' life from a piece of launched scrap metal hurtling across.

Just how much power had they given their partners?

"Michael, whatever you did, thanks!" Betamon exclaimed.

"No…worries." Michael peered at his reformed digivice, mumbling "what did I do?"

Willis stared at his. How had it altered itself like that? And "how did that save you two?"

They were the lucky ones: living, breathing Digimon had perished today for no good reason, and even the digital fires they had started had been erased. Jeff wandered around to inspect the room, initial confusion turning to a frown as he explored every nook and cranny of the laboratory. "They're the only ones," he resigned as he returned to the pair of newfound Tamers. "Could I take a look?" He reached out a hand to Michael.

The boy nodded, handing over his new blue and black 'toy'. Jeff glanced at it, turned it over and over again, and even put his fingernail under a piece of the casing at one point. Yet, in spite of Michael's alarm, it didn't budge.

"I think this is real. I'm amazed. Staggered. I think the Monster Makers will have to take a look at this. But…maybe once this mess is cleared up," he said, glancing around. Willis nodded: all their research had gone down the pan: their subjects (including plenty of Digimon 'owned' by other children in the program), destroyed; their lab, devastated; their digivices, lost without explanation to the whims of whatever Digital God dictated from on high. Project Replica was over.

It was a horrible outcome, even with their partners' survival.

"Yuggoth was originally designed to take out what its programmers saw as Digital Life. That definition keeps becoming more elaborate since, so…maybe this overwhelmed it?"

"Whatever: we have to stop Elgar before he does any more damage like this!" Michael insisted, clenching his fists. "I want to teach him a lesson before he treats Digimon like this again." He pointed to his shoulder and his still-glowing partner, Betamon's grin the widest Willis had ever seen. "They're living beings."

"I'd hold your horses a bit: Elgar is the kind that plays the political game. Still…" Jeff glanced around the lab. "This whole affair has been one offence after another: he put us directly in the line of danger, and we have plenty of experts to evaluate whatever risks he saw here. We might have ammo still."

"It's not just him we should be worried about," Willis said. "Rayleigh's still out there. If we don't act quickly, there's no knowing what he'll do."

"We need to get out."

"Yeah. Do you reckon you can break down the door Coronamon?"

"I'll try Willis," the creature replied nervously. He bit his lip in concentration while he put his hands to his blazing forehead, combining his three flames into one.

"I'm not sure whether to root for you or our security contractors," Jeff muttered.

"CORONA OUTBURST!" Coronamon swept his arms out and launched the fire burst forward into the bulkhead, an explosion sweeping wind through the room. Willis kept his feet down, tight, before peering through the smoke to see if the door was gone.

It still stood, yet a hairline crack and smoke attested to how much they had weakened it. Betamon glanced to Coronamon, before the pair made a break for it, leaping into the air and charging with their fin and head respectively.

"FIN SLASHER!"

"GRAND PROMINENCE!"

Bingo.

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

"SWEPT SLASH!"

"RAVEN CLAW!"

Claws locked, the crow and the dragon gritting their teeth as they forced against each other, trying to stab as sharply as possible, preferably through the opponent's heart. BlazeDonnermon, attempting to gain the upper hand, drew his wings back, all of the angelic power stored within Ryder causing them to glow, while a fireball gathered in his jaw.

"ANGEL INFER…"

"SPIRAL RAVEN CLAW!"

Ravemon began to spin, catching BlazeDonnermon off guard. His wings were flung about, the angelic energy shooting off erratically before its owner (and the fireball) shot down towards the ground.

"Bugger," Ryder cursed, catching himself just before hitting the roof of a house, yet the ongoing fireball quickly made his attempt pointless. Looking up, he felt increasingly drained by all the energy he was wasting. Ravemon was such a slippery character to deal with, and the taunting didn't help.

"I'm disappointed in you. All bark and no bite."

"_Don't let him psyche you out Ryder,"_ Donmon warned.

"_He's not. But the more he talks the more we can recover." _Ryder schemed, yet all was far from well._ "You feel that arm pain too?"_

"_God yeah. Do you want me to take it on?"_

"_Don't waste your energy, we work better together. Even in pain."_

"I'm disappointed in you too. Is this really your amazing plan?" Ryder taunted back from where BlazeDonnermon now knelt on the ground.

"What do you mean?" Rayleigh looked down Ravemon's nose at him.

"I mean, come on, the fine architect resorts to using someone else's accident? Resorts to clumsily coming to the Digital World? Did I really cripple your plans that much?"

Ravemon grated his teeth, Rayleigh speaking out. "Nice attempt. Almost had me spilling there."

"I'm not stupid enough to expect that result. But come on: all of this, what's the point?"

"To eliminate all of you, and make a quick billion acting as your replacement."

"Yeah – but isn't that a bit simple for you? I'm surprised you're not slitting our throats yourself."

"What sort of villain do you think I am? Even an evil villain shouldn't be that narcissistic. I just want you all gone. Maybe that'll take this constant headache off my mind."

"Headache? Chiyo mentioned something similar."

"It's the curse of the Demons. You Angels don't seem to suffer from the same, lucky bastards. You are glorified as holy and true, and fit neatly within culture as 'great', but what would you do when faced by a true dilemma? What if the world really would be better without you, or without government, or without your flawed moral systems? Would you let it happen? Even if it meant your own death?"

"Not the best example: my own death keeps avoiding me."

"Then what about Mari's?"

How ironic, given how much he had just been thinking about that very subject. Maybe this was his coma's way of calling him to account. "I don't know. It would depend how much it would change the world."

"Corrupt as ever. Even protecting your Digimon against risks is inherently selfish. How are you to say you are right? That they won't turn around tomorrow and attack with malice, or that their very presence in reality doesn't attract attacks. For that is my other contribution: I want to prove to everyone the value of thinking. Of breaking into our sacred idols, and redefining our values."

"Have you thought about our side though? Digimon are our_ friends_!"

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle. Couldn't put it better myself. I listen, and all I can ask is: how valuable is friendship?"

"It's saved my life a thousand times."

"What price would you put on it? Why do you value it above anything else? I've got this far without needing it: sure, Oxford comes with a certain degree of Old Boy's Clubs but I never needed it. Even Falcomon treats me as a master: no offence, buddy, but I doubt you'd abandon me if we weren't friends."

"I think I understand that, sir," called another voice from within.

"He sounds unconvinced," Ryder surmised, BlazeDonnermon climbing back to his feet.

"So what? What makes our emotions more valuable than thought? We act a thousand times a day against our own interest thanks to emotion, even when it _still _hurts others. Don't pretend your life isn't rooted in endless habitual values. I aim to make people think for once, shock them into rethinking their whole lives and actually _knowing_ why they do things for once."

"By killing us here? How can we think if we're dead?"

"It'll have repercussions on the whole world, I'll make sure of that."

"How?"

"That would be telling," Ravemon tapped the side of his nose. "Regardless…Ryder…do you know how hard it is to watch as the Liberal Arts, the social sciences, the sciences – all the great works of mankind – die on the altar of 'moral systems' rooted in some historic economies, anachronisms so insane as to almost be a joke? As all our knowledge fails because we never can be brave enough to apply it to humanity, never brave enough to do what's best rather than what we can get past people. Communism works in theory but not in practice, but did we ever get real communism? Have we ever really tested Freud? Do we have democracy? Of course not: people intervene – selfish, stupid, stubborn people. Digimon could destroy us all, but public opinion continues to swing further and further in their favour. Are we insane? Hell, even love: what makes love so great? If you strip away all the values, what is _love_ really? Mankind simply doesn't know any more: everything's covered up to the brim with plasters and lies, keeping the rich rich, the smart smart, and the world wasted. For all the theorists who have worked on it, you still love to live in your tiny little worlds, pretending that what is outside your pathetically small perspectives doesn't matter. I want to end that. I will blow them all open and bring about a new age. The slaughter of delusion. _That_ is my contribution!"

The temptation to overthink, to join in in doing so, was overwhelming for Ryder, yet he just about resisted it. He wasn't going to be convinced, not when he knew what he wanted in life. "Hey, I love an intellectual debate too, but…come on, we've all begrudgingly woken up at 6am and faced facts: we have to live our day to day life. It's just how things work in the world."

"Who says so? Why not strip the world down to its core? I did: I stripped away my armour and shocked the governments of the world _and_ destroyed a line of defence. I acted to change things: to change the world like so many pointless quotes suggest you should. This is real, Ryder: next there will be battles, then wars. Beasts will roam the Earth, and mankind will have to grow up and reconfigure itself. Never again will an expert or an argument be ignored as being lofty and away from reality; never again will a thinker be labelled a geek or ostracised in favour of comforting nonsense. I want to end the days of academics sitting in Departments and being told by line after line of moral guardians that their work is 'wrong' in reality. All our sacred values will change tomorrow, and the next day – sexuality, genetics, using knives and forks, love, religion, economics, what the colour pink means, what the world is made of, Digimon – they _always_ change. Always. The only way for us to survive, to thrive as a species, is to accept that, and think ahead. I am doing this for humanity. For everyone you adore."

Ryder paused, chewing his lip within his orb. This was perfect procrastination for healing himself up, no doubt. Yet something troubled him: something in the argument spoke to him. After being told he was thinking too deeply, risking the world and hurting emotions, it was somewhat refreshing to be told that wasn't necessarily wrong by a voice which sounded, well, right. "I…just can't pull myself out of being me that much. And I know what I value isn't based on anything but…I just live by it. For every moment I wonder whether life is real I look into the eyes of a girl like Mari and wonder how I can doubt it."

"I don't blame you for thinking like that. The human mind is flawed beyond belief. At St Luke's College I saw even the smartest students basing judgements on virtual insanity, the idiots! I had to change things. I just couldn't stand it any longer."

"Wait - you're only 22 – how do you know your thoughts won't change too?"

"If they change, they'll change with the world, not on their own. Still…I think you of all people could benefit from an Oxford education. Never The _Other _Place."

"Pfft. Like I can even afford it. I'm not even British any more."

Ravemon smirked. "Don't panic. I see big things for you, Ryder. And I look forward to stopping them all." He hoisted his sword. "Just think on that one while I take away all the health you just recovered."

"_Ryder…are you…taking this seriously?" _Donmon asked through their link.

"_I don't know," _Ryder replied. They had more pressing issues, in any case. Rayleigh was bound to move at any moment, and he had to act fast. He raised his hands, his blasters charging up ready for when his opponent moved. One Blaze Blaster in the right place could cripple the Digimon enough to get a proper blast in.

Careful.

Careful.

Careful.

"CELESTIAL BLADE!"

"Huh?" Ryder wondered, as the Ravemon he was looking at simply vanished into nothing. A mirage. So _that_ was how he was getting around to attack so fast. He had kept his true speed a secret all this time, and all to deliver this final blow. The revelation was little consolation, the dark lightning and the sword smashing down through him.

Damn it.

BlazeDonnermon screamed as he was smashed down into the centre of the lake, its waters steaming and evaporating as his blasters let off in it with an almighty bang. Ravemon didn't pause, crushing down on the Digimon's head as soon as he could while stabbing clean through both blasters with his sword.

"_Ryder, it hurts!" _Donmon cried to him.

"_You're telling me!" _Ryder screamed mentally, but on the outside BlazeDonnermon simply growled in pain.

"For all your refinement, you're still an ancient beast. There's a reason the birds replaced the dinosaurs – I thought at least dragons would be more advanced," Rayleigh mused, drawing his sword back while pressing his foot further into the Digimon's head.

"_It's risky Ryder…are you really trying to do what I think you're doing?"_

"_Everyone in the village is hiding, and everyone who isn't is a threat or must be able to move, right? I've got my hands the right way round…I have to try this, we need a distraction!"_

"_So you're _that _ready to kill everyone here? Are any of us even real to you?"_

"_Donmon!"_

"_Ryder…I thought…I thought you still cared."_

"_What _else_ can we do?"_

"_Something that doesn't involve mass-murder!"_

"_I'm telling you it'll be fine."_

"_You sound like you've bought Rayleigh's bloody argument!"_

The foot pressed down further, pushing BlazeDonnermon's head deeper into the lake mud. "So, Donmon, how are you finding this pain?"

"Bite me," Donmon growled through the dragon's lips.

"Charming. Ryder…I would ask you the same, but you won't be the one to die from it. Don't worry, I have plans for you."

"What sort of plans?" Ryder asked, BlazeDonnermon's mouth half-buried. The mud did not taste nice. Maybe if he ate enough, he could recover.

"That would be telling," Rayleigh chuckled.

"_Donmon…please…trust me on this…look, our hands are the right way round, and if we concentrate we can focus them on this area and there aren't many people here…"_

"_Ryder…how does this not feel real?"_

"_Is this _really _the time?"_

"_If this hurts any of our friends, you are going to have _so much_ hell to pay."_

"_I know, I know…I'll deal it to myself."_

"The silent treatment?" Rayleigh wondered. "I do prefer…"

"FIRESTORM!"

"What?" Rayleigh exclaimed, lifting Ravemon foot slightly as bursts of fire shot skywards from BlazeDonnermon's glowing hands. The Digimon began to try and climb to his feet, his opponent transfixed enough by the myriad balls of fire currently floating way above their heads to have staggered back.

No way to stop it now. God he hoped everyone was hiding. Now to…

"Nice try!" Rayleigh exclaimed. Ravemon grabbed him by the neck, and swung him round, up, and over his head: an umbrella to the balls of flame soon to shoot in from above. "Now watch as you do what you do best: hurting everyone you meet! Meet your value economy!"

"_Dammit!"_

* * *

**Tai Kamiya**

* * *

This battle was going badly, very badly. He just hoped he would be able to look back and laugh at the absurdity of this part.

WarGreymon swung a claw at a mutilated Gekomon, constantly leaping at him with a bulging eye and buzzing around in spite of its diminutive size. An unknown Digimon's removed arm was strapped to its back instead of its instrument, flesh bursting free as it 'played' it. When it stopped, it merely screamed, a sound which made Tai want to cover his ears. Nails down a chalkboard would be relaxing from now on.

"_Tai, if this keeps up I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life," _Agumon cried.

"_Then help me aim carefully."_

"Three, two," WarGreymon said to himself, drawing his gauntlet back behind him and looking closely around him for his target. The only problem was, something got in the way before he could. "Oh."

There, impaled on his right Dramon Killer, was the Gekomon, rapidly dissolving.

"Lucky," Tai mumbled, shaking the creature off his hand to die away from him. WarGreymon turned around, taking advantage of a rare respite to appreciate the battlefield. What he could see of the battlefield, at least. A thick fog still covered it, and as much as he moved and swept the fogs aside, he was still limited.

In an instant and a fury of noise, everything changed.

"Tai…what is that?" Agumon asked. The warrior looked skywards to the floating orange flames in the sky above, burning brightly even through the constant fog of the Juggernaut. They hung amongst the program's vast opening, its form blazing with fire as it took on a fireball or two and ceased spinning entirely. It just stopped.

With that, the battlefield was unveiled so quickly. Only the corrupt never looked skywards to the newfound sight.

Christ. What a battlefield it was! Not a building was unscratched: barely a patch of earth was untouched. For every weary looking Digimon there was another corruptly dancing around, now freed from the persistent downward wind out of the Juggernaut which had perpetuated the mist, revealing new targets.

An eerie calm descended as the fireballs sat in the sky. They were a distinct threat, yet distinctly familiar too.

"_Isn't that BlazeDonnermon's attack?" _Agumon asked Tai. WarGreymon glanced about with a purpose, hoping he could work out precisely why his fellow dragon warrior would be doing such a thing

There he was: hoisted in the air by Ravemon, proudly standing where the lake had once been.

Tai's blood boiled. Ravemon had pushed his friend to such a risky move – he had to have! BlazeDonnermon looked worse for wear, his blasters smashed and his head crushed, while where he was right now he would take an onslaught of fireballs. They all would.

Screams sounded as people and Digimon alike ran for cover, the fireballs swelling in the sky. A dozen, two dozen, three dozen: who knew? BlazeDonnermon's attack was never meant for these circumstances, and while it had stopped Juggernaut, what price would they pay for that?

Dammit. Why did people like Rayleigh have to keep hurting others? What did he want? Why did he revel in death and destruction?

"_Tai?"_

The boy clenched a fist. This had to stop, now!

The whole time he had been here he had been expected to lead – meeting so many needs, taking so much pressure - yet right now he had neither ability nor time. What could he do in a time as chaotic as this? What could any leader do? His team was dispersed merely to keep safe, particularly in the case of his parents and the other non-Tamers. Even then they hadn't really been so, for he had learnt of the damage to DarkBiyomon and extent of The Priestess' injuries. It simply reinforced his belief of just how _wrong_ this all was, and just how much he had to act now, regardless of the consequences. Yet every time he had tried to he had got lost in the fog and was rapidly ambushed.

Even if he did act, what could he do?

"_Tai…do you feel that?"_

Tai was about to ask what, before he realised what Agumon meant. He felt new life flow into WarGreymon's limbs: the aches fading, his claws raring to go – glowing, even. Through his body – his real one, naked and floating in an orange orb – he felt something different. Something new, something different. His hairs stood on end upon ten thousand goosebumps; his eyes saw patterns in the data chains around him he had never noticed with a greater clarity than ever; his mind raced. Adrenaline? Or something else?

Then came the voices, whispering to him, reminding him of a dream, a déjà vu.

**"Awake, the one with the courage to step into the fire..."**

**"One to lead them all, and corral warring men."**

**"Guide all through hell and back."**

**"Tip-toe on the borders of life and death, and take on the risks no-one else can bear."**

"**AWAKE!"**

"**The cursed siblings of fire and light…"**

"**AWAKE!"**

"**Awake…the Fifth Angel awakes…"**

Tai shuddered. That last voice, so loud and clear, and so clearly Ryder's?

How? What on earth was going on here? He was an Angel?

"_Tai!"_ Agumon snapped him out of his stupor. He didn't have time to ponder anything right now: at least, beyond the thought which had burst first and foremost into his mind.

Whether it was good or bad didn't matter: it was a plan, and he was going to make sure it worked.

"_Agumon…I think I just became an Angel."_

"_What? Really? How Tai?"_

"_There's no time. Do you want to do something stupidly dangerous?"_

"_I'm in."_

"_Thanks old buddy."_ Trust till the end. He looked to the sky as the fireballs started to descend rapidly.

This was it.

"VALOUR!" he cried, his shield and his body glowing with white light. He leapt into the air, flying straight towards one of the fireballs before closing the wings on his back, his shield now across it.

**BANG!**

The pain smashed through him as the first one hit the shield. He twisted his body in the air, relying simply on his own stubbornness to avoid falling as he swooped towards another, this one over the top of the dojo.

**BANG!**

Over the temple.

**BANG!**

A house.

**BANG!**

One by one, he stopped as many as he could. Each time, the pain smashed through him, but each time, the feeling rushed over him of that strength, and it went away again. Hearing explosions reach the ground nearby, he knew he could do no more, and instead he set his sights on the figure below.

"_Tai…I can see what you're planning…"_

"_Trust me."_

WarGreymon, floating in the air above the village, saw his enemy glaring back. Ravemon drew his sword, slashing down at BlazeDonnermon and knocking him to the ground. Donmon and Ryder fell free, as Ravemon marched defiantly forward.

Tai wasn't having it this time round.

"TAKE THIS!" WarGreymon gathered the fires still burning on his shields into a ball in his hand. It gathered data, grew, and shone with such intensity as to be another sun, even though it was far smaller than his Terra Force ever was. He smirked upon seeing it. Recycling Firestorm. Not so thick-headed after all. "CELESTE…FORCE!" he cried as he tossed it rapidly towards the bird warrior.

Ravemon gritted his teeth, grabbing Ryder and Donmon in his arms and throwing them violently towards it, before taking to the air to dodge the blast by flying up and away from it.

WarGreymon saw this coming, and was already diving after his own attack, crossing over into its future path and grabbing the First Angel and his Digimon. He landed at the end of its trajectory, pitched Ryder and Donmon aside, and flicked out his half-shields from behind.

They glowed, merging into one at their seam. He had to be mad. He _knew _how powerful this blast was: it was _his! _Agumon's breath lingered in his ears, his mouth open yet not sure whether to say it. Sure as hell Sora would be screaming in horror if she saw this, and he didn't doubt she was watching. God only knew what his parents thought.

Yet something told him this'd work out. That he wouldn't get hurt.

Just get the angle right. That's all that mattered.

"BRAVE SHIELD!"

Then he felt it. With an almighty crash, his own attack hit the Brave Shield. Biting his lip, he forced it up, clenching his hands around it in spite of the pain. He felt it all, but he kept fighting, for with every ounce of danger he put himself in he got stronger.

Valour. The power to fight to the death against all odds, and come out stronger, the power of the Fifth Angel of Courage. Not too bad.

Tai smirked and glanced up. Time Rayleigh got brought down a peg. Or thirty feet. Nowhere in the sky was out of his reach now, and that Juggernaut was way too far away to do any favours for him.

The shot deflected upwards, the fireball glowing hugely before it shot straight into a shocked and panicked Ravemon. It consumed his form, the shock waves knocking back the few eyes that weren't blinded by the new sun.

Then it was gone. So was Ravemon, his form falling back from the static Juggernaut towards the ground. It split into Rayleigh and Falcomon right in front of the ravaged temple stairway, and WarGreymon made a bee-line for it.

No escaping today. Everyone was getting justice.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

**A/N: **So the battle ends. Except, of course, for all those corrupted Digimon still running around. And the dying Priestess. On second thoughts, wait and see…

Again, I apologise for the delay in this new chapter, but I hope it made up for it: there's a ton of stuff coming to a close here, and there's just one chapter left in Phase Two. And then…well, I'll let you find out what Phase Three entails. Let's just say, by the end of Chapter 42, the gravity of the situation will have become readily apparent.

Until next time…

B.C.


	47. Phase Two: So Long, And Thanks For I

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FORTY-TWO**

**Phase Two**

_So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish_

**Part One**

* * *

**SATURDAY, 14****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

The water twirled as it headed for the plug, a tinge of grey to it as it flowed about the white washbasin. Streaks of muted orange and black hair dangled down, hands constantly clasping at it in an attempt to wash it free.

The dye wasn't permanent. It was barely even temporary. After a shower, she was left looking like a tarantula. Washing it only made her into a tarantula with a preference for orange and prompted a number of curses to come from her mouth. Some were new to her – indeed, she doubted they had been used for centuries.

"_**Rika, relax. It'll grow out. You'll damage it if you keep this up."**_

"Ugh…" Rika looked in her bathroom mirror. Light was cast down by the roof window, the blue sky above completely ignoring the turmoil beneath. Occasionally, the sound of a helicopter or voice nearby would reach her ears and she would quickly hide beneath the bathtub, having removed a side panel at Harmony's suggestion. "I hate it."

"_**I thought you didn't care about fashion?"**_

"_I care about looking sane. It's not even neat."_

"_**I did suggest you leave it in and re-dye it."**_

"_With what? All that mum has is blonde highlighter: how is that going to work?"_

This day had seemed long and depressing already, even though she had awoken late, thanks to forgetting to set an alarm and having little inclination to get up in any case. Over cereal, she had longed for Kristy to prank her with water, for normality, or at least to soften her mother's healthy cereal, barely palatable in its natural state. She was hardly going to spite herself and she had certainly denied Harmony's…other…suggestion. Her sanity and grip on right and wrong had already been pushed to breaking point.

She rubbed her hair with a towel as she wandered quietly from bathroom to living room, keeping an eye out for intruders through gaps she had left in the exterior doors. If someone knew she was here, any time she could gain would be valuable.

The power light on her mother's portable television turned red as she picked it up from the table and switched it on. _"Come on, just a little while."_

"…**spite of calls for more information from the Acting Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Thompson has yet to issue a statement. The Diet is increasingly responding to the outrage from a country which has lost its leader to outsiders and is now led by one. Nationalistic sentiments through informal protests and petitioning have referred to the Four Black Ships incident. On Twitter, the hashtag #rayleighgo is trending, one user comparing Mr Thompson to Matthew C Perry. The Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives will today table an emergency bill for a vote of no confidence. He spoke of cross-party support for Mr Thompson to stand down from his emergency role immediately. Questions have been asked of the constitutional legitimacy of Mr Thompson's leadership, given that he is not a Japanese National and yet held a position of high authority as the Chief Cabinet Secretary, a role which is by custom nominated as first in line to serve as an Acting Prime Minister in the event of the death of the Prime Minister."**

"Thank God," Rika uttered, thankful that there was a chance Rayleigh could be uprooted, although she had a feeling that even with a new leader she would not be off the hook.

"**The Speaker of the House of Representatives responded to criticisms from his counterpart in the House of Councillors as to the widespread unchallenged acceptance in that House by insisting that the emergency situation present in Japan since the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Keishiro two days ago calls for a drastic, immediate response, rather than political infighting over a new leader. Other members of the Diet have said similarly that a leader is required to pay attention not only to this current emergency, but also to aid those affected by Tohoku and Fukushima and to arrange the emergency budget to deal with Japan's increased national debt, and that this present relatively quiet crisis has been distracting the leadership from the real issues at hand."**

She grimaced. Her wishes to join in said incidents to any real degree had been overruled by Rayleigh, purportedly on the grounds that it would cause public distress and would be seen as playing to the media. Right now, a good news story for the Tamers was exactly what they needed, and with Rayleigh's true hand having been played against them it was apparent he must have had other concerns at heart.

"**Meanwhile, calls for more information on the whereabouts of the Tamers continue, the alleged terrorist group having no reported sightings since yesterday. Mr Thompson has yet to clarify the events reported to be observed in Shinjuku Park, where an aggressive showdown occurred between Special Defence Forces and the Tamers themselves. Some reports have suggested that Mr Thompson himself was present and that there were a number of casualties, although these reports are not possible to verify. Despite this confrontation, Mr Thompson at his last appearance said that he was still focusing on tracking down their location and that a specialist team was following up leads. The video of the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Keishiro has reached the top spot on video sharing sites worldwide as the girl at the centre of all this, Rika Nonaka, has been the centre of media interest over the past few days worldwide. Miss Nonaka, alleged in the video to be present in her 'biomerged' form with her Digimon partner, has been the subject of reports ranging from her role as a Tamer to the potential whereabouts of her recent child, Rey, with another Tamer, Takato Matsuki."**

It wasn't just the past few days. She had been centre of attention for a lot of the media for a while. Even though, with some help from Hypnos, she had been able to subdue and ignore some of it, the media comment on her 'immoral lifestyle', ranging from her teenage pregnancy to the damage she had caused in her fights, had still disrupted her life. On the advice of the government, she had refused to comment on any of it.

"**Furthermore, there is a growing international movement called Digital Truth, claiming that the Tamers and the Digimon are not at the heart of all this and suggesting that there is a conspiracy to ruin them. The movement has particularly spread via the internet, generating increased attention for Digital Watch, an international network of observers of Digimon. It has also brought focus on a hacker group called Lulzsec, supposedly an offshoot of the Anonymous movement, which hacked into the website of the Japanese Government to post various passwords, and replace every picture on the Prime Minister's home page with a pirate ship. Attempts to infiltrate deeper into the servers of Hypnos, the quasi-secret organisation responsible for dealing with Digimon activity in Japan, supposedly proved fruitless for the group."**

Evidently real life was nothing like the movies. Still, weren't internet hackers meant to be able to do this sort of thing? For once, she wanted the lowlives of the internet to help her. Hell, she'd spent enough time on Digital Watch and other fansites to know she hadn't escaped the internet's grasp, from fairly innocent stories to quite explicit pornography. _"Not to mention Renamon." _She shuddered. Some things really were better forgotten. Still, in this circumstance, she would egg on even the sickest of them to do something. They clearly wanted her alive, after all. Although, whether the rest of the population would after she had been 'found guilty' by the media and the government was another question.

"**Said government organisation, which has been virtually unheard of over the past few days amid questions as to its trust in the Tamers and its future plans without them, simply posted that it is still being successful in dealing with Digital Threats. As evidence, it pointed to an almost complete drop off in Digimon arrivals, known as bioemergences, almost worldwide. The meaning of this is unknown. This is…"**

Beep. Beep. Off.

Rika fell back onto the sofa.

Dear Lord. Her, unfortunately.

Even if she survived this, her name was in the papers again. Worldwide. Her life was ruined. If she went for a job now, everyone knew who she was. Walking down the road, she'd always be hassled. That was, if she wasn't put in prison first.

The weather was mocking her. It had to be.

She had to be strong though. For Rey.

God she hoped Rey was safe. She crossed her fingers, knowing to trust Takato. But if he had to fight, who would she trust then? Who could defend themselves and protect the baby in equal measure? She would be so vulnerable to anything that could happen.

Why hadn't she stayed? She had slapped herself so many times for her choice: she was safe, she was with them all, and she could have resolved things. But step outside for one second, and face the consequences.

She clenched her fist as she sat up. No time to moan or mourn. She had to act. Clear her name, do anything. People were increasingly on her side, but she would have to make her voice heard. She was being seen as a villain: now she would have to resemble a hero.

She wandered to the window, pulling the blind back and looking out to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in the far distance. Its two towers looked the same as always, but no longer symbolised their constant (if quite cynical and not always too helpful) support. It was an enemy: everyone was now. If Rayleigh was anywhere, he had to be there. If she needed to talk to the world, her chance was there. If she was going to be a hero, her chance was there. But most importantly, if she was going to get her friends home, that was the only place she could look.

Wandering back to her room, she searched her cupboards. She paused on a coat – but it was the height of summer. To avoid blending in, she was already wearing different clothes to normal, having dug to the back of the wardrobe and found the best compromise between practical and unusual for her: one of the rare pink (and white) things her mother had bought her that was a top, not a dress – lines criss-crossing it from top to bottom, and a worryingly showy cleavage for something her own mother had bought her. She completed the outfit with some cropped blue three-quarter length jeans.

Oh, and a hat. A wide-brimmed, summery hat, which coupled with her (presently) long hair and a pair of sunglasses did, she hoped, make one think twice who she was. Apart from days on the beach (reluctantly – her hair colour left her highly susceptible to burns and freckles), it was something she never wore, and she suspected it would blow off at the first opportunity.

"**D'aww, we'll make a woman of you yet." **Rika looked down in disdain. Knowing her luck, she'd only gain attention from this. Fortunately, with the string shoulders clear, if she needed her wings she wouldn't rip through it in the process.

"Shut it. You really think we can fly from this? People usually notice me and this time they're looking for me too." Rika wished Renamon were here: even in spite of knowing why the Digimon had met her in the first place, being able to appear and vanish at will would be handy right now. They had much to reconcile still, even if she knew the Digimon had been well-intentioned.

"**It'll be our last resort if we can't hide. If we think of it the other way around, it won't do well for Rayleigh's campaign if you're seen to be right under his nose now, will it?"**

"I'm planning to knock his nose off before he can even consider his campaign. Now come on, let's go. I just hope my bike is still working."

"**And that people are half-blind."**

Rika sighed, glancing to the crib and touching the wood at its side. This was all for Rey. Another Nonaka wasn't about to grow up without a parent, let alone without two.

* * *

**Takato Matsuki**

* * *

The forest below rushed by. Gallantmon leapt and bound as he raced ahead of the Juggernaut. Often, he would slow up too much and stray too close and almost become another of its unwitting and unwilling victims as it crossed the wide sky.

This thing was fast. Purposefully-fast, perhaps? He even suspected it was speeding up. "The Kabuki Village is just up here," Renamon called from his shoulder. As they continued across the horizon, Takato realised she never even had to say it.

"What's that?" Calumon asked what they were all thinking, gesturing to the unmistakably familiar shape of a Juggernaut. It sat lazily over the village, the damaged temple pointing to it through a hole in the trees.

"What? Why can we see it?" Renamon exclaimed, horrified. "Where is the shield?" Figures darted around in the village, one struck down by a large explosion.

Gallantmon froze, the sheer confusion of the scene before him causing him to take a moment to think.

"Takato, I don't like the look of this," Guilmon said. The boy nodded within his sphere. Images of his family, his friends, and even those odd acquaintances he had only met when coming here, all flashed before his mind. What had he missed? What could he have prevented? Could he save them?

Gallantmon Crimson Mode raised Blutgang, the energy sword intensifying as he prepared himself for what looked like a vicious battle. Creatures whose silhouettes looked creepily off-model leapt through the sky, while his allies looked worn and tired. The Juggernaut became more detailed as he cautiously stepped forward. It was static, like someone had grabbed it and stopped its spin. He couldn't help but notice the lack of anyone being dragged up into it right now, even if he swore he had seen someone flying up only…

Oh no.

Renamon leapt out like a blur in front of him, yet froze and warped, her data being pulled upwards all at once. She screamed in agony, Gallantmon reaching out and grabbing her leg. Through his increasingly-aching mind, Takato watched Gallantmon's arm also become warped, and averted his eyes skyward, pausing only to grab Calumon from his shoulder and hold him as close as Renamon.

The Juggernaut.

Dammit. His wings fluttered forward, and back, but every movement seemed to stick him harder and the only way he seemed to move was upwards. He cursed being data and sorely tried to fight hard against what was happening, but what could he use as leverage? The ground was long gone beneath him and the village's ground was now becoming clear as the Juggernaut moved towards it, cackling as its very edge began to collide with the other one.

"Takato, my head hurts and I don't think I'm…going to…keep…awake…"

"Guilmon, keep fighting!" Takato cried, feeling surges as Chaos' energy wracked through him. Sparks of red lightning shot from his hands, yet themselves slowed, as Takato felt his eyes beginning to close. Something was pulling him…

"…up!"

His eyes opened gradually. Something had changed. Taking in the sights around him, it was a while before he realised he was Takato again.

What the hell had happened? Where was he? Was this…death?

"Wakey wakey!" Calumon chirped from before his eyes. "I thought Guilmon could be tired."

"Where are we?" Takato wondered, blinking as he turned his head around. For yet another time in his life, he found himself floating in a void, the walls practically painted with green while lines of white light laced from side to side. Amidst it all, however, something was very different.

Something was cackling. Static from a TV screen?

Upon turning his head around, he saw it: a large mass of data – absurdly large, in fact. Its black and white bits floated within the space, shifting randomly about, yet remaining oddly focused into distinct masses, like cornflakes in a bowl. It was bright: very bright. Concentrated? Possibly. Dangerous? Things like this normally were.

"Are we inside the Juggernaut?" Takato wondered, looking aside to Renamon, floating. She opened her mouth to answer, but her snout was drawn sharply and violently forward, giving her pause. He glanced aside to Calumon and Guilmon, as similar warps happened to them, all drawing them in towards the data ball beneath. "Never mind."

"I'm scared," Calumon cried.

"Takato, you aren't warping?" Renamon wondered, looking to the Gogglehead with curious eyes. "I thought you were data."

"I thought I was too."

"**I thought Juggernaut deleted data."**

"I know – that was what I was implying." Renamon sounded quite offended.

"**Think a bit, will you? If Juggernaut deletes data, why are we still here? And what the hell is that thing? Come on, isn't it obvious?"**

"Well…uh…Juggernaut doesn't delete data then?" Takato asked, hoping he wouldn't be left behind in this all. He desperately wished Henry were here, even if he felt this could be out of his friend's depth.

"Then maybe Juggernaut _never_ deleted data," Renamon proposed.

"**That's not important. I know deletion, I'm the King of Deletion, I **_**invented**_** deletion. That ain't deletion. If it's meant to be, they're doing it wrong. See, we're still alive, but you Digimon are still being taken – even though we're all data."**

"I noticed!" Guilmon cried, as his head was viciously distorted. He gripped it once it returned to normal, Takato begging to help his partner.

"Someone designed this," Renamon concluded. "It didn't delete the data on the ground and it's only taking us Digimon. It must be designed to avoid humans. Then…maybe Rika came this way too. How did she escape?"

"That's all great and all, but I really don't want any of you to die," Takato pulled the subject back to the issue at hand. "What do we do?"

"Whatever you do, do it fast," Guilmon added. "I'm getting a headache."

"Yeah – I don't want to be a chess board. People always seemed to run away from them when I joined in," Calumon cried. "And I thought people liked Pawns!"

Takato felt Chaos staring down into the mass. **"God, I really just want to fire first and think later. But I quite like being alive, I hate being in nappies and dealing with all that explaining again. Plus this is a really crap way to go."**

"If it does mean going. That data must be useful to someone," Renamon said, chillingly.

"I don't want to wait to find out. I just want to go home…Rika must have found a way...how…how...think Takato, think…wait, that's it!" Takato exclaimed, pointing to one of the green, fluid walls of the place. "A way home!" he thought, closing his eyes, something which didn't allow him rest from the commentary of the others.

"Nothing's happening," Renamon said.

"_Shinjuku Park…"_

"Takato, my tail is really long and I don't like it!" Guilmon cried.

"…_come on…"_

"**I can't see while you have your eyes closed, dammit!"**

"…_remember it…"_

"Oooh, I know that place!" Calumon exclaimed happily. "Woo, chess!"

"Bingo," Takato grinned, opening his eyes to see a roughly-square gap in the wall of the world, a green park and fountain beckoning. Grabbing Renamon and Guilmon's hands, he began to float towards it by kicking his feet, while Calumon gripped onto his head.

"**All these places are the same."**

"I'm almost getting used to flying," Takato laughed, 'swimming' forwards.

"**Wings are better. They look cooler. People remember them. You, on the other hand, may as well just be jumping and missing the ground. God I miss the Dark Ages. People didn't know everything, things didn't…"**

"Wait…" Takato stopped, his body pausing practically instantly once he stopped kicking. Guilmon, Renamon, and Calumon kept on floating onwards. It made little sense, but no-one expected much better of this world.

"Takato, what are you doing?" Guilmon asked, Renamon and him each grabbing one of Calumon's ears between them as they drifted towards it. Takato looked down, below the portal.

"The others might come this way…I'll catch up with you…"

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

Immortality wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Invulnerability would certainly have been nicer, if only to stop the sharp ringing in the boy's ears as he stumbled across to the centre of commotion, a mass of people and Digimon now gathering around pair of figures and cloaking them.

Sure, a cyanide capsule would cure his increasing headache, but did have the misfortune of a while out of commission and no doubt another fantasy about that which he was loathe to admit existed behind this world right now. He was a postmodernist's dream.

"You'd think he'd care more for his partner," he heard Kari say from within Ophanimon to Seraphimon, Davis and Magnamon next to them. Ryder nudged through the crowd, pausing to check Donmon was following. The group parted as he did so, recognising his inferior stature right now and injured form.

WarGreymon restraining Rayleigh.

He had not expected to see that. Hell, he'd expected Donmon to have been blown to bits, he'd expected Rayleigh to have escaped. Yet instead, he and his partner were held separately, the latter by GrandisKuwagamon between his claws, a perilous position.

"Perhaps we should give him a taste of _his_ own medicine," came the angry voice of Jeri's father, clenching a fist as he stepped forward, but Seraphimon put out his arm to keep him back for a moment. Ryder glanced around. Few parents had taken this opportunity to come and see what was happening here, although he had spotted some of the Hypnos crowd among the (remarkably small) gang gathered at the bottom of the steps.

Why, he wasn't sure. It was still dangerous – hell, he could see battle continuing behind them all, the berserk creations of hell still ransacking everything they could see and being fought tooth and claw. Sure enough, wings swished as Ophanimon and Seraphimon returned to the battlefield, drawing their arms against a Numemon.

The sight would've been ridiculous if Ryder hadn't known better.

"Like I said, I don't apologise," Rayleigh asserted. "Oh, the prodigal son himself, hello," he called to Ryder, waving a hand coyly.

"How can you not apologise after everything you did?" Tai cried angrily. "You tried to kill us! All those Digimon you brought hell upon."

"I think that was your fault, you'll find. I was merely acting in the public interest."

"Yeah, and I'm only orange on Wednesdays! You just wanted to destroy us – you're a Demon!" Agumon huffed.

Justimon landed nearby, splitting out into a worn-down Ryo and Cyberdramon. Clearly, neither was in the mood to keep fighting and both were curious at what was happening here, even if Cyberdramon's growl said otherwise. He would fight to the death, Ryder suspected. Quite literally. Was it all Milleniummon's doing? That pickle would no doubt come back to haunt him one day, knowing his luck.

"I thought we had grown above such racism," Rayleigh decried. "A pity. Such antiquated values. But you won't destroy me – you're above that and you know it. You take the higher ground because you're afraid of what you'll become otherwise. Spineless gits."

"Higher ground? Haven't you seen what you've done? All these innocent lives you hurt!"

Rayleigh smirked. "Ken Ichijouji. I heard a lot about you. Others forgot, but, well, being a Demon gives you special privileges. So pleased to meet royalty. Oh, what's this, someone who remembers the world before that Cataclysm? What will you do now? Kill me?" His eyes flicked to Ryder, those eyes holding the same calculating gaze they always did. If he was scared, he wasn't letting on. "Cut out the tumour?"

"What?" Ryder exclaimed.

"Now he's listening." Rayleigh's smirk was sickening.

"Quit changing the subject!" Donmon interrupted. Ryder suspected the timing wasn't a coincidence. "You're going to reverse this all, and clear our Tamers' names, understand?"

"There's not a simple button, you know? And besides, a Prime Minister died – who else do we blame?"

"But you did it!" Wormmon exclaimed. "You admitted it!"

"The media wouldn't have it; far too implausible, too unreal for reality. Besides, how will you make me do it? You can't kill me, because that'll prove you're bloodthirsty. You can't haul me out on TV, because you'll look worse and I'll never say what you want. A press statement will look forced." He smiled. "What's wrong? Have I ruined your victory? Never mind. You haven't a way home anyway, you can stay living out your days in this useless world if you so desire."

"Forget home! What about that?" Davis exclaimed, pointing past the temple steps to the sky behind.

"What about…oh…?"

Ryder looked over and there, in the sky, sat a large, lumbering Juggernaut, heading in their direction. As it twisted and turned, it drew up a few random flicks of data.

And then something far more substantial.

"Takato!" Yamaki started as a trio of Digimon – Gallantmon, Renamon and Calumon – tumbled upwards through the sky. Thank heavens his parents had stayed in the 'safety' of one of the houses or they would no doubt have been running towards it, their danger be damned. Or they would have had a heart attack.

"And the rest!" Donmon exclaimed.

"Perfect timing," Rayleigh slimed. "Falcomon, new plan." Before he could explain to the bird, a claw forcefully went across each of their mouths.

"No way out for you," Ken insisted.

"Yamaki…can he survive that?" Riley asked, suppressed horror in her tone. For all they longed to keep the heat up on Rayleigh, this distraction more than had them beat.

"What are you doing? Go save him!" Jeri's dad shouted, gesturing sharply in that direction.

Tally stood in his way. "And get killed? That thing…"

Silence.

And a horrifying sight.

"Tears people to bits," Yamaki finally spoke, as the data of Gallantmon, Calumon, and Renamon was lost to its mass.

"No, no…they can't be dead!" Tai growled, WarGreymon clenching his spare fist. "Dammit!" Clearly, he was torn on taking his anger out on the human before him.

Ryder's shocked mind wracked. Takato was a God. He could die – he had died so many times in his history – but to die so easily? It left him with a sickly feeling in his stomach. What precisely did the Juggernaut do anyhow? The TV show had been so imprecise. And what did Rayleigh get out of destroying Digimon here? This place was a sideshow and killing off Digimon would be hugely counterproductive to his aim to scare humanity. Hell, he found it more useful to… "…dump…them…on us."

"Ryder?" Donmon wondered, the boy taking a step forward.

"He's still alive. I think. No, wait…I'll put a quid on it…Rayleigh," Ryder span around, ignoring a rather irritating pain in his back. "You _know_ he's still alive."

The claw went back to show the man's face, but the Third Demon maintained his expression. A façade? Or was Ryder heading into a cul-de-sac? "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is – you used the Juggernaut to attack us. You said data was stored in them and then unleashed. That's how you found the corrupt Digimon inside Hypnos – they never died, they were just absorbed. So I think…no…no…"

Ryder stumbled back. This had implications. Huge implications, ones which hit him almost as hard as the floor had when WarGreymon threw him…

A new Angel.

He needed to find the necklaces.

No, more pressing things first!

Mustn't forget to deal with that though.

"Rika is still alive! And I think I know where she went."

A beat passed. Rayleigh laughed; trying to move his hands and clap, but WarGreymon continued to restrain him. "Deduction. You'll be a Sherlock yet. Or are you more of a Morse?"

"Ryder – even if we go up there, this village is still hell on Earth and the Priestess is in trouble," GrandisKuwagamon said. "We can't leave this place yet." Unlike Rayleigh, Falcomon was practically static in his claws. The Digimon, in fact, hadn't said a word so far. Was he planning something?

"That Juggernaut will pull this place to pieces once it hits us. At least the one over us has stopped spinning!" Riley worried, gesturing upwards. "And I wouldn't want to be the one to predict what happens when two Juggernauts collide."

"Pile up on the M25," Rayleigh said sardonically, clearly not as alarmed about the situation as he should've been. "Do I get a phone call or…?"

"If we stay here, we'll get torn to bits," Eiichi worried, clenching a fist and ignoring their blasé foe. "We need to get out of here. Everyone we can!"

"Time is ticking."

"Shut up," Jeri's father hissed in Rayleigh's direction.

"I'm not dying here."

"You're not getting…" Ryder began, turning to face Rayleigh.

Wait. His lips weren't moving? Just open, in shock. Limbs squirming, eyes averting to Falcomon. An escape?

That wasn't his voice.

Ryder felt his throat solidify as he turned his head to the very edge of the group, where a familiar brunette now stumbled back from a thrashing dragon.

"Ryo?" Ken worried.

"Cyberdramon…" Ryo's voice grew to a crescendo of "Cyberdramon!" as he stumbled back. The screaming of his D-Arc was drowned out by the roaring from Cyberdramon's mouth, yet somehow over the top of it all an ominous laughter came from his whole form, his lips never moving to match.

It blurred. It warped. Glimpses of something else peeked out from below.

Ryder knew what this was.

Ryder knew all too well what was coming.

Dammit. Why didn't he play the Wonderswan games fully?

"STOP!" Ryo cried, a whip shooting out from his D-Arc, yet Cyberdramon yanked it away, pulling Ryo along through the dirt to crash down behind him. A foot crunched forward, so heavy it dented the floor, while WarGreymon and GrandisKuwagamon gazed on with increasing alarm, moving back with their 'criminals'.

"We _run_. I _survive_," came that low voice again, sending a chill down Ryder's spine. His hand went to his wrist, yet a glance to Donmon reminded him how insane he was to want to fight in his state.

A retcon? Would he die before he managed to complete it? Would he wreck time? Hell, anything was better than what he feared was coming. He wished he'd done his research.

The unmistakable shape of a cannon, even in blurred static, shot from his back. GrandisKuwagamon prepared a claw, while Ryo practically crawled on hands and knees away from his partner. The increasingly-corrupted Digimon gazed upwards and then to him. "Go…home…now!"

"Ken…we have to act, now!" Wormmon exclaimed.

"Davis…this looks familiar," Magnamon mumbled. "I have a bad feeling about this. Where can I remember him from?"

"Tai…"

"I know, I know," Tai cried to his partner, torn between his captive and his enemy.

"Milleniummon, I am not doing that!" Ryo cried, speaking the name which had been but a whisper of fear for so long. The Juggernaut in the distance drew closer and closer, and the threats escalated.

"How many throats?"

"What?"

Ryder gasped as Cyberdramon moved to him at an unbelievable speed, hoisted him into the air, and pressed a claw laden with green lined of data against his throat. Even as an immortal, he feared the pain, the horrid, bloody deaths he'd seen in many a TV show.

Was he even immortal here?

"Milleniummon!" Ryo cried as he ran forward, rapidly closing the distance to his partner. The four Hypnos operatives had quickly moved a dumbstruck Mr Katou and the various other non-Tamers aside to safety, while the events were not going unnoticed among the other Tamers nearby, even as their current tasks occupied most of their attention. "Don't do this. We can find a way out!"

"We can escape now. I will not die here!"

"DRAMON KILLER!" cried WarGreymon, a claw shooting across and smashing into Cyberdramon's side.

Ryder fell, breathing an almighty sigh of relief as Donmon flew up to catch him, probably using what little strength he still had in the process. Yet, the berserk Dragon causing all this landed on his feet nearby, almost unharmed by the attack.

"Agumon…" the voice again hissed with such bitterness. "And Tai. Hello again."

"So it was canon…wait…"

Something clicked.

Something bad.

"Tai…what happened to?" Ryder began.

"DIGI-MODIFY…DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

"_Oh hell," _Ryder thought, as Donmon landed and he caught a fleeting glance of Rayleigh's D-Vice exploding with light.

**DIGIVOLUTION**

**Falcomon, digivolve to…**

GrandisKuwagamon's hands burst into light, his claws prised about by the force of it all. A glowing being swooped free and into the air, grabbing his Tamer just as his form solidified.

**PECKMON!**

A scarf fluttered in the wind as Rayleigh clambered on top of the purple bird, taking off upwards. Orange plumage spread wide as he paused in the air to look back and taunt.

"Perfect timing. Milleniummon – whoever you are – I owe you a pint!" he cried. Magnamon swooped upwards after him, but the bird was shockingly fast, flying straight up into the Juggernaut and breaking apart.

Gone.

Damn it!

Their chance to change things, gone!

"I had to make a choice!" Tai defended himself. WarGreymon looked to a Ryder with an apologetic expression. GrandisKuwagamon swooped towards them, reaching to grab Cyberdramon and restrain him before he could do anything more.

Something stopped him in his tracks.

Something new began.

"…Ryder…." Donmon quivered, raising an arm as its data swirled and warped in unusual, erratic patterns. A huge boom sounded, yet even its sound became warped, as the sky blazed with the light of two Juggernauts beginning to collide.

Cyberdramon became even more erratic, flying straight towards a taken-aback GrandisKuwagamon in an attempt to head butt him. He succeeded, throwing well more of his weight than he should have been able to. He even avoided gaining a claw through his skull once Ken and Wormmon realised what was happening.

"We need a miracle!" Davis cried.

"_When even he says it, you know we're screwed," _Ryder lamented, glancing across to Ryo, standing speechless as he watched all hell break loose before him.

Poor guy.

* * *

**Mari Flynn**

* * *

"We have to do something." Mari tried to take a step forward from their hiding place between two house walls. A tired Doumon had both arms around her, however, holding her tight for protection, while a loose shield encompassed them.

"We're vulnerable enough!" the Digimon exclaimed. A shadow darting across behind the temple acted as a sharp reminder. The pair gazed upon Rayleigh's escape and Cyberdramon's increasingly violent streak, watching with barely a noise made but a gasp. They heard the odd shout and the odd bang, but the rest of what was going on was left up to their imagination, the images before them beggaring belief.

She, like probably everyone, had been horrified to see WarGreymon let his captive go free. They had the man they needed to solve this and now he would no doubt never be captured again. Just what was Cyberdramon playing at? Hell, even with his animal-like nature, couldn't he see the risks of all this?

Then again, with the looming pair of Juggernauts beginning to collide, Mari had a feeling that the risks of this situation were all too clear. She knew little about how they worked, but as the sky vortex above her began to heave into motion, spinning as the pair overlapped, she speculated she didn't have much time to find out.

"Would the shield stop it?"

"The shield?" her partner wondered.

"The Priestess' one." How could they still not know what each other meant? Were they really that distant?

"What is your plan?"

"I don't have one. But there has to be some way between us we can get The Priestess back up again, at least enough to rebuild her shield. It's the least we can do."

Doumon nodded. "We will have to be quick. I think she's in the dojo," she said, picking up her Tamer, giving her the alarming sight of a paintbrush being torn to one side for a moment.

Time was running out.

* * *

**Rayleigh Thompson**

* * *

"Sir?"

"I said 'bollocks'."

"Ah. Are we due for a change of plan, Sir?"

"No. I will just have to rely on my final stage to deal with them too. It should be fine."

"Sir? You do not sound very confident in that?"

Rayleigh crossed his arms, looking to Falcomon as he grimaced. "They are always resourceful. They defeat everyone who underestimates them. They have an immortal in their group. How confident can I be?"

Why was he so shaken? Their capturing of him had been pointless and he had only escaped through luck, yet the latter just made him feel like one of them. Had his message had an effect on Ryder? Did it matter?

"It'll still work. Juggernaut is at full capacity across the Digital World…I may not have my PDA, but Hypnos will work fine. Look at it, Falcomon. Ready for deployment."

Rayleigh gestured downwards, sweeping his hand across the Juggernaut plane and the vast ball of data contained within. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

"Understood, Sir. What would you like me to do when we return to the real world, further espionage?" Falcomon asked. The pair were perfectly safe, of course: Rayleigh has designed the system this way. Humans, and Falcomon, would survive fine. Getting either trapped in the data ball would lead to unfortunate consequences and limit his ability to come and go as he pleased. Portal out, Juggernaut back. No Ark required. Also perfect.

"No, stick by my side. I…think the results could be fatal otherwise…" Rayleigh hung on the words, chewing his lip as he found himself up against a quagmire. He mentally sighed. He never claimed he was a man who followed his own principles, yet…what if his own death would help humanity? What if it would further help them realise the reality of their values? He wasn't stupid – he would go down soon if he didn't stand aside out of the limelight, for even he couldn't convince a country and a world to stand by his Acting PM role forever in the face of constitutional hell. His own death at the hand of Digimon, however…

No. Keep the plan for now. He couldn't finish his work if he died, and…

He wouldn't face it. Death in the face. Seeing the images of Chiyo and Taiki…their blooded forms. A life just..cut. He couldn't do the same. He doubted Ryder could fire again either, not after the trauma he had been through twice before with it. That was, at least, something to be pleased about, even if part of him wanted to train the teen to see his point of view and so to follow through with whatever means were necessary to get the world to look in on itself, and think. It was worth having a backup plan.

"Sir?"

"I've made a fund already."

"Pardon?"

"Thinking out loud. Now…Rika and Takato both vanished. We saw Takato, but, let's see – loads of Juggernauts everywhere and Rika goes missing."

He raised his hand, pointing at a nearby wall and beginning to imagine. An image of the Hypnos Towers, up close, appeared on it, clear as day and a stark contrast from its digital surroundings. He smirked.

"Think like your enemy, and you'll find them." He swept his arms back, propelling himself towards it. He grimaced lightly at the pain in his leg as he moved it. Dammit. Being human had such annoyances, yet Falcomon was far too tired for Ravemon to be re-used any time soon.

Whatever. Single mega Digimon couldn't be everywhere at once, and that was exactly what he needed to change the world.

Glancing back into the space as he went through the image of home, his eyes widened and he cursed. "Bugger it."

Still. No-one would ever say Takato Matsuki wasn't thoughtful or caring. And it would be moronic for him to imagine the Gogglehead otherwise.

Fresh Tokyo air filled his lungs.

* * *

**Ryo Akiyama**

* * *

It was happening.

Why now? WHY NOW?

Ryo was forced down beneath a flying wood beam from a damaged house by a blur of ginger, his head hitting the floor and leaving him woozy. Not that he was thinking straight to start with.

He looked up to Rei as she climbed to her feet and his mind began to straighten itself. "Thanks."

"Milleniummon shouldn't be doing this," she said, distracted.

"What? You know about Milleniummon," Ryo wondered, looking over the time traveller, his mind increasingly worried. Did that mean?

She swallowed. "I can't say."

"Is this the start of something? Rei?"

"It's unimportant. Dammit, I don't even remember being told about this," she cursed. "Mum, Dad, you could've prepared me more!" she called upwards, all while Verdamon continued to throw her full force and magic into holding back the rampaging Cyberdramon. Worse still, Cyberdramon wasn't alone: the hordes of corrupt Digimon still fought, even if in smaller numbers, while the Juggernaut was beginning to have an effect on all. Ryo looked at his hands, as his fingers elongated, the body horror of it all leaving him oddly unfazed. He had seen way too much in his life already, so much so even that fact barely worried him. "Maybe I've changed time."

"_She sounds almost keen about it." _"Rei, does Milleniummon come back? Tell me, and I can beat him beforehand. I can stop him for good!"

Rei looked to him. "I don't know. It's not important."

"It's the most important thing in the world!"

"Trust me, I've seen worse. Will see worse. You will. Possibly. Just…be quiet for a sec, will you?"

She was definitely her father's daughter. And, indeed, her mother's. The fact he was becoming used to stuff like this: now, _that_ worried him.

"I can stop him. Milleniummon won't attack me. He wants me as his partner."

"Can you take that risk?"

"We're tied together, always tied together."

"Ryo, what if you're wrong? You know everything about this guy, they all need you. If he turns you into a meat dish, we're screwed. Even Ryder doesn't know all the things you've seen and I'm sure he's _played_ as you!"

His life was a video game. Couldn't he be the star of his own show? His adventures had been amazing enough. Ryo realised this was probably not the best time to moan about this, something which had irked him for a while, and instead nodded, not speaking.

"I'd try to do something…Final Destiny…" she mumbled, almost incoherently, raising her hand up and then stopping it again. "No…no, I can't do that. I just can't. Not again."

"Do what?"

"Don't you have any ideas? You've faced him before, and Cyberdramon disobeys you all the time."

"I just whip him, and even then it doesn't work well. If you have some cheat code, I'd be more than willing to hear it."

"Ha. Tell it to Ryder."

"I'm going to try it."

"Telling him?"

Ryo shook his head, clenching a fist and stepping over the fallen beam, heading straight for his partner. "No."

"Ryo," he heard Rei say, but she made no move to restrain him, and barely moved at all. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Verdamon land next to her partner, mutterings passing between them.

Cyberdramon was busy grappling with WarGreymon, all while a scathed Magnamon tried to sneak around from behind. Surely both Veemon and Agumon remembered the worst of it? Heck, Milleniummon was being positively tame – if he really broke out, he feared for their very existence.

Wait. He was still trapped? Maybe, maybe this was just continuing a pattern? All these little takeovers, building up and up each time. He was only in the Digital World in the first place because of it – they were all only alive because of the Digital 'God' himself!

He knew where it would end. He wanted to avert it. But he was forced to look to the short term, trying to catch Cyberdramon's eye. Monodramon was in there. Heck, maybe he could even reason with Milleniummon.

"Cyberdramon!"

WarGreymon thought he had gained a moment's upper hand with the look on Cyberdramon's face, curiosity and, perhaps, docility, replacing his violent urges. The beast dropped in altitude slightly, before spinning, dealing a kick to a surprised Tai and Agumon.

"Arrrgggghhh," they cried together, as WarGreymon was thrown towards and across the ground. Even against a newfound Angel, Cyberdramon was powerful – far more powerful than he should've been. He was, indeed, disturbingly much like the corrupt Digimon. Perhaps he wasn't really all that different, judging by those blurry arms and canon jutting from his back.

"Ryo," the voice came across in sinister and begging tones at once, eyes meeting.

"What do you want?"

"You to try harder," he raised his arms across him. "DESOLATION…"

Crap.

"…CLAW!"

"RYO!"

"RYO!"

"RYO!"

"VALOUR!"

Ryo covered his eyes at the blinding light, that blast far stronger and faster than he had ever seen from Cyberdramon normally. Perhaps even stronger than Justimon. He heard crashes, followed by cries of pain.

"VEEMON!" screamed Davis from nearby. Ryo moved his arm to see.

It was a grim sight. Veemon, Agumon and Wormmon lay alongside a similarly worn Tai and Ken on the wrecked village ground, groaning as they struggled to move. Davis quickly picked up Veemon, the Digimon looking in Ryo's direction. He expected anger, for having put himself in that position to be hurt and winding up with them getting damaged, but instead there was an unexpected expression. Sympathy? Concern?

Did he know? Did he remember? Did he save him because of that?

Cyberdramon laughed over them, a deep dark laugh only half his own. Had he been expecting that? Or had it been luck? Damn it, Milleniummon worked out so many stages ahead Ryo never could tell.

As he drew his arms together again, he anticipated he would never get any real answers. Hell, his partner had taken down an Angel using his ability – there was no way they could beat that in their state now, let alone him on his own! He didn't know how much of Milleniummon's power Cyberdramon now had, but he knew he was about to find out.

"LANCE PLAY!"

Cyberdramon paused as objects fluttered past him like a rain shower, perhaps a hundred-odd cards sparkling past his sides. He began to swat, not even casting his eyes upwards at their source and took a few out of the air in the process, their torn paper-like forms drifting downwards to the ground.

From a dozen or so of the surviving cards, sharp lances shot out of almost nothingness.

Got him.

The points stabbed at him, made him scream out in agonised surprise, and they didn't stop there. More lances joined up, creating a prison around him, one that no amount of card-swatting seemed to be able to prevent.

He growled as he struggled against it. Ryo averted his eyes away from the torment of his best friend to a new figure floating in the sky above.

"Decimamon," Rei noted, coming to stand next to him. They had been covering his back all this time, it seemed. "Ultimate. I never wanted to go this far. Destinymon could do so much damage if it comes to that."

Certainly, it wasn't hard for Ryo to work out this was one of Realmon's forms. She was faintly reminiscent of a combination of a Gallantmon and a Sakuyamon, yet with far more elegance than such an idea would suggest, resembling more of a fox knight than a mutant creation. She perpetuated the fashion of female armour being far more limited, being far more than simply Gallantmon in drag (a horrifying mental image for the boy), and also being yellow in colour. A shield was strapped to her back, much like a smaller Aegis, emblazoned with a Ying-Yang symbol in place of the Hazard. A long series of short black notches ran around the outside, every fifth one being longer and every tenth longer still. It alternately spun back and forth as it emitted further Tao cards. Her red-gloved palms were pressed together, while those triangles of red fur on her form and on her amour glowed.

"She's saying she can't hold him for much longer," Rei said, tapping her head. Ryo saw the sheer amount of concentration in Decimamon's eyes, holding back an enemy who'd just eradicated three mega level Digimon in one shot, albeit extremely tired ones. Humans and Digimon now limped aside to safety, body and pride both hurt. "She won't be able to beat him or weaken him back to normal either. You know him well Ryo – you must have some idea."

"I just can't think of anything. Milleniummon is making a point, and he will hurt everyone to make sure I go with him. He wants me all to himself. He'll work Cyberdramon to death just to get free."

"You make it sound almost romantic," Rei said sarcastically. "Think of something soon, because the cat is leaving the bag."

Sure enough, Cyberdramon growled loudly, flapping, clawing and kicking at his prison, before he smashed through the lances with a head butt and quickly swooped up towards Decimamon.

She was prepared, putting her hands to her shield behind her, and letting it split and reform into two, curved scimitars, one with a red handle encrusted with a ruby and the other with a blue handle encrusted with a sapphire. Her narrow, Renamon-like eyes gazed down from a flatter, more Taomon-like face, taking a brief moment to appraise the situation as she readied both blades.

"TWIN COLOURS!" she cried, screaming down into her enemy.

* * *

**Takato Matsuki**

* * *

White. White, everywhere. Where was he? Heaven?

"Takato!" exclaimed a voice, a red blur leaping at him.

Pain. He doubted this was heaven.

"I was worried it would close before you made it through," a yellow shape said from above, quickly resolving into Renamon's form. Pushing off Guilmon somewhat, Takato got to his feet, and was rewarded by Calumon climbing onto his mop-like hair. "Is this the real world?"

"Shinjuku Park," Renamon nodded. "Before you came through, we could see the fountain, but it seems the Digital Field became thicker when you arrived."

Takato peered through the mist and, sure enough, the fountain was steadily reappearing again. It was a relief to be home, a relief he let out by a sigh, but the back of his mind wouldn't let him forget what horrors could await him here. He was a wanted man. Rika was even more so, and he had to find her. Most worrying of all, Rayleigh had to be out there too, planning something.

"Renamon…can you shadow shift us? I don't think we're exactly invisible."

"It may drain me quite a lot. Do you have any particular destination in mind?"

"**You know…"**

"I'm not sure," Takato scratched his chin.

"**I can keep us invisible too."**

"By blowing people's heads up?" Renamon dismissed slyly.

"…**fine. But we don't do it enough! I miss the Middle Ages, when people weren't so purist on what 'invisible' meant…"**

"Renamon, can you do that thinking thing you do with Rika?" Guilmon asked as the greenery of their surroundings began to blur into view. They would have to make up their mind soon or they would be visible to a myriad of parkgoers, and international news within the hour.

"Hmm…" Renamon mused, closing her eyes and standing still. Calumon leapt down from Takato's head, mimicking her. Anyone else would probably have earned a slap for making a mockery of the vixen. "Mmm…" she mumbled, sadly. "I think it is too far. Or she's concentrating. The range is not always that large."

"So she might still be here," Takato pondered. "If I were Rika, where would I go?"

Takato felt his mouth slip open again.

"Not now Chaos."

"**I was **_**going**_** to be helpful. Err…what if she…went to her house?"**

"Hmm…it's worth a try. Renamon?"

"I think we could look. But I can move faster than you both and without you both. Somehow I doubt she will be there though. Rika is far too strong-headed to hide in the shadows."

"She's probably out trying to clear her name. Hmm…what about Hypnos? There's got to be something in that place to help us find her." Unfortunately, it was also probably the most dangerous place to be right now.

Renamon nodded. "I want to check her home first though. I will be quick."

"We had better take the tunnel out of here," Takato glanced around. The park was pretty busy and the fog was almost gone. The chances of getting to the towers overland, even via the bushes, were slim without Renamon. The tunnel, even if guarded by soldiers still, was a much better route. It didn't go quite where they needed to go, but it was better than here. "Come find us in the other end."

Renamon nodded.

"_**Sounds like so much fun." **_Chaos once again missed those 'glory days' he always seemed so keen to talk about.

"So…hide and seek?" Calumon asked chirpily.

"No, not…actually, yeah." There was no sense fighting this. "Renamon will come and find us, but we have to be extra quiet until then, okay you two?" Takato said. Guilmon was above needing such lies, as he could tell from the Digimon's face, but Calumon hadn't quite grasped the reality and severity of what was going on.

Ah well. This day was probably going to go to hell in a hand basket pretty soon anyhow. One thing to be certain of, at least.

* * *

**Doumon**

* * *

Doumon and Mari raced through the dojo doors, getting their first glimpse of the chaotic (and already quite damaged) interior. In one corner, lay Cody's ill grandfather. In another, DarkBiyomon. Even the doctor herself, Fumiko, was injured, albeit from earlier. Joe had (quite confidently, it looked) taken the reins on their various patients, a number of blankets and bandages employed to keep them comfortable.

Attracting the most attention, and worry, was the largest patient to the left, lying on a number of hastily pulled-out sheets. Taomon and Renardmon knelt over her, The Priestess Sakuyamon. The former casted spells, seemingly in vain, while the latter simply looked desperate.

Their arrival inevitably drew a lot of attention. About the room, worryingly, Digimon and humans alike were being 'dragged' by the Juggernauts crashing above their heads, a scary reminder of just what they were up against.

"We have to cure her now!" the American insisted.

"Don't you think we've been trying that?" Renardmon shouted. Seeing him in this state was a strange experience for Doumon; the Digimon she remembered fancying all those years ago was always calm, nice, and collected, or perhaps that was just how he looked from afar.

"My spells are not working," Taomon conceded. "I have never been very successful at healing this Priestess. I had the good fortune until now of not having to."

"Can I try?" Doumon asked her yellow 'cousin'.

"You can try. The injury is severe though. It will need a lot of power, and a good spell."

Doumon glanced to Mari, feeling offended at The Elder Taomon's condescending tone. "Like I said, I'll try."

"This is no time for personal offence," Taomon said, holding that sort of anger Doumon had only seen before in elderly women, the calm types like Seiko who used their frustration only in rare cases. "Even if I could heal her, I doubt I would be able to heal her completely. All I have been able to do so far is just stem the data loss."

Doumon glanced over the wound. It was a hole. A huge hole, right through her. What was she thinking? She was getting out of her league. Were her and Mari just so eager to help they were ignoring facts? If she had taken an injury like this, she was certain she would've been dead already. The Priestess was clearly made of tougher stuff.

So much for making an impact in her old home. Yet DarkRenamon kicked herself for the ill-timed sentiment.

"Perversely, about the only Digimon who could heal her right now would be, well, The Priestess herself," Taomon sighed.

"Taomon…" The Priestess mumbled, breaking free from her unconscious stupor for the first time since Doumon had arrived. "Do…should I appoint a successor? Like the other Priestess did."

"Even if you did…this village is about to be torn apart," Taijimon interrupted. "We have to heal you. Keep fighting! Do not give up so easily; do not prove me right in my doubts about you."

"_Kind words," _Doumon mused.

Renardmon's eyes met The Priestess' and her hand went to weakly touch his arm, before dropping to the staff by her side. "Use it."

After a moment of surprise, he lifted it. "How? I don't know what to cast."

"Does it look like I do?" she said through her pain, attempting the best laugh she could manage in her state. "Does what you feel."

He nodded, gripping it and wishing, yet nothing happened. If the strings at its end lifted, they did so far too slightly to be seen. "I…can't. I don't have the energy…and I'm not the right sex. Can't someone else do it?"

"I can give you the energy," Taomon said. "I can cast a spell through it: it can amplify what I do. But it will hurt. I do not know how successful it will be. You will have to aim it."

"Then make someone else aim! Seriously, I'm not screwing this up for everyone," Renardmon protested. "Look, Priestess, if I could give my life to save you, I would, but I'm not burning myself to death when we don't have time to waste!"

"You two are close," mumbled a voice. "I can tell just by watching. You remind me of my grandson…future in-law, that is."

Doumon glanced over, Seiko having stood away from her injured partner for the first time in a good long while to offer some words of advice.

"Of course we are, we're old friends," Renardmon said, as the Priestess weakly grasped his hand. Did she even really know what was going on?

That injury. It had to be so painful. Enough to make you want to die?

The village shook again, data contorting all over the dojo interior. Their time was rapidly running out.

"Priestess…I know you can't speak much right now, but would I be right in assuming that the staff works better with a stronger bond?"

A weak nod. Perhaps even a slight smile.

"My granddaughter is always giving strength to her partner, and I increasingly feel it with DarkBiyomon here. I wonder if it is the same with you," Seiko explained. "Renardmon, this is how you can save your friend, and us all."

Renardmon grimaced, looking down at The Priestess again. He grasped the staff and closed his eyes.

"I started this mess…I brought Rayleigh here…I can end it too."

Taomon began to move her hands in circles, beginning to cast the spell. Trickles of energy, one by one, flicked from her to the strings on the end of The Priestess' staff, intensifying by the second. It began to glow, energy beginning to flow down into the hole in The Priestess.

"Is it working?" Cody said.

Renardmon grated his teeth as Doumon watched his paws tense up around the shaft of the staff. The strings tightly wrapped around his arms and legs pinched his limbs as they swelled, the skin reddening from the pain. Clearly, he was willing to scream, but he kept his teeth firmly grated. He was so desperate to save her.

Was it worth it?

"I don't see any change," Mari said, wandering closer to the spell and peering into the gaping wound. The village shook again, the girl taking a step back in horror as her whole arm was dragged a good foot or two away for a few seconds. Even the spell was disrupted, such that Renardmon stopped, and looked down.

"Nothing," he panted. "NO!" he cursed, sweeping a fist through the air in vain before it came to rest on his forehead.

"I do not know how to cure her. She is different," Taomon said in despair.

A silence fell, a horrible silence Doumon remembered from when Ryder was in hospital. A silence of desperation.

And then broken.

"She's human," Mari mumbled. She looked across to The Elder Taomon and repeated. "She's human!" She turned, calling across the room to her old friend. "Fumiko, do you think it could change her?"

"I treat humans, not biomerges," she shrugged, caught off guard by the question.

"But there _is_ a human inside. Mari has a point. Inside her Digital Core, inside her data, whatever…there's a living, breathing human. While she's stabbed, we can't do anything," Joe reasoned.

"I do not have any experience with healing humans," Taomon shook her head, but she seemed not to be caught up in the humans' frenzied understanding.

"Then that means you might not be accounting for the bond between them," Mari wondered. "What if you did?"

"What bond? I thought all this was forced?" Gomamon contested, raising a fin.

"What about Stockholm Syndrome? Cody, you know the one I mean. You said about it when we were watching that programme before," Armadillomon mused.

"Hostages often wind up sympathising with their captors, yes."

"But is she even conscious in there? I tried to locate her, but there's no heartbeat on the surface. There's nothing," Fumiko wondered. "And there's a hole in her. Unless she's really small, she should be skewered."

"Or she's just floating around in her data," Doumon wondered. They just didn't know enough about this: her even less so, having never done it herself. She glanced to Renardmon, who was steadily recovering from the pain, but who in that moment was threatened by all of his data being dragged towards the ceiling. Even The Priestess was affected, making for an even more grisly sight than they already saw, and had yet to become used to.

"The Priestess herself said that she had to merge with that girl to become a mega level. So that girl is an integral part of her," Cody reasoned.

"Not accounting for her then is like working on a human heart and ignoring the ventricles," Joe clicked his fingers.

"Or something less medical," Mari said, a burning keenness in her eyes which bordered on sadistic, given the circumstances. She pointed to Doumon. "You can cast spells, right? You can try and heal her."

"Yes, but I don't think I'm strong enough."

"No, but we know what such a strong human-Digimon bond is _like._"

"Do we?" With those two words, Doumon saw Mari's expression sink. That which they were denied had become most important at the worst possible time.

"Well, we can imagine it. You can, I mean. I'll help. If I can."

"What are you two suggesting?" Rumiko asked, although her expression indicated she was at least five lines behind everyone. She had the misfortune of having no expertise, human or Digimon, to contribute here.

"Doumon casts a healing spell while imagining what it is like to be merged with a human, and we do the whole staff thing again. I just hope she has the energy," Mari explained.

"I'll provide what I can to help," Taomon suggested, moving her hands again as the spell-casting resumed. "Renardmon, do you feel in a fit enough state to try again?"

"No…but I will anyway…hold tight, Renamon," he said wistfully, looking downwards and gripping the staff tightly again.

"Doumon, you okay with this?" Mari asked her partner, gripping her hand where it poked out from her long sleeves. She looked to the girl, trying to reach out with her mind, yet the dour expression on the brunette's face told her it was a failure.

"…_ry."_

She turned back to face The Priestess, and the staff, focusing her mind and her energy. She pictured Mari and the feeling she got when she communicated with her, however briefly. The infusion of energy she got when she was digivolved. That feeling of being reassembled, bit by bit, from all those years ago, when Mari threw everything into saving her. The insanity that ensued the first time she became Doumon, as she felt Mari's anger channel along her.

She brought the feelings together, relived them, focused them, concentrated them.

Being so close to your partner to be one with them…it had to be wonderful. It had to change how you thought, how you acted, even your very form itself.

She was faintly aware of data whipping through the air, sparks flying from her to the staff, but her mind was lost in concentrated thought.

Imagine it.

Wish it

Crave it.

Want it.

"Renardmon…hold tight. I am impressed," Taijimon's voice came from afar. "Maybe you are worthy of being my successor one day. Doumon, I am sorry for ever doubting your abilities, either."

Approval.

"It looks like it's working," Mari called, as Doumon felt the girl grip her hand again. "Just a little more."

Images of Mari rushed through her mind, as she forced the invasion of reality into her unconscious again. Her energy felt drained, yet for every ounce drained Taomon's energy flowed in: an almost limitless supply, it seemed. She was more experienced, more powerful, wiser, but she did not know what it was like to have a Tamer.

And that was what made DarkRenamon special in this village.

A sharp breath, as the spell broke, Doumon feeling her target shift. She opened her eyes, watching a shocked Priestess grasping her staff and getting to her feet. She looked over herself, running a hand down her perfect stomach and marvelling at the healing which had been done. Renardmon looked to be physically restraining himself from embracing her, leaving Doumon torn between envy and an appreciation of how sweet the sight was, and the rush of happiness to her mind.

They had succeeded.

"I'm alive…thank you…all of you…"

While Doumon felt humbled by the bow she received from a being who she had been brought up to idolise, she felt Mari let go of her hand and run to the doorway. A blast of tiredness swept over her, as she became aware of how much energy she had used. "The Juggernaut is vanishing…the shield must be working again!"

"It is…but…there is trouble out there."

"I know, Cyberdramon's running amok and there are still loads of corrupted Digimon around."

The Priestess shook her head. "Mari. Take care of yourself," she said ominously.

"What do you mean?" Mari asked, her enthusiasm all but evaporated as The Priestess walked by her to the doorway. Doumon, unconsciously, stepped closer to her partner, intending to protect her.

She glanced to Doumon and back to the American before taking in the chamber as a whole. "I have to put a stop to this. Keep down!"

* * *

**The Priestess**

* * *

She flew through to the centre of the village, feeling like she had more energy than she had had in years. The horrific pain had completely receded, and, no matter how much she ran her hand ran over her stomach in wonderment, so had the injury.

Yet her mind was still cursed. She had heard every word in that dojo, even as she lacked the energy to reply.

The girl.

God, what was her name? What was her name?

Stockholm Syndrome? Could it be true? Would the girl feel close to her? Even after all she did? Was this her salvation? Her redemption? Or a curse?

She longed, prayed to hear that voice again, that voice she had heard glimpses of, some reassurance the girl was not injured. Or, worse, still taking all the pain she had had earlier.

And Mari. Her mind had predicted…such horrible things. For all of them, but especially for her. Yet, something still so wrong, an ill-wind, a strange mind. Mari didn't make sense, and even with this new insight she didn't understand why.

An explosion below interrupted her chain of thinking, as she watched a figure not all that much unlike a Sakuyamon be tossed sharply to the ground nearby, breaking down into a miniature almost-Kyubimon. She halted, grasping her staff and looking to the aggressor, who looked ready to finish the mongrel off.

"You!" The Priestess called, pointing downwards. The beast looked up, his draconian eyes holding something much deeper and more sinister behind, something that caught her off guard. A great evil lurked here, something familiar through her bones yet somehow implacable.

He smirked and laughed fervently, a ghost-like cannon gathering from his data and glowing on its back. "TIME…"

Whatever it was, he wasn't getting a chance to use it. She pointed her staff out, and down, and let loose all of her newfound energy in one triumphant spell. "PURIFYING FLAME!"

Boom.

The fire spread rapidly out, huge, living blue plumes, spreading throughout the village. Hurting those who were meant to be hurt and protecting those who weren't.

She felt anguish as the flames cleared through corrupted Digimon, their pain bespoke and unusual, their cries reaching her ears.

They would be at peace now. Yet, she found herself uncertain in her own judgements now, not sure if she had the right to dictate good and evil. Did they have a right to life? What about the girls they had kidnapped? Where did she draw the line? The Tamers had brought her such a terrible gift: the gift of empathy for all.

Except one. And, surprising her, it wasn't Chaos.

The flames ended, and she ignored the surprised masses, astonished such a display hadn't killed them, to focus on a small dark blue Digimon, landing on the floor below. The beast had been subdued, but he was still there. No more death today.

A boy wandered over and picked him up, bringing a grimace to her face. This was the nastier side of a human-Digimon bond. Placing her hand on her stomach, she mourned on his behalf, as she peered down at their safe but wrecked village through tired eyes.

So sad that it should come to this.

**END OF PART ONE…**

* * *

**A/N:** I split this chapter into two parts (yet again), both so I could get a new chapter out sooner and to make it more manageable to read. I hope everyone is as geeky as me – enough, that is, to grasp the reference behind this title and chapter number. I couldn't resist!

Oh, and Doctor Who beat me to it (again) with…well, I'm sure you know by now. Although this time round I beat them to it, but Moffatt and co. just published their ideas on TV to usurp me. Bah. Worrying how many of my future plot ideas get usurped before I end get around to writing them. Ah well, I'm sure they're still enjoyable here.


	48. Phase Two: So Long, And Thanks For II

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the original characters introduced in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise here or elsewhere by myself).**

**A/N: **Cheers again go to Crazyeight for beta-reading.

* * *

**DIMENSIONS**

_**BOOK SEVEN**_

_Escapes_

By Blazing Chaos

* * *

**CHAPTER FORTY-TWO**

**Phase Two**

_So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish_

**Part Two**

* * *

_**Previously…**_

_Gallantmon, Renamon, and Calumon finally caught up with the Juggernaut they were chasing, but were so surprised at what they saw in the Kabuki Village that they got swept up into it. Inside the Juggernaut, they came across a huge store of data that threatened to pull the Digimon in, but not Takato. Takato escaped by dreaming in a shot of the Shinjuku Park, but they're fugitives in their own country, and they now have to crawl through the tunnels in the hope of finding Rika. Renamon headed off in the hope of finding Rika at her home, but she'll miss her, as Rika just headed off to Hypnos seeking to clear her name._

_WarGreymon, having beaten down Rayleigh with Tai's newfound Angel abilities, had imprisoned him and Falcomon with help from Ken and the others. They were horrified to see Gallantmon and co. be swept into the Juggernaut. Inside Cyberdramon, Milleniummon rebelled, not wanting to die and wanting to take Ryo with him, and in restraining him Rayleigh and Falcomon managed to escape. On the other hand, it's not like they would have much they could do with him anyway. The Demon went back to the real world through the Juggernaut, giving Ryder the realisation that it was their way home and that Takato and Rika are both fine. Even with his brief capture, Rayleigh still seems certain on his plan and whatever he has in store can't be pretty. Ryo ran in the way of Cyberdramon's attacks, but the Digimon didn't hesitate as he'd hoped, taking down Magnamon, GrandisKuwagamon and WarGreymon who flew in the path of the shot as they all seem to faintly recall being Ryo's partner. Rei and Decimamon, Realmon's ultimate form, came to his rescue, but the two Juggernauts colliding overhead still threaten them all._

_Mari and Doumon, horrified by what was happening with Milleniummon, the Juggernauts colliding over the village and all the corrupt Digimon running amok, went to find The Priestess and heal her to get the protective shield back. Renardmon tried to use the staff with Taomon's energy, but it didn't work, until Doumon did it instead, focusing on the bond between The Priestess and the girl biomerged inside her, which no-one else had accounted for. It worked, but took a lot of their energy, and The Priestess seemed to have something to warn Mari about. The Priestess quickly flew out and put a stop to all the carnage, restoring the shield, destroying the corrupted Digimon and taking down the berserk Cyberdramon, but the lessons she'd learnt from the Tamers left her with a bad taste in the mouth about killing so easily._

_This battle is over, but the war is far from won._

* * *

**SATURDAY, 14****th**** MAY 2011**

* * *

**Tai Kamiya**

* * *

"We have to go home."

Ryder's words were a stark contrast to hours before, when they had stumbled to answer the same question. Even so, was it safe? Did they have a plan?

Tai had been paralysed by the same fear, as much as he wanted to return, alone, if needs be. His newfound (and "awesome") Angel abilities only distilled that urge.

Nearby, The Priestess' heels settled into a small crater, her staff lowered slowly as she let loose a deep breath.

"Leaving?"

Disappointment? Curiosity? No longer did Tai simply assume that all Digimon and all humans shared the same mannerisms. Context was everything: he did not need his ongoing degree in International Politics to learn that. Perhaps one day the Digital World would come under that discipline's wing.

"Ryder, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Ken said, rubbing a sore arm as he wandered closer with Wormmon on his shoulder. "Particularly not with our parents and the other non-Tamers: I don't think we could keep them all safe."

"But…" Ryder tailed off, before falling silent. Tai glanced to the Leader of the Angels, curious as to what had caused such a climb down. The boy seemed lost in thought. It wasn't a rare sight from him – far from it – but it was certainly a radical change in tone.

"Why not?" Davis protested. All those who had fought Cyberdramon had gathered, while the beast's Tamer knelt a few metres away, nursing his defeated partner. "We're wanted at home, and we're stuck here. The only way things are going to change is if we go back."

"Why don't we just leave the parents here Tai?" Agumon asked.

As he erred, it hit Tai that everyone was looking to him now - even Ryder, who suggested the idea. He knew he had become the 'leader' of these lost souls, but hell, this was a lot of pressure. For once he couldn't even just count on people to pull through with help from their Digimon: not everyone had one, and they didn't have a big enough team to protect everyone. But…

"Who knows how long it will be before we get a chance to get them back?"

"Assuming we even find a way to get them home," Ryder said cynically, yet it sounded forced. Just what was in his mind? "If you all die…and if Rayleigh does _something_ to me…they'll be stuck here. And forgetting all that, how are we ever going to clear our names?"

"Wait, I thought you wanted us all to go back?" Donmon peered up to his partner.

"Yeah, but I hadn't considered how everyone might die very quickly." This seemed like quite the oversight from the normally-thoughtful boy. "Though…when we were fighting, Rayleigh kept alluding to these plans of his." He scratched his chin. "I think they might affect the whole world…regardless of whether we're there or not. I mean, we'd be under threat, but if we don't…hmm… You know what, I think _I_ should at least go, I'm immortal and so I'd have the best chance of taking Rayleigh down."

"Or becoming his eternal prisoner," Ken said. Tai watched as his eyes kept flicking to the prone boy behind him, not a word coming from Ryo, and certainly not from Hopmon.

"It's worth a try. I might escape."

"You're immortal, not super-human," Donmon dismissed. He seemed to be really against Ryder's plans, a strange contrast considering they usually seemed completely in tune.

"You know I didn't mean that…" he trailed off, leading Donmon to grimace, although why so Tai hadn't a clue.

"You're not going alone!" Davis insisted. "I've put my life on the line before and I'll do it again."

"Yeah, and the way I am right now I think I actually get stronger when I do," Tai nodded. The insanity and sheer danger of it all whispered from the back of his mind. Every battle he used this, he was still taking a big risk. Milleniummon…Cyberdramon – whatever – that beast had cut him down to size even _with _his powers. Being the Fifth Angel was not going to make him super-human either.

"But…well, I guess it's your decision Tai," Ryder conceded. "Everyone's counting on you, _Fifth_."

Dammit. All eyes on him again. He instinctively looked away.

And then he looked to a different away. And another. And then, just to be certain, to one more. An army of humans and Digimon were now peeking out of the woodwork and stepping like does across to the uncertain safety of the outdoors.

All of them were at risk whether they went or not. That even included the village residents, presuming the Juggernaut continued to loom beyond the shield, although they could protect themselves somewhat better now that The Priestess had returned to her all-powerful self. And all this was forgetting the improvised health centre he had seen at the dojo, with plenty of vulnerable people and Digimon hurt by the battles, and even less able to defend themselves than the rest of them.

"While we could use your help to rebuild," said holy one began. "My fear for Harmony and for your world means that I believe you should act to save it. Plus you'd only all get in the way, as _usual_." Multiple personalities? A pretender of being posh? Tai still couldn't nail down precisely what was happening with this particular Digimon. Maybe it had something to do with the girl inside her?

Speaking of which… _"With everyone rushing off home, is anyone even going to save them?" _In the chaos of it all, he found it hard to even raise the effort himself, not least because they had wreaked far more carnage and actual deaths by simply coming here than the simple (and alive) kidnaps had all those years ago.

Horribly humbling.

They were all at risk, but were they also all powerful? So many humans fighting, so much good they could show. Whatever they did, Rayleigh would portray their Digimon as a threat, but what if they made it clear they weren't? God only knew how – he would have to fly by the strap of his goggles, just like old times. Abandoning the parents and other non-Tamers here was not an option, he had decided that. Not going wasn't an option either: they would be stuck here forever without another chance like the Juggernaut for an en masse return, which was also exactly what they needed to make their case. Probably.

So much uncertainty here.

"All of you. Gather everyone and their stuff together. We're going home."

All nodded, even Ken. Whoever had decided that he had leadership skills clearly had never seen the worry in Tai's mind.

"We also need to get Izzy to send Matt and the others a message. Otherwise they'll be stuck here too."

"Got it," Agumon saluted, smiling even amidst the wrecked village. The half dozen Tamers and Digimon went off to spread the news, Tai being able to watch as it spread. He paused upon the sight of Sora and Kari safe and sound and walking towards him, equally-weary partners in tow.

Relief.

But still…

Tai's eyes drifted to Ryo. He still held Hopmon close, even as he began to walk away. Dammit, whatever happened in the past, whatever was happening now, Tai was going to help.

Running.

* * *

**Kazu Shioda**

* * *

Did she trust him now? Had sleeping helped?

"_Geez, so much for losing that morning taste in the mouth here," _he sighed, licking his lips as he clambered to his feet from the makeshift campsite. Some of the beds were already empty, most notably Ayaka's. She had to be off walking: she wouldn't be stupid enough to run away.

Miki was awake, but she was avoiding his gaze where she lay on her sheets. It wasn't even worth trying. If she wouldn't listen to Kenta, she sure as hell wouldn't listen to Kazu. Speaking of whom, where was Kenta?

Silence. Near enough.

Further enough.

Actually. Quite far from it. _Very_ far from it, as far away from silence as a loud rumbling and thumping was.

"Wow…entrance…" Kazu mumbled, looking up at the newcomer from his large, draconic feet.

"Can't a mon sleep without thumpy McThumperson landing nearby," Impmon groaned, wiping his eyes as he sat up.

VictoryGreymon snorted, his arms crossed. "There are more important things going on right now than sleep."

"I beg to differ," Mimi moaned, yawning as she too sat up.

"Speak for yourself: some of us have been working all night," TyrantKabuterimon differed, and as if to prove his point he dropped a pile of clean bricks. Where they had got them from, god only knew. That said, the town was already looking a bit better than yesterday, even if it was just due to some of the streets being cleared of debris. Kazu felt pangs of guilt when he realised just how many exhausted and injured Digimon must've been working through the night to do so.

"_Puts these lousy beds in perspective."_

"I've got something too, if you all want to come in 'ere," Datamon peeked out of the nearby, mostly-ruined transmission station. Had he been working too?

Matt climbed up and wandered over, while Jun looked curiously at the short Digimon who she still struggled to believe was her partner. "What is it?"

Datamon grinned. "A message."

"From the others?"

"Seems it."

"Ace," Kazu took a step forward, but someone grasped his shoulder, holding him back.

"Wait." Most of the others walked on into the transmission room, averting their eyes quickly after curious glances back to him and the source of the interruption.

"Are you kidding? This is what I've been waiting…" He paused as he peeked back, catching Ayaka's eyes, just about the only ones that could stop him right now.

Kenta slouched past, pretending he hadn't seen her intervention and looking like the world had ended while he'd been sleeping.

"I talked to him," Ayaka said a little too fast, glancing to the shorter boy and back. She lowered her voice, paying a sidelong glance to their other mutual friend, whose head was now covered in sheets, blocking out the world. "He tried to talk to Miki. I did too. She just keeps talking about bad dreams she's having. She throws up at the slightest bit of blood normally."

"I know. She's my friend too."

Ayaka gave a note of uncertainty.

"Are we friends?" he forced the question upon her. He'd given up on trying for more.

"I spoke to someone last night."

"Oh…who?"

"Someone…strange…" Another sidelong glance, a searching one, given up quickly. "But they made me think…"

"Think what?"

"And decide…"

"Decide?"

Kazu's cheeks burst with pain all of a sudden, the move too fast for him to anticipate it. He rushed his hand to grasp it, and opened his mouth to complain, but where Ayaka was holding his other hand, she grasped it tight, a passionate and angry look in her eyes. Maybe that pain wasn't actually so bad after all…

"From now on…if this is really going to work…truth. I may not be a Tamer but I am your girlfriend and you're the guy who lies a thousand times a day. Be honest to me, at least. Okay?"

"Uh…" He mumbled, dumbfounded. "Okay. Just quit slapping me."

"Good," she pecked him on the lips, and began to walk to the transmission station.

Kazu placed a hand on his cheek. "_Geez, slap slap kiss kiss alright…"_ It was a step back from where they'd been the day before, but it was something.

Heck, why was it something? Who had she spoken to? Who had the power to change the mind of an Ayaka scorned?

His eyes began to search too, an unnerving feeling creeping up his back. He wanted to count his blessings on this one. He really did.

Matt wandered out of the transmission station, grasping a piece of paper. "We have a way home!"

Miki emerged from her blankets, looking on the outside just like the mess she must've been inside.

"But I don't think you're going to like it," Matt added, more quietly.

* * *

**Mari Flynn**

* * *

It was destroyed.

She had heard people describe places as 'wrecked' after intercourse, but this was far and beyond what they ever could've meant. Where a beautifully-built ceiling once ran from crafted thatch to elegant beam intact, splinters, dust and holes had ruined the perfection. The floor was cracked, while the cupboards had been smashed open by whatever had made that rather large hole in the wall.

Thank Christ their bags were still intact, along with their even more precious contents. She knelt down, opening hers and drawing forth a photo frame and diary. She gazed at one, peering at its details, and then she looked at the frame, glancing it over ever-so-briefly before returning it to the bag. It wasn't cracked.

"I guess everything has its time," DarkRenamon said, phasing in.

"This place didn't deserve it this much," Mari sighed, glancing up at the cracked rafters. "I didn't even know you were sneaking up on me," she added, drawing a small box forth too, prying it open to ensure its contents were still intact. "Our new Angel is a lot more useful than me, but at least I can give him his necklace." She reached for the fourth one, but paused, recalling what Ryder had said. As she took the fifth in her hand, she frowned. Had Tai mentioned it to him? Mari felt it in herself that she was the Second, maybe Tai was the same?

Or maybe this was yet another thing Ryder never quite explained his knowledge of.

Maybe this was proof?

She dismissed the notion, more out of want than of knowledge, shoving the pendant and its chain down into her pocket and standing up.

"We may not have that bond, Mari, but we aren't weak. I thought we proved that today?"

"I guess we saved a biomerge, but we needed help even then, and we still can't do it ourselves. We're still low on the food chain here…" She noticed DarkRenamon's sad expression. Maybe she was too hard on the fox about all this? "But…I want to thank you for your help."

"It's fine, it's what partners are for. I still believe we played no small role in saving as much of this place as we could," the Digimon said, peering at the beams. Her movements were slower and more laboured than usual, jarring as she came up against a sore spot in her limbs. "Now, I have to go off to deal with something."

"Would you let me know what even if we were psychic?"

"It's just personal things. Tying up loose ends."

"Uh…huh."

* * *

**Ryo Akiyama**

* * *

"I'm fine." He _was_ fine, wasn't he?

Of course he wasn't.

"Look Ryo, I'm not trying to be rude but you need help with this. I know we needed your help the last time we faced Milleniummon, and I know we tricked you but…"

"This is nothing to do with that!" It had everything to do with that. God, Ryo felt angry. He was never this outwardly angry. He clung tightly to the unconscious Hopmon.

"Tai." Kari's tone was more soothing, harder to be angry at. "What is this whole business about? What happened?"

"It's a long story," Tai said. To Ryo, this was the understatement of the century.

"Oh…but…whatever it is…you don't have to face this alone, Ryo," Kari said.

"It's _better _if I face this alone!" Milleniummon would only hurt them otherwise. He hurt everyone Ryo met, and by the looks of the battle he still was, only more directly. But saying that out loud probably wasn't helping his case: snapping at Kari even less. "Look, I can't explain, I just have a lot of issues from the past still to deal with. And I will deal with them. Sorry for being rude." He held back his anger, although why he was unleashing it on the trio in front of him rather than the beast causing all this was beyond him.

Tai opened his mouth, but Sora put her hand out to stop him. "Ryo, please talk to someone about this. I know you want to deal with it all yourself, but a lot of people got hurt this time."

"Sora's right, he caused enough damage this time and he wasn't even doing all that much," said Tai. "We're here to help if you need it, but I think we're going to have to stage an inter…"

"Ryo." Another new voice, this time from behind him. Surprisingly, this one didn't make him want to leap up, unleash his anger and cry that he had to (and could) deal with this alone. In place of the caring tones of Kari or Sora, or the hardline brotherly negotiation from Tai, there were reasoned, measured words, the voice of a boy honed on elocution lessons.

Kari went to speak, but Tai shook his head, and the trio walked away without saying a word, although Ryo heard a trailing "so you're an Angel, huh?" from Sora once they reached a certain distance.

"Is Hopmon okay?" Ken asked, gesturing down. Wormmon wearily crawled by his feet.

"I hope so," Ryo said. "Are you okay, Wormmon? Thank you for protecting me out there."

"I'll be fine." The bug nodded respectfully. "Any time. It's what friends are for."

"Ryo, my legs are aching, can we?" Ken gestured to a nearby damaged house step. Ken sat beside him, the three merely watching the broken village around them as Hopmon slept quietly beside Ryo.

The teen's head fell between his own knees, and he prayed to be able to scream.

"He's back, isn't he?" Ken said.

"Of course he is." Ryo's voice was muffled, before he raised his head again to look his old friend in the eye. "At the worst possible time. He did all this just to cheat death, what's going to happen when he actually wants to achieve something?"

"But The Priestess managed to take him down, isn't that a good sign?"

"Milleniummon is a trickster and he's far more powerful than that. He played her like he plays everyone. He wasn't beaten: he chose to die down when he saw the village was protected again."

"_**Very good."**_

Ryo leapt to his feet, swearing that the world had just tilted off-kilter.

"_**You seem frightened, my Tamer."**_

"Fuck off."

"Ryo, I…" Ken stood up behind him, and Ryo looked back to eyes as big as saucers. Ryo gestured to his own head and they only became wider.

"_**Oh, and give my regards to Ken. He really used the Dark Spore to its full potential."**_

"_Don't you dare hurt him!"_

"_**Oh, no, I have far too much…investment in him. A Dark Spore costs a lot, after all."**_

Keep it secret? Not from Ken. "Ken, it's Milleniummon. He's talking about your dark spore."

"What about it?" Ken reached for the back of his neck worryingly.

"_**Don't worry, he has unfortunately vandalised most of its use. I would say Owikawa was a far better tool, but he fell foul of Kindness like Ken here in the end. Such a shame."**_

"You're fine…I think," Ryo reassured his friend. He doubted it'd do much. "So what do you want from us?"

"_**From you: a partner. As always."**_

"_And the whole of time and space?"_

"_**Can wait. But would you not love to govern it all? To save your friend here from his brother's death, from his chaotic downfall into madness? To prevent the sheer tragedy of the poor girls practically eaten alive by The Priestess' minions from this very same village? To prevent your betrayal?"**_

"_Those things _happened_! They define us!"_

"_**You could change it. Change history. Perhaps you are wrong not to, Ryo. All those deaths…once you were impotent to stop them, but now, with me, every death is another mark on your name. Casual causal genocide. All I need to prevent it is your support. I am only acting for good here."**_

"_You never mean good."_

"_**It seems I shall have to convince you otherwise. I know your mind too well: you have been closed off to reason. Perhaps if you hadn't fallen foul to creatures like Agumon, Veemon and our very own Wormmon here, I might have been able to convince you of better, and, who knows, perhaps you could have convinced me to be…nicer. I have been betrayed too, you know."**_

"_Forget the sob story," _Ryo continued. Ken stared on, seeing only Ryo's angered expressions. _"And what about Monodramon?"_

"_**He is **_**below**_** a creature."**_

"_What are you playing at? Why do you even need me?"_

"_**You are my other half. Not romantically, of course…such a human emotion. I see far deeper. And besides, you know about our arrangement."**_

"_I'd throw myself in front of a bus to stop you."_

"_**But you wouldn't be successful."**_

"_You nearly killed me. Don't pretend you had it all planned."_

"_**I couldn't be honest and say anything else."**_

"_Goodbye, Milleniummon. It's been nice talking."_

"_**You do ill to ignore me and even more ill to be sarcastic, Ryo."**_

Ryo began to walk forward, away from Ken, ignoring his calls and ignoring Milleniummon's voice.

"_**You know I've been waiting for you, all your life."**_

Just keep walking, focus on walking, focus on holding Hopmon until he wakes up. He could do this.

"_**You can never ignore me."**_

He was a Tamer, a normal Tamer. He didn't have to worry about Milleniummon.

He was a boy, a normal human boy, and he didn't have to worry about Milleniummon.

He was…

"_**I'm always right behind you."**_

Hand on shoulder.

Ryo tensed up, turning and relaxing only slightly once he saw his oldest friend.

"Ryo, are we safe?"

"I doubt it."

"_**Oh, how dramatic."**_

* * *

**DarkRenamon**

* * *

Given that stepping into the chamber at all for someone like her was always an absurdly rare privilege, stepping without permission beggared believe. As much as she resented the ostentation and decadence of the village, and the way it had rejected her outright, she couldn't help but forget the traditions that were her birthright, values endlessly pervading her senses and invisibly controlling her.

Renardmon and The Priestess were scanning the chamber with their eyes, inspecting the fallen debris from the ceiling where it had been hit, fortunately none of the pieces landing in the beautiful fountain. Renardmon tried to pick up a few bits, but both looked as tired as DarkRenamon felt.

"DarkRenamon!" Renardmon exclaimed upon seeing her. A little piece of DarkRenamon cheered, recalling those days of that silly crush she had once upon a time.

"Thank you." The Priestess bowed. Even with her resentment of tradition, this felt utterly alien. No-one ever bowed to her, short of, on occasions, Rika's grandmother. "Without you two, I wouldn't still be here."

"It's nothing." DarkRenamon tried to be modest.

"I just wanted to save you," Renardmon said, practically shrugging it off. Did he simply fear saying it? All this tension.

Dammit. If they wouldn't… "Um…are you two a couple or something?"

"Excuse me?" The Priestess said, turning to face DarkRenamon and tilting her head. "What do you mean?"

"Uh…as with Takato and Rika, or Renamon and Guilmon, or any couple? Love…and all that…jazz…" Had she misjudged something?

"Well…we do…couple? Is that what you call it?" Renardmon said. The Priestess was too busy cringing at at the mention of the two couples, which she still assumed were some disgusting product of Chaos' manipulations. "Sex, right? I mean, we have before. The Priestess does what she wants."

"Oh. So you have been together, but you two aren't…together?"

"Sorry, I'm confused. How are we meant to be together? What does a couple…do?" The Priestess mumbled. "Is this something to do with that Digimon patch?"

She hadn't been expecting this. Moral dissonance from her own kind. Was she being the odd one now? She wanted to groan in confusion. She'd practically become human – not that that was a bad thing, of course, but she felt her head worsening beyond the effects of tiredness alone. Had she forgotten what living here was like that must? "I don't know. It's just…I think we Digimon can…like each other like that."

"Oh, of course I like him." The Priestess laughed. "Are you kidding me, he's hilarious! Look at those ears, the soppy moron. Oh…ooh…does that mean I love him? Is that what it means?"

"Not exactly."

"I'm confused, aren't they the same thing? Like and love? I like and…uh…couple with lots of the Renamon and Renardmon here…and some I wouldn't approach in a million years, which is good because I don't live that long. I just know Renardmon better because we're old friends. Does that mean I love him? Do I love the others?"

"I don't know." DarkRenamon shook her head. This was all too private, all too confusing and all too tiring to handle right now. "Never mind, it's not important."

"Then why did you ask?" Renardmon said.

"You two seemed close. And I was hoping you might give some advice. I have two Digimon who seem to like me."

"Sorry," The Priestess shrugged. "I watch a lot from here of the human world, but I still don't understand it all."

"I see. Also…I have another motive…Renardmon, I used to have a bit of an…um…'liking' for you."

"Me?" Renardmon pointed at himself. "Really?"

"Yeah…I mean, you were always with her and the other Renamon, and you seemed just really…good. I always just watched from far away though: I wasn't successful at anything here, it's not like I could approach you, I just wasn't valuable enough."

"Hello? I'm male! We're barely valued at all here. Stop complaining. You're far from bottom of the heap."

"Personally, I think this system works well," The Priestess said. She crossed her arms, mocking a royal tone. "I would hope that you would all agree with me."

"Of course, your Holiness." Renardmon bowed, yet nothing in his speech or pose seemed at all serious. "Really though…me?"

"I don't any more…but, yeah," DarkRenamon wished he would drop it. She had failed to explain anything before, and then it didn't really involve her.

"I wish I'd known who you were then."

"Oh." That was emotionally crippling. DarkRenamon tried not to show it, but Renardmon's quick pickup made it clear she had failed.

"I mean, you seem pretty cool now. You've seen the human world for real. I wish I could do that."

"Oh…thanks. I suppose it is quite impressive."

"Oh Renardmon, you are silly." The Priestess sighed. "Speaking of the real world…I don't suppose we'll see Renamon again anytime soon, if at all. So…could you pass a message to her from me? Pretty please." Back to that childish Renamon. Would she ever 'grow up'? Would they ever want her to? Would she have a choice?

"Sure." Yet DarkRenamon was somewhat worried about what she was about to be privy to. She didn't want to get in the middle of something so personal. God only knew how Renamon would react. She had detected plenty of the animosity from her cousin-in-kind towards The Priestess in her time here.

"Could you tell her that I'm sorry? And that I want to see her again. And…that I always hope we'll be friends. And that she can bring the others again too, if you wants. And…I think that's everything."

DarkRenamon nodded. "I will." She looked to Renardmon. "Do you have a message?"

"I…just miss her. She went out into the big wide world and became so huge. Even though I was able to help today, I still feel so small…as small as said you did before you went to the real world, DarkRenamon. But…I want to thank her and all of you for coming here, and apologise for offending her before. I want to see her again one day too."

"Aw…that's sweet," DarkRenamon smiled, yet still felt like an intruder. She envied their trio and knew she could never be a part of it, even when it missed its third member. They had grown up together, and they had all wound up differently in life, but they were still closer to each other than to any other of their species. _"Renamon, you suddenly make more sense."_

"Thank you for telling me about this 'liking' thing. I think you're insane to…I think she's insane if she likes me too…but even so, Priestess, my ears are not weird!"

"They are."

"Well, anyway, I hope that's helped with the crushing feeling of insignificance a little," Renardmon bowed.

"Any time. Thank you for providing me even more of a crushing feeling of insignificance," she said back, feeling like she was seeing him eye to eye for the first time.

The Priestess looked between them, irritated. Before DarkRenamon could react, she found a hand at the back of her head, forcing her forward into his face.

"Just kiss her, dammit!" The Priestess insisted. This was a creature to whom love was such a different thing to what DarkRenamon had become accustomed to.

Breaking free, and avoiding much more than a peck, DarkRenamon looked up to see as scary smile as you would expect from an all-powerful shaman with authority over a place like this. Still, that little DarkRenamon in the back of her mind was quietly satisfied that something worthwhile had come from this hellish trip.

"_Dammit. Don't blush. They won't understand it even if you do."_

Dammit. If only Terriermon and MiniDonmon had seen this. Maybe that would've put them off her. Or at least grow up about it all.

Who was she kidding?

"Sorry," he apologised, bowing lightly. "Thanks Priestess."

"You're welcome, _lover_," she played with the word, tossing it across the tip of her tongue and laughing.

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

She had never flown so fast. Remarkably, she kept her hat on, even as she smashed the glass with a wing. Thank Harmony. And Goddramon help them if anyone saw them do it.

Rolling through the window, she landed on her back on the Hypnos carpet, just outside the control room. She lay still, holding back her breathing in the desperate hope no-one would come to find out about the noise. Yet, the building seemed almost completely silent, as if it had been abandoned for many years, even though the lights were on and suggesting much life in the vicinity.

Getting to her feet, she let her wings retract, and began to brush glass off her shoulders and sides. This clothing really wasn't ideal. She dropped the hat from the window, glad for it to be gone, yet while doing so couldn't help but mourn throwing it away on her mother's behalf.

It had served its purpose. Leaving it in an accessible place would've meant anyone passing would know someone had been by – apart from the smashed window, of course – and they could probably find out who from DNA or CCTV images of her in it. Keeping it on meant wearing it any longer than she had to. That was her excuse, at least.

A hand ran through her dirty orange hair, the dye of too poor a quality to go out easily or stay in well. The beautiful Tokyo day outside seemed to mock her still, but where she was heading didn't care for the weather outside.

Turning, she walked towards the doors of the Hypnos control room, feeling like she was truly entering the heart of enemy territory. The very old days of Hypnos or the terror of Rayleigh's earlier reign just didn't compare.

The darkness quickly enveloped her when she entered the space. There had to be some way in here to transmit a message, at least to the people that mattered, and could pass it on. Twitter? Huge expensive specialist government computers could do 140 characters, right?

"_Yeah, and I'm sure 'I'm alive' will save my life here." _Sighing, she glancing down at her clothes. She really didn't want to die in something with this big a cleavage. Or anything, for that matter, chosen by her mother.

"_**The computers seem to be idling."**_

"_Looks like there was a battle and a half here. Even that chair is broken."_

"_**If you go to that one at the side, I'll help all I can to guide you through trying to start it up."**_

"_You do computers?"_

"_**Yes."**_

"_You hit me as too…organic?"_

"_**Billions of years of Godhood and you don't expect me to understand a simple computer?"**_

"…_yes."_

"_**Fine. Just press the power button."**_

"_Which one's that?"_

"_**I don't know, the one with the zero on it."**_

"_Isn't that 'off'?"_

"_**There's not a standby button, is there?"**_

"_I doubt it."_

"_**Then a five or something, whatever."**_

She pressed the 'on' power button and the computers flicked into life, lighting up the room.

Rika put her glasses on, trying to ignore the horrendous colours coming from where the panoramic screen above had been hit by bullets and read around it. System errors, major faults, everything but a blue screen of death.

"Ugh, this is impossible," Rika sighed, giving up on looking up and instead looking at her cracked computer monitor. It was inset into one of the machines around the wall of the chamber.

"_**Is that a message?" **_

"_A lot of messages."_

**HYPNOS MESSAGE SYSTEM**

**DACE ALERT: High level of activity in the United Kingdom. [Digital Activity and Control Executive (UK), 3 minute(s) ago]**

**SDCO ALERT: System Down. [Special Digital Control Organisation, 3 minute(s) ago]**

**CDMA ALERT: High level of activity on the Chinese coast (including Hong Kong and Macau) and spreading to other regions. [Chinese Digital Mitigation Administration, 2 minute(s) ago]**

**EUDIS ALERT: High level of activity from all broad monitoring stations, repeated by reports from national monitoring bodies. [European Union Digital Intervention System, 2 minute(s) ago]**

**ANZCADA ALERT: [Australia and New Zealand Combined Administration For Digital Activity, 1 minute(s) ago]**

**SEVENTEEN OTHER MESSAGES. SCROLL DOWN TO READ.**

She did. Codes, nicknames, even just simple emails from colleagues, and what even looked like intercepted mail. Hypnos really wasn't a squeaky-clean government agency. What on earth were they all talking about? Furthermore, how did you use an operating system like this? It was like nothing she had seen.

"The passwords are probably all still just 'password' though," she mused. Her mother's email was something she would never look at again. She could never truly look at her mother the same way again either, for that matter.

"**Can we reply to all?"**

Before Rika could reply to the (frankly quite appealing) suggestion, however, the broken screens blared with klaxons and light.

"**Rika…"**

"I've got a bad feeling about this," she said. "An incoming bioemergence…two…huge ones! No, wait…"

* * *

**Jeff Newman**

* * *

"Jesus Christ," Elgar's hands rushed to his nose. "You little s…arrest him already!"

Michael seethed with anger, yet Jeff still was having trouble believing what he just witnessed. The pair, Digimon in tow, had come up the stairs, in with just one angry comment Michael had hit Elgar Stark in the face, the same high-level government official who could probably erase them from all record.

Even the boy himself seemed increasingly surprised at his own actions, although the growling of Betamon alongside him (a strange sight from such a friendly-looking Digimon) echoed the anger they all felt.

"You can hardly talk after destroying all that life," 'Daisy' cried, grappling at her handcuffs. Seeing it, Coronamon leapt up and across the room, breaking the end attached to the chair easily with a fist.

"Stop that!" Elgar cried, raising his hands. His agents did nothing, looking frightened and confused by what was happening. So much for the FBI. So much for any organisation outside SDCO in dealing with Digimon.

"How about…?" Christopher Newton, aka 'Babel', stood up, broken handcuff still attached to his arm at one end. "You go and tell the government that Rayleigh is not innocent in all this, and that we are trying to protect this city and the whole damn world!"

"Rayleigh has been manipulating everyone. I can't believe this is the whole of his plans," agreed Rai. "Could you…?" she asked, putting her arm down to a beaming Coronamon, and a moment later she was freed from both ends of the handcuffs. "Thank you," she nodded, turning back to the bank of computers. "It's still dead…we need power…I need to know what Rayleigh has been doing."

"We need a phone…let's see…that's odd, the signal's down," Babel wondered, taking out his top-of-the-line Android phone, although the extent to which it was modified left it rather difficult for Jeff to see what model. "Usually it's perfect here."

"Are you listening? I order you all to stop now! Arrest them! That is an order. They were involved in an international assassination," Elgar shouted louder and louder, the official red in the face by now.

"_What_ evidence do you have for that?" Lindsay barked.

"Sir, the security risk is far too great and there could be casualties," his agent seemed wary. Was it honest? Or was he having a genuine emotion against what he was being ordered to do?

"I…for Christ's sake, stop growling at me! How did you survive anyway, you piece of crap?" he barked down to the fish-like Digimon near him.

"With help from Michael!"

"I saw it," Jeff said to all in the room. "A burst mode…it gave them a huge swelling of power so they could overwhelm the Yuggoth blast. And that's not all…show them your Digivices…"

Willis reached for his pocket, pulling out his remodelled device to gasps from the Monster Makers. "They were almost deleted, and then it changed. I think…I think it's because we wanted to save them. I'm not sure how it worked though." The group couldn't seem to settle on whether to look at Willis' or Michael's outstretched palms. Geeks in a candy store.

Babel raised a hand, gesturing to them. "Don't you see Elgar? This is how Digimon are…there's no conspiracy, no massive plan for murder…it's kids with friends. Rai is right, Rayleigh has been pulling strings across the world here. I don't know how, but everyone is being blind to the truth."

"Until we know the details, I have been ordered to make arrests of individuals connected with the Tamers. Those are my orders."

"Then break them," Lindsay cried. "Order the power back on in this building and we might actually have a hope of doing something. Knowing how these things go _from experience_, we could be saving the whole world."

"Not soon though; I'm feeling tired," Betamon sighed. "My head hurts."

"What's up?"

"Willis…mine does too…"

"Maybe you two should take your Digimon home and rest. You've all been through a lot of hell," Jeff suggested, purposefully glancing across to Elgar, who amazingly did not make a noise in response. Although, he did make quite a big move towards doing so, his mouth opening ready for his officious nonsense to spill out. "We'll deal with this."

"But I want to…"

"Michael," Willis warned. "I think we're pushing our luck."

Michael glanced to him and nodded. "I guess we had better contact the other Project Replica Tamers…they're going to be heartbroken after what happened."

"All those deaths," Jeff nodded, making sure that Mr Stark heard clearly. "I hope this will all be fully investigated, arrests or no arrests."

"I can assure you there will be arrests. But these children…they may go home, they are under surveillance. But they must go without the Digimon – we don't know what they'll do. And that boy still needs to be charged with assault."

"Yeah, sure," Michael said, a strongly sarcastic tone in his voice as he and Betamon simply walked out the room. "Come on Willis," he added, Coronamon following his Tamer out and towards the lift bank. They knew their way out. He noticed Willis glance back as he left, and nodded to reassure the boy. He would take care of everything.

"Come back! Come back, all of you!" Elgar cried, but Jeff raised a hand.

"Don't you think you've caused enough damage here today?"

Mr Stark went to speak, but he was interrupted by another, more worried voice.

"Guys…you are all going to want to take a look at this…" Rai called from the window. "And you might just want to turn on the power again…"

* * *

**Rei Matsuki**

* * *

Rei unconsciously moved to her feet as she watched Ryder wander up to the doorway of the dojo, but forced herself down again. It was far too many years too soon, and hopefully it was so many years that would never happen in quite the same way.

A good soldier, reporting for duty.

"How are they all?" Ryder asked, gesturing around at the various patients of the dojo hospital: DarkBiyomon, Fumiko, Cody's grandfather, and a rather large number of injured locals being brought in for treatment by Taomon and, where they could, Fumiko and Joe. Some were tired, others distressed. This day wouldn't be forgotten fast.

"Recovering. Cody's grandfather is looking the worst, but I reckon he'll be better off with all the resources back home."

"I believe that he came to the Digital World with an illness that this world exacerbated. Even so…with his condition as it is, I doubt simply going home will cure it. I want him to get to a hospital," Fumiko explained.

"Then we'll take him to a hospital," Ryder said.

"Where we'll be arrested." Rumiko stood up.

"Arrested is better than dead," said Cody, yet he still sounded uncomfortable with the idea.

"Rayleigh would prefer the latter," MiniDonmon said, frowning.

"We just have to hope for a sympathetic Doctor, and that Rayleigh hasn't used Infiltration on too many people. Maybe he's spreading it through the broadcasts?" Ryder suggested.

"If he could do that, what would've stopped him simply brainwashing everyone from the start?" Rei said. She knew that she knew too much, everything she said she had to lie about. Yet, at times like this, she felt like she knew so little. Her whole life had been an orchestrated mix of silences, perhaps on purpose, so she never knew about the past. If only these people knew the suffering that she could prevent: that she _would_ prevent.

"She's right," said Seiko. "He must go after those in power and convince them to convince the masses to hate us."

"But why don't they notice?" Rumiko asked. "I just don't understand it. People aren't idiots."

"How much proof do you have that World War Two happened?" Rei asked.

Realmon nudged her partner. "Uh, Rei, we've _been_ there."

"Ssshh. Okay, how about how much proof that…oh, I don't know, that power plant at Fukushima has been a danger lately?"

"It's been all over the news, and people have been there. I felt the earthquake. We all saw the pictures," Rumiko said, frowning at the memory.

"Exactly. A huge event, a huge emotional reaction, huge outpourings of support. Not a single voice went against the relief efforts. But just imagine none of that matters. Have you _personally _witnessed anything?"

"Only a few plates smashed by the quake. Fortunately our good china was okay. It didn't do as much damage in Tokyo."

Rei nodded. "The victors write history. He who controls the media controls what you see, what you hear, what you _know_. Now, the earthquake is a bit of an extreme example, and no-one could keep that up for any real length of time, but that wasn't what Rayleigh needed, is it Ryder?"

The teen frowned. "The right word in the right ear can start a war, persecute a minority, lead to chants for death. All Rayleigh needed was an event, and after that he could infiltrate as high a position as he could: Acting Prime Minister. Anyone he meets who contests and has power, he uses infiltrate on to maintain the lie," Ryder said, before his confidence dropped into confusion. "But there's what I don't get. People will notice the gaps: Digital Watch first of all, then Twitter, Facebook, blogs, phones, maybe even newspapers – it's harder to maintain 'the line' these days than back in the days of the Cold War, so what does he want?"

"Surely he can't even legally _be_ Prime Minister, at least not for any length of time?" Fumiko wondered. "He's not even Japanese. Wait…how did he become Chief Cabinet Secretary? And why hadn't I thought of that before?" She scratched her head with her other, unbroken hand.

"It's like a perception filter, but it doesn't need one," Rei explained. "People just don't ask. We all just assume that someone else knows what's going on. How many times have you just walked on past people arguing in the street?"

"Many. I'm usually on my phone, or in a taxi," Rumiko blushed apologetically.

"People have got to be asking questions now though," Ryder scratched his head. "Rayleigh _cannot _keep this up. And I just don't know how he's going to change the values of the world, like he said he would. This is why I want to get back to the real world, I get the feeling we're on the cusp of something and we're all missing it, and if we don't hurry it'll be too late."

"Is it safe?" Rumiko asked. "Is Rika safe? Will baby Rey be safe?" she gestured to the child in Seiko's arms. Rei was glad to be rid of her. She had had to be overly careful about it all for far too long.

"I don't know," Ryder was forced to concede.

"I think mum must be back in the real world – we saw Takato dragged there – but it's just a hunch," Rei suggested. "I don't think we have much choice though: if Rayleigh can reach us here, he'll just come back, and bring more forces. This village is in danger thanks to us. We have to stop what is happening, and the Juggernaut is our only way of getting back. If he went through, it's safe."

"Unless you fix your time device," Ryder said to her, aside.

"Are you kidding? It's in a million pieces and it'd never take all of us."

"It was worth a shot."

"Yeah, well, I am only going to mess with time once."

"So we don't escape like this?"

"Can't say."

"Well you're a wonderful help."

Rei grimaced, even as she knew he was joking. "You can talk. We both know what you can do."

"_Do _we?" He turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "Care to explain? You could save me a lot of trouble."

"No shortcuts."

"Hey, I told you about your prophecy."

She hushed her voice and insisted it was "_Rika's_ prophecy. That's why we have to find her."

"Is this another habit of humanity?" asked a deeper voice from nearby. Rei glanced around to Taijimon, raising an eyebrow as the whole group in the hospital, ill or in perfect health, presided over a virtually indecipherable conversation. "Ignoring the issue at hand and talking the most dreadful nonsense."

"He's right." Ryder glanced to his shoulder. "MiniDonmon, we have other people to hunt down and take to an almost certain death. Let's go."

"You really aren't helping the situation," Realmon scolded, Ryder shooting a salute before leaving.

He was in a good mood. This was a bad thing. Something was up. That expression was far too frightening.

But it would have to wait, as a nudge or two in the back caused her to twist round and face a new person. Then she looked down a foot or two to see a redhead with a ferret around her neck.

"Kristy?"

"Can we talk?"

She nodded, taking her aunt's hand and guiding her out through the dojo entrance, her eyes locked on the shrinking figure of Ryder. MiniDonmon clipped him around the head. Just what was he saying? What was he thinking? That scary face was all too familiar. What did he have planned?

"I know I'm an Angel."

She nodded absent-mindedly, before the words were rerouted from the Takato portion of her brain and into Rika's more focused and aggravated heritage. "What?"

"The Ninth?" Kristy asked, raising her necklace in front of her, pendant gently swinging below. A circle sat upon the tip of a tall triangle, looking as much like a trophy as it did the number it signified. "No-one seems to want to mention it. Only Kudamon listens to me."

"Kristy…you shouldn't know. Not now. I shouldn't even be talking to you about it."

"So I have powers?"

"This is a hunch, but you haven't used anything yet? You or Kudamon? Haven't noticed anything strange?"

"Ummmmm…nope."

"I have not noticed anything. Am I meant to have?" Kudamon said.

"I remember when you knew everything," Realmon said. Rei shot her a glare.

"_Not helping."_

"Everyone is really distracted," Kristy said, with a sigh. "Mum and grandma keep talking about Rika being gone. She comes back, right? Please tell me my sister comes back."

"I can't say." She hoped none of them would remember her words about neither of them being there on that fateful day in the future. She hoped that none of them were keeping that close an eye on her. Those that probably were, Henry and Ryder, were borderline-insane anyway, and she knew enough about Ryder to throw him off the scent as much as possible.

"Oh…"

God she looked sad. Rei had to be strong, be strong, don't do anything, don't…

Rei crouched down to her aunt. Grasping the pendant from her hand, she held it in front of the girl. "You are going to be really important someday. You're an Angel, and that's really special, but don't let it ruin your life now."

"But I really wanna. Look at Tai, I saw him fight off Ravemon, he was amazing! And Ryder always moves back time and Mari…synchronizes things."

Poor Mari. The girl who was still forming, still not quite the force she would become, and still playing second fiddle in a number of orchestras.

"And I just know that Henry will be awesome too. And you, you're even better than sis and Takato!" Kristy exclaimed.

Rei smiled, but it was fake. Some memories couldn't be erased. She knew she wasn't better. Kristy couldn't have known, but she had done worse than anyone else here. So much worse. Things she never wanted to do again, atrocities of such a primal nature as to go against sense itself. She knew that one day she would have to repeat her actions, and one day she would pay for them. She could feel her own threads of destiny, tightening around her neck like a noose.

Groaning. Moaning. Ugh'ing. Gritting. Pulling of hair, pinching of arms, a cacophony of random noises.

"I…just…have…to…wake…up…" Kristy's strained her voice.

"Stop it. You'll pull something,"

"But…"

"I think you should listen to Rei, Kristy," Kudamon warned. "Henry destroyed a city when he awoke. We do not want to run that risk."

"But I know who I am! How can I not be awake?"

"Because being an Angel is about more than just knowing you are one: it's about coming to terms with what makes you who you are. I'm a bit different because of my parents, but no Angel is complete or stays complete without getting to the heart of what makes them them. Mari still hasn't gathered up her ability to command and control space; Ryder can only roughly control time; Henry knows he's an Angel but doesn't yet have real contact with what that knowledge means. Only Tai seems to be reaching it, but he's still afraid, Milleniummon took him down even with the power that's meant to make that impossible. Everyone goes through their tests."

"So what's my test? Can I start it now? I don't want to wait for everyone else to wake up!"

Rei frowned. "It will happen. I know it will. I've seen it happen." That was a mistake. If Kristy was older, perhaps she would've figured it out here, perhaps she would've known that this could only mean it was years away, those years in the future when Rey would grow up and be aware of what was happening. While Kristy beamed, Kudamon looked dour. He had worked it out.

Rei gave a brave smile, and Kristy gave one back.

"Hey," said a new voice from behind. "Glad you're both still in one piece."

"Second, perfect timing," Rei said, turning around as Mari arrived, alone.

"I have a name," she said, uneasily. Across her shoulders sat bag straps, across her lips ran fear and through her brow ran anxiety about the coming hours. Yet, still, in her voice there were reassuring pangs of hope, hope for home. Rei realised she had been travelling too long to sympathise with the promise of 'home': her last 'permanent' abode was probably gone now, for good.

"But it's so much more dramatic."

"Fine…but for the love of God do not give Ryder more ammo. You sound like him already, and I do not want you to start giving him ideas for during…never mind."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"For once, intercourse that _isn't _your business," Mari said, snarkily.

"Rei, what's…?"

"Not now," the two older girls said together.

"So how ready is everyone? I saw Ryder just now and he was heading off to round everyone up," Rei asked.

"They're ready enough, but shaken. This Juggernaut had better go home. And yeah, I saw him…he's happy." Mari paused.

"And?"

"I don't like it. He's _too_ happy. Why? What's causing it?"

"Good, it's not just me noticing. Has he said anything?"

"…nope." Meaning yes. "Not recently." Meaning pillow talk. Or pillow fights. "I just reckon he's on one of his upswings." Meaning he had stumbled across an idea which was like crack to him. Whatever the case, Rei had the feeling she wasn't being told about something. Wasn't the time traveller meant to know everything?

"I see. Listen, do you have the box of necklaces?"

"Yeah, it's in the 'pack," she shifted the bag on her shoulder slightly. "Why?"

* * *

**Matt Ishida**

* * *

Even with the pleasant meadow restored, the edge of Bolton was still rather windy, with not a tree in sight to prevent its gusts. Yet it was heaven compared to the day before, not a horde member to be seen, and the gold scratched dish poking from atop the ravaged town had a certain beauty to it. They gazed out from beneath it, looking to the Juggernaut in the far distance.

"Do you think it's safe?" Palmon asked the question on Matt's mind, as he felt the uneasy weight of their lives on his shoulders. He had to be like Tai. He had to be brave. But did everyone else have to be? Even with the notification from the other group that all was fine, could he trust them on this?

Jaarin held her sister close, against the little girl's wishes, yet both were transfixed on the sight of the Juggernaut looming in the distance. Their way home?

Matt gritted his teeth. The message could just as easily have been from Rayleigh.

Rayleigh, the Demon. The idea had crossed his mind once before. If only he'd listened to it. But it would have to wait, for first they had a bigger demon to face, and one which could rip them to shreds if they had misjudged it.

"Does it matter? It's a way back to Ai and Mako!" Impmon exclaimed. "I've been through nearly being deleted before for them: it's worth it."

Clearly they had not shared enough stories in their time here, but this wasn't the time to ask. After all, Matt had plenty of his own to share, not least all that time he spent _in _the internet, most of it before Facebook had even been invented!

"It seemed dangerous. As much as we tried to warn Digimon of its approach, it keeps changing course," Dianamon sighed. "But, if you know better… For what it's worth, I think it'll be safe."

"Based on what?" TyrantKabuterimon asked, concerned.

"I'm putting my life on it."

"Are you losing your mind?" the metalloid bug exclaimed.

"I will too." VictoryGreymon stepped forward, clenching a fist.

"Clearly you all are."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked the trio of the Cult of Victory.

"Whatever this is, it is damaging the whole Digital World and, if what you said is correct, it's coming from reality. I need to save my world."

"After all you Tamers have done, I want to save you too," Dianamon said. Matt raised an eyebrow. Maybe their humanity had rubbed off on some of the Digimon.

"You're crazy…but fine…" TyrantKabuterimon conceded. "I'm in…sane."

"Are you coming, Datamon?" Jun asked. The robot glanced back to his town, the gathered Digimon peering over the assembled humans and partners curiously. Plenty held building materials. That feeling of guilt in Matt's stomach began to grow again.

"Of course. I want to see the real world you've spoken so much about. There must be many great brews there."

"Woo! We are going to be amazing partners in the real world, we'll…"

"Sorry to rain on your parade," Ayaka interrupted. "But I think we still need to repair here. We've caused so much damage," Ayaka objected, surprising words from a girl who previously simply wanted to hurry home and get out of this nightmare. Between the lines, Matt knew she didn't mean "we", she meant "I", but no-one wanted her to get lynched. Not least Kazu, who gripped her hand. Just how _had_ they made up, anyhow? Kenta and Miki _certainly _hadn't. What magic pixies' dust had the boy sprinkled, and could he borrow some to save his love life?

"Go," Wizardmon said, pushing his staff into the now-hardened ground beneath the grass. "Go and solve your own problems, just as we all did before you arrived."

"I'm sorry for all the bad things we brought," Suzie pleaded, but Wizardmon simply huffed, clearly not accustomed to the idea of providing kids with kinder words.

Suzie opened her mouth, but Jaarin tapped her on the head and shook her own. Matt looked down to Gabumon, the Digimon frowning and raising a hand to the elder wizard of the town of Bolton. "Good luck."

"Goodbye."

* * *

**Ryder Stevens**

* * *

She practically grabbed him by the scruff of the neck as he passed, giving him the impression he was a four year old again and not over six foot. He didn't even have to wonder who it was, yet that glimpse of grey hair made him certain.

"Why are you so happy?" The Priestess said, once she had pulled him into the nearest house. There was something quite odd about seeing her in such a mundane surrounding, particularly such a damaged one, far from the grandeur of her palace or the beauty of the village grounds.

"You pulled me aside to ask that?"

"You've been a wreck for ages. I reserve the right to enquire what visitors in my domain are up to."

"Hey, I'm on your side, I don't know why he's so happy either." MiniDonmon shrugged, fluttering over to sit on the shaman woman's shoulder.

"Yes you do! And you hit me when I said. Priestess, do _you_ promise to be more mature?"

"Was it because he was being _him_ again?" The Priestess asked MiniDonmon. The bat nodded and sighed. "Then I make no promises."

"Fine: I feel like I'm right on the cusp of working this whole mystery out. We're about to go back to the real world so everything is about to change. What Rayleigh said has got to be a test to see if I'm thinking reality through – what else could changing values mean other than fixing the world and waking up? And we beat off those corrupt bits – tumours, eh? That took me a while to work out..."

He paused a moment. His head was remarkably painless. Were they listening, or despairing?

"Plus, Milleniummon is fighting back like an idea that just won't die, and I have had some pretty big ideas. Then, I've got Mari acting as my ball and chain back to reality here while Ivy keeps talking through from the reality outside. I've got MiniDonmon alongside to fight with me, and you've been giving me advice like a predictor – but I know everything, because this is my dream. There's stakes, I taste battle looming, and I am going to fight for my life with all the courage that that memory of Tai from the TV show brings with it. Whatever's trying to kill me in this coma, I am about to kill. Plus, I increasingly hear a beeping…noise…"

"A beeping?" The Priestess wondered, before Ryder slapped himself in the side of his head.

Ignore it. Ignore it. For now. Until he was ready.

"Speed up, speed up…"

"Ryder?"

"_Just ignore it. That's just…a hint. Hospital beeps. Yeah. Slowing down. Like they do…all the time. Yay." _"As I was saying…Natsuki is here, and she's basically Ivy in disguise…"

"Ryder, she isn't, honest. She's just some girl you kidnapped and messed around with." MiniDonmon sighed in despair.

"Sounds like you're no better than me," The Priestess said.

"I was saving her life!" Ryder said.

"Yes?"

"I…didn't mess her up."

"Wait, is this the weird blonde girl who all the Renamon keep saying keeps stepping away from them when they go anywhere near her?"

"…definitely not, she's the _other_ one."

"Thought so."

"Whatever, fine, be clever, but you know it's not the same, I can fix what I did, I didn't _eat_ her like you all did…and…" He paused, seeing The Priestess' head sink. "I shouldn't have said that last bit, huh?"

"No," The Priestess said morosely, her hand moving to her chest. "I didn't _eat_ her. I biomerged _with _her…I made her life better," she insisted. "I thought I did. We all make mistakes. These last few days have taught me that more than anything."

"My mistake is easier to fix," Ryder said judgementally. "Sorry, harsh…wait, no, actually, I don't care, figments, again, all just trying to distract me…" He put his hands on the sides of his head. No more distractions!

"I thought we convinced you this all was real? For my sake? For Mari's sake?" MiniDonmon wondered, pleaded?

"But then I joined up all the…dots…" Ryder's mood had died, killed by guilt, as usual. "Look, I just want to know what's really going on here."

"_Even_ if it means you lose me?"

"But I won't, you're my partner in reality!"

"The _same_ me? Even if I'm not real, what about all we fought through? I'm real in here, I feel real. I'm sure The Priestess feels the same. Mari would, all of us do. Why do we have to die just for you? How could you be so selfish?"

"I…"

"You will have to make an impossible choice," The Priestess said, ominously.

"I know I will, I've…"

"No," The Priestess shook her head. "It's a prophecy."

"A prophecy?" Ryder stumbled back, humbled into crouching in front of the tall shaman fox. She peered out through her mask down at him, a teacher talking to a child.

"You must confront the King in his Castle."

"The King? Wait…Rayleigh…that's it, that's it exactly!"

"Quiet, Pandora," The Priestess reminded him of the other prophecies surrounding him. So many, so worryingly many, and each promising more pain than the last. At least if he did end the world, 'she' wouldn't die. "Your impossible decision…it will hurt anyone you are with. And their pain will tear them apart."

"What?"

"Even me?" MiniDonmon wondered. "Even his partner?"

"I do not know."

"Great…"

"Well, that's a mood killer." Ryder ran a hand through his hair, before resting his palm on his forehead and trying to think straight. "I need a plan." Forget the dreams and the deaths, forget the heart monitor he swore he could hear, forget all of that. This had to be his reality for now. He simply had no choice, certainly if he didn't want to hurt people. "Incidentally, do you have anything more on Mari?"

She shook her head. "She's still an enigma. I would want to talk to her about it, but I fear she is at the heart of it all and doing so would upset these fragile prophecies. Better the devil you know."

"I just wish I understood all this. But…I think I'm starting to get a plan…"

"A plan?" MiniDonmon wondered.

"It'll become clear. First, do you hear that? It sounds like a bit of a gathering…"

"Hmm?" MiniDonmon chirped, before he fluttered away to the door, and glanced out. "It looks like everyone's at the base of the temple. Something's happening, but don't ask what."

"Then let's go…"

"Wait," The Priestess said, interrupting. "Ryder." She took a step forward, right as Ryder turned back again to face her. Before he could think, he was surprised to find a pair of lips planted on his briefly. He expected to feel a tongue, to have to push back and then ponder a while down the line about the fact that he had kissed a living, breathing Digimon (excepting all those pranks that DarkRenamon had played on him and MiniDonmon which made for awkward mornings, gazing up into his partner's eyes). But instead it was formal, specific, prompt, a peck. "Goodbye."

"Oh…okay…" he felt a bit dumbfounded.

"That is how you humans say goodbye, right? It seems far too…stoic, for me. I thought goodbyes were about affection."

"They are, but…"

"Did I do it wrong? Some places I see in the real world they kiss each cheek, should I do that?"

"In England we just awkwardly hug or shake…wait…goodbye? You said, goodbye?"

The Priestess nodded, becoming far more formal. Was she covering her real sadness? "I do not think we will see each other again for a while. I will watch your prophecies, but yes, I think this may be goodbye, at least for now. Please do not get yourself killed. There have been too many deaths today."

"I'm the guy who can't die, don't worry. Just stay safe yourself: you're powerful but you're not invincible, and I don't want to see either of you die." Presuming they were real. Presuming the girl inside could hear him.

"I will ensure it," she placed her hand on her stomach again. "Ryder, your number will come one day. I do not believe that anything truly lasts forever. Death is an essential facet of life."

"You said that really formally, like a real Priestess," he said, yet there was no charm to his voice, no optimism. Only fear, fear of what this Digimon could foretell and could know, and fear of how real life would play to fit the predictions. Humour was just a distraction.

"Aw, thanks." She was back to her younger voice again, letting out a brief smile. He gestured over his shoulder.

"So…gathering?"

* * *

**Natsuki Takara**

* * *

"You're so slow!" Rei exclaimed once the boy finally wandered up to the amassed group, and pushed him forward. "Come on, you do it, you're First!"

"I don't get why we have to do this now," Ryder called back to his time travelling friend, looking over the vast group (spread between with many bags), with teachers, parents and the injured looking up at him in a variety of conditions and with 57 varieties of tutting at his slowness.

"For morale, or whatever, just do it, it's important!"

Natsuki scrutinised everything. She saw everything from her position close to the front beside Jeri and Henry, who were her only option right now as she ran from everyone else. Henry was a pain to be around with his current mood, however, and the mere sight of what was happening had made him still dourer. Just what did Jeri see in him?

Ryder clambered up to stand behind Tai, who sat on a temple step a dozen or so from the bottom. They gazed out upon a huge group of humans and Digimon, watching with emotions from wonder to boredom to fear.

"Tai, are you ready?"

"I could've just put it on, I don't think we have time for this."

"Look, Rei is just being picky, relax, it's some timey-wimey thing and it'll probably make sense someday. Besides, I'm pretty sure she could kick our arses if we don't play along," Ryder said, before raising his voice. "Tai, I want to welcome you to…wait…"

"What's up?" Tai glanced up. Natsuki cringed. How unprofessional were they? So much for some elaborate fighting force: the Angels were a laughing stock.

"Psst…Rei…which Angel is he?"

"Fifth. Wait, shouldn't he already know?" Rei answered.

"And so we create another time loop," Ryder said, sighing. Could he feel it? "To hell with it…Tai, as the First Angel of Time, I want to welcome you to the Angels as the Fifth Angel of Courage," he said, awkwardly fastening the fifth necklace around the older boy's neck. Two intersecting golden triangles formed a '5' which glittered in the restored sunlight of the dome, free from the chaos outside of The Priestess' shield. "And I also want to thank you for saving my skin back there."

No matter how chaotic it was, the group did, mostly, look remarkably proud, not least Sora, who no sooner had the necklace been put on was heading up the stairs to put an arm around the young man and ruffle his hair.

"Home can't come soon enough," Natsuki muttered to herself, flicking her long blonde hair. She continued to ignore the nagging feeling imploring her to stay with them all. She knew all too well where it had come from.

* * *

**Tai Kamiya**

* * *

"If you need help, just call," Tai said, enthusiastically and miming. An array of computer equipment lay about nearby, as Izzy and Shibumi taught a Renardmon and a DarkRenardmon how to use them. Looking like a strange version of a powerpoint presentation, the Mokumon kept switching shapes to 'demonstrate'. Base camp, Digital World. Insert text here… Lorem ipsum. Clippy.

"Mmm…I'll keep it as a last resort," The Priestess muttered, before her voice became once again stilted. "Thank you for your consideration," she bowed. "You have greater hells to face."

"We're sorry for how much damage we caused," Biyomon said, from Sora's side. The village was already being cleaned up, but there were many repairs to be made.

"In more ways than one," The Priestess mumbled, the trio standing aside from the group as it gathered itself together. "Although it has been interesting learning how you humans live…" she added, stifling a yawn as she perched uneasily on her own feet.

"Even I'm not used to it, and I have to put up with his breath every morning," Agumon said with a cheery, jokey tone. Tai swore he saw Sora nod.

"I feel the same way, Priestess," Tai said, nodding and trying to hold up some decorum.

"But if we ever come back…please make sure we don't get watched while changing again," said Sora.

"Oh? Why? In fact, do not try to explain. You are all very strange and I will never understand you. So familiar, yet so very different," The Priestess mused, placing her hand on her belly. Tai's gaze followed. Not all the humans were going home. "Now go away and save her…I mean, your world. I suspect it may matter to all of us."

Tai put his hand on his chin. "Possibly? I think Rayleigh just wants our world. But we'll let you know."

"A storm is approaching. A vast cataclysm."

A storm? This sounded like a television cliché to Tai – and he knew, he had watched a _lot _of television. Apparently he'd been on it.

"I'll keep it in mind," Tai nodded, glancing behind to Cody's grandfather and DarkBiyomon. They both lay on improvised stretchers, ill and only partly healed respectively. If a storm was coming, what was this already?

* * *

**Miki Nakajima**

* * *

Why had they returned to hell? The thing that had nearly killed all of them now stared down, looming over them, threatening them. Something drew her close to it, tempted her, teased her every atom. Or was that data?

Even in her head, she wanted to go through. Home. Safe from all this. But would she risk death for it?

Would her death be simply covered up? Would her parents ever even find out? Why would anyone _choose_ this terrible life?

Why would anyone want to chance winding up like Chiyo?

"We don't have a choice," Ayaka shouted to her. In Miki's mind, she swore the Juggernaut slipped down from the sky, bending to almost tap them on the shoulder. Was it louder, or was she just noticing it more? "It will be fine!"

She raised a hand to check her ear, yet found herself wanting to vomit as it stretched yet again. Ayaka was talking out of her…

"As mesmerising as this is," Dianamon interrupted. "We don't know how long it will last. Let's go through."

"How do you know it's definitely safe?" Mimi asked, clinging to Lillymon's side.

"She's right, we don't have time for this," Matt shouted, as it seemed to head in their direction, the sand barely moving even as their bodies warped upwards. Glancing over her shoulder, Miki found the town still far out of sight. Was this Juggernaut heading its way?

Something more personal gave her pause, as she caught a glimpse of Kazu, Kenta and Ayaka. Her teeth met without her even noticing. Who could she trust now that even her own friend seemed to have 'joined' them? They had been involved in a murder of a close friend of hers – if they had been guilty, why had they let it be covered up?

"Come on," Matt called, clambering onto Garurumon who strolled forward. Guardromon flew by shortly after, swooping up into the air with Kazu on his back, and Impmon clinging on too.

Someone grabbed Miki's waist, hoisting her into the air. She struggled briefly, before a voice called to her. "It's fine," Ayaka called. "Dianamon's okay, honest." A heart bubble floated by not far away, only to be stretched and contorted so much that it surely should have popped? Glancing up, Miki looked into the eyes of the only female member of this bizarre 'Cult of Victory'.

Even the name she couldn't trust.

But names, soon after, meant very little, as she gained the sharpest headache she ever had felt, and was certain she blacked out.

* * *

**The Priestess**

* * *

"I have to discourage this Priestess…and moreover, you need to rest…"

"Oh shush Taomon," The Priestess said. "I'm curious." Her hands peeled back the undergrowth at the edge of their forest, through which only moments before the hordes of Tamers had passed. Outside, she could feel the data of the world warp, but she had to see it, she had to see what it was like, the array of Tamers passing into the sky in the world outside. She wasn't going to be trapped here forever like her forebears, she would one day see the world like Renamon and DarkRenamon, but for now she had to settle for seeing a peek of this while the village was rebuilt.

"I must absolutely discourage this too," Taijimon said, unconvincingly, before doing likewise. The Priestess glanced back briefly, as Taomon showed her first burst of emotion in a long while: a slight look of exasperation to Renardmon as he looked to her for permission. And then did the exact same.

Her eyes peeked through the perception filter into the forest, already feeling dragged slightly. She dug her staff in sharply to the ground behind her. She wasn't going anywhere.

But they were. Up in the sky, Digimon and humans ascended, some screaming, some silent and their bodies limp, others determined and certain. They sank into the top of the Juggernaut and vanished with barely any note of a flash or a bang, like they simply slipped into the village pond on its calmest of days (and before it was half-emptied by the recent battle).

What were they going off to face now? She searched her mind, clung to those prophecies, and feared yet again. The bizarre boy, Ryder, the 'imaginary' girl, Mari, the enthused leader, Tai, the black sheep (or, rather, a black sheep in fox's clothing), DarkRenamon…and somewhere out there her oldest friend, Renamon.

The Juggernaut collapsed, not long after the last figure slipped through. Renardmon gasped in surprise, while Taijimon let out a low, concerned hum. "They ran out of time, it seems."

"Good luck to them," Renardmon wished. Yet The Priestess barely heard…she was off in another world, fantasising, as her hand slipped to her stomach.

Of all the places she would return to one day, it would be there. Her home.

* * *

**Jaarin Wong**

* * *

"Well, I'm bored already," said Impmon, his arms crossed.

Jaarin gazed around at their predicament. Far from the dramatic flash of light back to reality she had been expecting, instead she found herself…somewhere.

If anything, it was remarkably similar to the Digital Plane, but…what was happening to it? Specks flooded out of a large dark mass of data nearby, floating in all directions to the horizon, or whatever constituted that in this disarming space. When it met the myriad forms in the space, it simply floated around and continued on, ignoring them entirely.

"Maybe this is what happened to all the Digimon this Juggernaut absorbed?" Datamon pondered, his hand on the closest he had to a chin and his accent pronounced.

"Then why isn't it happening to the rest of us?" Gabumon asked.

"Ugh, I agree with Impmon, this is so frustrating and boring. It's just been one setback after another," Suzie huffed, Jaarin spinning around, although in retrospect she hadn't a clue how she had managed it with nothing to push off of. Lopmon looked worriedly at her partner from the girl's head, as arms crossed and a patience cracked.

And then another one, conspicuous in their silence thus far, did likewise. "I'm so tired of all of this," Miki exploded. "You are meant to be the Tamers, you're meant to solve this stuff! But all you've done is keep secrets about murders, destroy entire towns, mess up again and again…do you ever even think about who you hurt?" Ayaka and Kazu both made moves to comfort her, but were swatted away, while Kenta's head simply drooped, his partner stroking his messy hair. "If you can't even work this out, what's the point of you?"

"Miki, for Christ's sake, this is not the time…" Matt shouted. "We have got to work…"

"Then when is the time, _huh_, Mr Leader? I don't remember you ever being appointed, I don't remember any of you ever having any official roles, you don't deserve them! I watched you all in the show…I loved you guys…but I never saw the damage you did, I never saw what really happens. And you don't care. You run, you hide, you cover up again and again and again. You don't even stand up for yourselves. You pretend that you can make it work without being professional, hiding behind Hypnos and Yamaki as they do all your busy work and repair so many broken lives. You just keep on saying it's not your fault, it's not your fault, it's not your fault…IT IS ALWAYS YOUR FAULT!"

Silence. No disagreement. No more infighting. Just…silence.

The quietest girl of all of them, the one who always stood in Ayaka's shadow, and here she was, bellowing. As impossible as it was, Jaarin swore she heard an echo on the last words, this eerie plane concurring with the non-Tamer as a tear dropped endlessly through it. She sank, pulling her legs up towards her chest.

"Um…guys…"

"Kazu, I don't think you…"

"Shut up Ayaka, and just look over there!"

"What is it?"

"Yuggoth," Jaarin said, the memories of drawings and diagrams plastered around her apartment vivid in her memory. Three balls, a chain of energy. She never thought she'd see it for real.

"Angry Takato used it with the Ark, ages ago," Suzie added.

"Grani…that takes me back," Kazu said. "What is Hypnos' delete button doing here?"

"Doing what it does best, I would imagine," Dianamon noted, raising her staff ready to fight it off. Behind, Jaarin could see Matt, his head sunk and his body hesitating to make any orders right now.

"Then we'll do what we do best!" VictoryGreymon called, splitting his sword and clipping each side to his arm. They glowed, electricity flickering from them to the tip of his remaining sword, before with a pulse of sheer energy it rocketed outwards, knocking him back with the force. "TRIDENT GAIA!"

Boom. Bigger boom.

Alarmingly big boom.

"See! That could've killed us! It always gets worse!" Miki cried, gesturing at the Digital Plane around the destroyed Yuggoth, falling away like a screensaver into darkness and racing towards them at a frenetic pace. "I just want to go home to the park, and then I want to get as far away from you all as possible before I'm next!"

The tear ripped a tear, quite literally, through the space, and below them a misty image of Shinjuku Park's water fountain beckoned.

* * *

**Gorou Mizuno**

* * *

Behind them, the world lit up with the roar of battle as a horde of attacks launched at once on the 'innocent' Yuggoth, coming at it from all directions. Shibumi dived away – or, at least, as much as one could, peering back to see Yuggoth explode.

And then the world behind to cascade away, dragging a number of streams of data down with it.

"We need a better idea!" Tai cried, floating by and trying to stop himself with Agumon's help.

"Wish?" Rei said, her tone distracted.

"Like that is ever going to work!" Natsuki cried, frustrated.

"No, **WISH!**" Rei shouted, pointing sharply. Shibumi, with the help of the Mokumon becoming oars, began to paddle across to her, and the letters somehow scorched into the Digital Plane itself.

Ever resourceful, that Takato.

"Wish?"

"Of course," Izzy clicked. "It's like everything here, we'll get out of this place if we just wish for it."

"EVERYONE!" Tai shouted at the top of his lungs, as, having reoriented himself, he 'swam' as fast as possible towards the letters. "Focus on the park! Shinjuku Park! The water fountain! Don't forget a single detail! NOW!"

Murmurs, mumbles, a thousand voices.

Shibumi turned around, his eyes widening as he beheld a huge portal, torn through the space of the Digital World, and revealing the familiar shape of Shinjuku Park's water fountain, albeit with a bit of a crater in its vicinity.

And another portal.

And mist. Lots of mist.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Something was most certainly not right…

* * *

**Michael Washington**

* * *

For all their enthusiasm, they stopped running the moment the door opened. They were tempted to a moment earlier. Who couldn't, given what they had before them?

Buildings loomed, or, at least, the closest ones did, hidden amidst a thick fog, the cranes of One World Trade Center vanishing up into it all. Even the road surface at the foot of the steps was hard to make out, and the sky may as well not have existed.

If there was a purgatory, this was it.

"It's a Digital Field," Michael mused. Even if they hadn't seen one directly, with all the videos and images and training they had been given, let alone all that which they saw on the television, they knew how to recognise them.

But this…this was just...

"Uncountable," Willis mumbled, gazing downwards. The numbers counted up, and up, and up, and up, whipping up Michael's stomach into frenzy. Both of their devices were screaming with noise, any individual bleeps lost to the crowd.

Betamon and Coronamon both growled horrendously, but waited, even as a geyser of light burst from the street next to them.

"We have to fight," Michael said, gripping his Digivice Burst.

"Against _this_ many Digimon? We don't even know if we can handle one!"

"Then we'll have to fight harder. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Coronamon and Betamon barked, and the city street burst into light.

* * *

**Rika Nonaka**

* * *

"Damn it!" Rika slammed the terminal with her hands. The two Yuggoth programs she had sent after the largest two patches of bioemergences had been destroyed, and the Digital Plane was going crazy, whatever trace she had of it rapidly dying down to zero.

"**The Yuggoth is not a very elaborate program, Rika."**

"Well what do we do now then?"

"You take three years of Computer Science at Oxford. Or you could just step away from the leopard."

The voice sent a chill up Rika's spin, before her teeth grated together. The man she would rip to death with her own hands if she could, the man who had ruined her entire life.

"Rayleigh," she growled, her hands glowing as she prepared to attack. Falcomon bent slightly by the Brit's side, preparing to defend his Tamer, presumably to the death. Why on earth would the polite creature follow such a despicable man? "You are going to…"

"Calm down," Rayleigh began, before he raised a sub-machine gun from his side, passing a bandaged leg. "I wasn't really giving you an option, I'm afraid. You're just far too dangerous, even in your fetching disguise."

Rika froze, before taking a cautionary step back and crying "Renamon!"

"_**Rika?" **_It was Harmony's voice, loud and clear. Rayleigh sniggered.

"Nowhere nearby, I see. Not that Falcomon would have let her be."

Rika wanted to cry. Alone, facing a barrel ready to plough a bullet straight into her chest. Her mind flashed through the many times her former incarnations had died at a similar fate, not least at the hands of Chaos. She had plenty of life to flash before her eyes, but she was quickly distracted as the metal of the weapon began to glisten with light.

As did everything, for that matter.

"What?" she cried, looking up at the ceiling, the cracked view screens filling with bioemergence points. Every inch of Tokyo was covered, the room turning a sickening blood red as they all locked on.

"Control," Rayleigh began, clicking off the safety. "Alt." Rika took another few steps back, her mind ablaze with Harmony calling on her to move yet her feet frozen to the spot. If she moved, he would still hit her. If she… "Delete."

Her ears filled with gunfire, echoing in the space, yet in space of an overwhelming pain all she heard was the tinkling of glass and shrapnel. She opened her eyes not to her blood, nor to the red of the screens, but to the dull light of emergency lamps in a shot-through control room.

"My plan is coming together, and the last thing I need is any meddling up here."

"**Your plan?"**

"The Juggernauts are shut down, and the flood gates are open. The world is about to change for good. We will have no need for Gods."

"What have you done?" Rika shrieked, it taking every ounce of self-control not to hurl herself forward, consequences be damned.

"Put everything I need onto my new PDA," he noted, raising his device from his side. He chuckled, before dropping it, crushing it underfoot. "But I'm finished now. All I need from now on is my trusty little wristwatch," he added, raising his arm and tapping its screen. "Or is it?"

For all its dark green trim, all Rika saw was its grey surfaces, their meaning unmistakable even in the dull light left in the room. Her mind exploded with the implications.

"You're…"

"Quiet. Now walk, Harmony. Turn and walk…" he said calmly, as the gun returned to her as a target. "Through those doors, and out onto the landing."

She did as he said, yet all the while thought of ways to escape. Wings? A quick blast of something to the floor. Anything? But for all she could try, she was just a single bullet from leaving Takato alone, Rey without a mother, the world with the vengeance it was crying for. Rayleigh would be a hero.

But he was far from it.

"Such a vandal," Rayleigh tutted, as she reached the window, or, at least, where it had been. Glass crunched under her foot as she came to a stand without even being asked. "Now, Rika, arms out," he ordered, her hair caught by the wind fluttering up, a wind which failed to change the scene before her but did reveal the mixed black and orange shades of her less-dyed hair.

"What is…this?"

"My new world, Harmony. One you brought about. Thank you for creating me, I'll be sure to engrave your name in something one day."

She knew what she was seeing, yet she could barely take it in. Tokyo was practically gone, a thick mist rapidly covering it as geysers exploded from everywhere, pinpricks of light filling it. The odd scream, the odd crunch of car against car, yet above all else a damning silence. The largest Digital Field she had ever seen.

She glanced behind, knowing the inevitable: she wasn't going to learn how all this would turn out. "Rayleigh. You…"

"The Third Demon of Infiltration, Rayleigh Thompson, at your service, with my trusty Falcomon by my side, taking on the world and its troubles from the inside out and earning a nice profit from it too. The Tamers will never deal with this, trapped where they are, and without you to say anything, why would they need to? Even if they do get back, the sheer scale…someone else will need to step in. And I will. Mari's gun is an early model, but the newer weapons…" he whistled. "They will change the way we see Digimon forever. Whether that means eradicating or enslaving them, I don't know, and aside from Falcomon here I hardly care. My age old enemies will die while I rake in Royalties, and most importantly the world will change. People will rethink what they have to hold dear, they will look again to experts and to reason, they will take them seriously."

"**Someone will stop you. People always rise up. I believe in them."**

"Against the smallest of circumstances. But this isn't just Tokyo, this is worldwide. The very networks that bind you together will tear you apart…it's almost poetic. And amidst it all I'll escape a hero…sure, I'll be cast down from my office, but in public opinion I will be a king. But that's all not really that important to you: you know what happens now. Still…I can't say I enjoy killing, particularly not someone who created what this country should be grateful for."

"And what's that?"

"So long, Harmony and Rika, and thanks for all the fish!"

Rika jumped forward, her wings sweeping out and smashing the nearby panes, clattering against the metal frame.

To fly. To be free. To fight back against all that was happening. To find her daughter. To…

Fall.

Her shredded wings lost their lift, and gravity did the rest. Her stomach churned from the pain and the vertigo, blood and feathers drifting down around her.

"**RIKA!"**

She screamed. The pavement roared towar

* * *

**Rayleigh Thompson**

* * *

She had landed.

Even as he smirked, he felt a small measure of worry. Not for the girl sprawled out dead on the pavement far below, and quickly covered, blood and all, by a growing mist. Just one less God, for all he cared. But where was she now? What was death like?

He shuddered. He knew he was covered. He was fine. Everything would be fine. Everything was pulling together. Nothing to fear now. Nothing at all.

"Sir?"

"Come, Falcomon. Project Ragnarok is waiting."

* * *

**Catherine Coleman**

* * *

A break. A much deserved break. For many, a chance to nip out for a cigarette, or get a coffee, but Catherine was very far from the nearest café, and certainly couldn't pop outside for a fag. Then again, with the sight she was about to behold, who could ever need either?

Her long-honed caffeine habits said differently. Yet, as she floated into the Cupola module, still not quite over the surreal nature of 'flying' like this, she were quickly distracted. The module was fairly recent, and featured six trapezoid windows about a circular one, all currently covered by shutters.

Of all the rooms on the International Space Station, this was her favourite. As she went to raise the shutters, she even ignored the radio chatter. Because, beyond all civilization, there was just something so natural to the sight she now beheld.

Mother Earth.

Wait.

What?

WHAT?

"**Catherine, can you…?"**

For there, floating in space, sat the Earth, every land surface covered entirely in the same, monotonous, white fog.

"Ron. Look out the window. I spy a spaceship with a problem…"

**END OF PHASE TWO.**

* * *

**A/N: **First of all, I'm proud to say Dimensions now has its very own TV Tropes page. This is the happiest day of my life. Please, go on it and be as cynical, amusing, etc. in your tropes as you want. I shall cherish the page like my own child!

I'm well aware of how delayed this part was, so first of all I must apologise so much, university has taken so much of my time and I really don't know how much time I'll have to write for the foreseeable future. I have to do some planning for Phase Three before it comes about, so please bear with me there too. I hope, in any case, that this chapter may have wrapped up a lot of questions and plotlines for you thus far, has at least partly made up for the lack of updates, and has whet your whistles for what is to come. As should this…

**NEXT TIME, IN THE FINAL PHASE OF BOOK THREE:**

The fiery inferno ripped upwards, screams barely heard above the roar of the fire and explosion as the flames engulfed their victims. The flames rapidly raced up the sides of the conjoined towers, licking upwards into the sky as a thunderous roar shook the very foundations of Tokyo itself.

A heart beat.

"CYBERDRAMON, STOP!"

"CALL…ME…BY MY NAME!"

"MILLENIUMMON! STOP THIS NOW!"

DarkBiyomon, cradled in the arms of her partner, as the city howled with life.

"RIKA!"

"**Above all else, the government is reassuring citizens not to panic."**

"This is the entire world! What do we do?"

"Please Ryder, you have to hear me. You have to wake up," cried Ivy, leaning down by his hospital bedside and wiping away a tear from her eye. It was a futile effort, as more began to pour, her words becoming but a whimper. "Please."

"You wanted a way home, didn't you?"

After the end, everything fell silent. All except for one, long, beep.


End file.
